Germany’s immigration detention system has undergone major changes since a 2014 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union condemning the country’s use of prisons for immigration purposes. Since then, the country’s detention infrastructure has shrunk from more than 20 to seven long-term facilities, even as new laws have broadened the grounds justifying […]
EU Return directive
Immigration Detention in the European Union: Research and Advocacy
Izabella Majcher gave a presentation titled “Immigration Detention in the European Union: Research and Advocacy” at the Open Society Initiative for Europe‘s (OSIFE) Protection and Rights of Migrants Grantee Convening “Between Politics And Enforcement: Safeguarding And Advancing Migrant Rights In Europe.” Madrid, 18 – 19 September 2017. […]
Laws and Practice of Immigration Detention in the European Union: European Union Law vs. International Human Rights Law
Izabella Majcher presented a paper on the the EU detention regime and its compatibility with international human rights law at the Migration Law Section of the 2017 Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) Conference taking place in Dublin on 5-8 September. […]
The EU Returns Directive and the Use of Prisons for Detaining Migrants in Europe
Can immigration detainees be held in prisons? Can they be confined alongside ordinary prisoners? On 17 July 2014, in its decisions on the joint cases of Bero & Bouzalmate and the case of Pham, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rendered its opinion on these practices. […]
Human Rights Violations during EU Border Surveillance and Return Operations: Frontex’ Shared Responsibility or Complicity?
As the International Law Association highlights “[power] entails accountability, that is the duty to account for its exercise.” Against this background, the article focuses on the question of accountability of the European Union (EU) border agency Frontex for potential human rights violations that may occur in the course of its operations. The article aims to […]
The European Union Returns Directive: Does it prevent arbitrary detention?
This article provides a critical analysis of immigration detention regime under European Union (EU) law. It assesses the relevant provisions of the EU Returns Directive and their domestic implementation in several EU states against the underlying requirement for any deprivation of liberty not to amount to arbitrary detention. Three elements embodied in this requirement are highlighted: the exceptional nature […]
“Crimmigration” in the European Union through the Lens of Immigration Detention
The phenomenon of “crimmigration”—or the convergence of criminal and immigration laws—appears to have a harmful impact on migrants, ranging from increasing negative attitudes about non-citizens to more restrictive immigration policies. This Global Detention Project working paper argues that immigration detention regulated by European Union (EU) directives represents a peculiar manifestation of crimmigration. In particular, detention provisions […]
Rethinking Pre-removal Immigration Detention in the United States: Lessons from Europe and Proposals for Reform
In this article for Refugee Survey Quarterly, Christina Fialho, a former research intern at the Global Detention Project and founder of the California-based Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), examines the legality of lengthy detention of non-citizens held in pre-removal immigration detention in the United States, while presenting a comparative analysis of the European Union and […]
Detention at the Borders of Europe: Report on the Joint Global Detention Project– International Detention Coalition Workshop in Geneva, Switzerland, 2‐3 October 2010
On 2-3 October 2010, the Global Detention Project (GDP) held a workshop in Geneva, Switzerland, on migration-related detention that included representatives from organizations in 12 countries in Europe and neighbouring regions, as well as several international migration scholars and advocates. The workshop, which was jointly organized with the International Detention Coalition (IDC), an umbrella group […]
