In June, Estonia’s Supreme Court ruled against a ban on immigration detainees using their mobile phones. Challenging restrictions on detainees’ ability to access the internet, the court also held that access to the internet is a human right which must be upheld by detention centre management. […]
European Union
Imprisonment Rather Than Protection: Pylos Survivors Detained in Greece
On 14 June, hundreds of refugees and migrants lost their lives in the Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwreck in nearly a decade. As many as 750 individuals are believed to have been in the boat when it capsized, but just 104 were found alive. Taken ashore, survivors were met not with protection and sanctuary, but detention in […]
Romania’s Treatment of Migrants and Asylum Seekers Challenged by UN Committee against Torture
On 19 and 20 July, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) considered the third periodic report of Romania. In its concluding observations following its review, CAT noted several concerns regarding the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in the country, including the immigration detention of vulnerable groups such as unaccompanied children and victims of torture; […]
Trapped Between Borders: Tunisia’s Alarming Treatment of Sub-Saharan Migrants
Tunisia has come under renewed criticism from rights groups after authorities rounded up sub-Saharan migrants and asylum seekers and forcefully relocated them to a buffer zone between the Tunisian and Libyan border. Videos shared online show men, women, and children–some with injuries–stranded close to the sea, reportedly without any food or water. Surging Discrimination According […]
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Secrecy and Confusion Surrounding New Detention Centre for “Fake Asylum Seekers”
In 2022, the EU announced plans to fund a new detention unit within the grounds of a Temporary Reception Centre near Bosnia’s north-western border with Croatia. In recent months, however, significant confusion and controversy has emerged surrounding the centre. […]
Italy and the EU “Complicit” in Crimes Against Non-Nationals in Libya
The brutal treatment of refugees and migrants in Libya has been widely condemned and reported. Intercepted by the country’s coastguard and returned to Libyan “disembarkation zones,” non-nationals are placed in immigration detention facilities where conditions are inhuman. They face indefinite detention with frequent water and food shortages; overcrowding; physical mistreatment and torture; forced labour and […]
Denmark Pauses Plans to Outsource Asylum Processing to Rwanda
On 25 January, Denmark announced that it was pausing its controversial plan to outsource asylum processing to Rwanda. However, the country has expressed its intention to collaborate with other EU states in establishing a processing facility outside Europe. First proposed by the Social Democrat party in the run-up to the country’s 2019 general election, the […]
Czech Republic: Covid-19 and Detention
Sharp increases in the numbers of unauthorised border crossings from Slovakia into neighboring Czechia have led to tensions between the two countries. Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger planned to meet with his Czech counterpart in Prague on 10 November to discuss Czechia’s introduction of border controls, which Slovakia claims may undermine Schengen freedom of movement […]
Latvia: Covid-19 and Detention
Latvia has violently pushed back and arbitrarily detained scores of refugees and migrants, including children, in secretive tented camps along its border with Belarus, says a recently published Amnesty International report. The rights group contends that authorities have used undue force including torture to stop “illegal crossings” since declaring a state of emergency in mid-2021. […]
Spain: Covid-19 and Detention
The deaths of 37 migrants and asylum seekers in late June along the border fence separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco have spurred numerous protests across cities in both countries. Thousands of protestors gathered in Barcelona, Malaga, Vigo, San Sebastian, and Melilla to denounce migration policies as well as the militarisation of Spain’s […]
