Portugal implements many strict immigration control measures despite facing comparatively minor migratory pressures. It detains asylum seekers lodging applications at ports of entry; the number of non-EU citizens ordered to leave the country has steadily increased; and it allows the detention of families with children in facilities that the country’s ombudsman considers deficient for this […]
European Union
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. […]
Challenging Immigration Detention: Academics, Activists, and Policy-Makers
Governments increasingly rely upon detention to control the movement of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. Approaching detention from an interdisciplinary perspective, this new edited volume brings together leading writers and thinkers to provide a greater understanding of why it is such an important social phenomenon and suggest ways to confront it locally and globally. […]
Submission to the Council of Europe’s European Committee on Legal Co-operation
In follow up to participation in the Council of Europe hearing on the draft legal instrument codifying the existing standards related to the conditions of administrative detention of migrants, held in Strasbourg 22-23 June 2017 the GDP submitted written comments to European Committee on Legal Co-operation on 12 July 2017. See details on the […]
When the Exception becomes the rule: European Union Societies on the move
Izabella Majcher to give a presentation titled “Trends in Immigration Detention in the European Union,” which outlines the GDP’s ongoing research on immigration detention in EU countries, at the conference When the Exception becomes the rule: European Union Societies on the move, hosted by International Institute for the Sociology of Law, in Oñati, Spain, 4-5 […]
UN Experts call EU recommendation on return procedures a “slippery slope”
New EU recommendation on return procedures a “slippery slope” to solve European migration challenges – UN experts Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights GENEVA (9 March 2017) – EU countries must explore alternatives to increased detention and swift returns to uphold the human rights of migrants, UN experts* urge, as the EU […]
The Constitutionalisation of Immigration Detention: Between EU Law and the European Convention on Human Rights: GDP Working Paper #15
This paper argues that the increasing regulation of immigration detention in EU law has led to more constitutional protection for detainees, however some new regulations are resulting in more people being detained. […]
The Immigration Detention Puzzle
We should be shocked that so many countries fail to provide even basic details about their immigration detention practices. And yet, for those who have worked on this issue over the last two decades, the absence of public accountability about detention comes as no surprise.
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THE UNCOUNTED: The Detention of Migrants and Asylum Seekers in Europe
Based on a two-year investigation seeking basic details and statistics about immigration detention practices in 33 countries across Europe and North America, this joint report by the GDP and Access Info Europe reveals that in many countries it is impossible to obtain an accurate picture of the number of migrants and asylum seekers being held […]
The CJEU’s Ruling in Celaj: Criminal penalties, entry bans and the Returns Directive
In its ruling in the Skerdjan Celaj case (C-290/14), rendered on 1st October 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) addressed once again the relation between immigration and criminal law and in particular the compatibility of national penal measures imposed as a punishment for irregular migration with the EU Returns Directive.
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