In October, reports revealed that Kosovo was in discussion with the UK to receive rejected asylum seekers as part of the UK government’s efforts to set up “return hubs” abroad–a move observers have condemned as punitive and potentially threatening migrants’ rights. Both the United States and Denmark have also made deals with the country in recent years, part of a broader and increasingly concerning trend of externalising migration controls, including detention, to third countries. […]
Externalisation
Uganda: Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers
Uganda’s important role in hosting refugees recently received global attention after it agreed to a deal with the United States to accept deported third-country nationals who have pending asylum claims in the United States. While this agreement has raised concerns about Uganda’s commitments to uphold its human rights and humanitarian commitments, it nevertheless follows a pattern of adopting increasingly restrictive policies and practices in recent years, undermining Uganda’s long-held reputation as a welcoming country. […]
Mauritania: Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers
Over the past two decades, efforts to detain and remove migrants in Mauritania have intensified in response to mounting pressure from European countries to curb migration flows. In a submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers, the GDP highlights how Mauritania’s immigration detention and deportation policies and practices contravene key provisions of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. […]
Albania: Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers
In a submission to the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) ahead of its adoption of its List of Issues Prior to Reporting during its 41st session, the Global Detention Project addressed concerns about the country’s migration-related detention policies and practices, including its collaboration with Italy in detaining third-country migrants deported by its neighbour. […]
Ghana: Detention and Secret Expulsions Raise Alarm Over Role in U.S Deportation Scheme
In September, Reuters reported that Ghana had agreed to accept West African nationals deported from the United States under a new agreement between the two countries–marking yet another expansion of the Trump Administration’s unprecedented efforts to summarily deport irregular migrants to third countries. Shortly after their arrival in Ghana, the deportees were reportedly expelled to Togo. Ghana was previously accused, in 2023, of unlawfully expelling refugees from Burkina Faso, undermining Ghana’s commitment to international legal standards. […]
Albania: Submission to the UN Committee against Torture
Albania operates a single dedicated immigration detention facility, the Karreç Detention Centre. In a submission to the UN Committee against Torture, the GDP raised concerns regarding conditions in the facility, as well as reports of the use of ad hoc detention sites and the country’s facilitation of Italian-managed detention centres on its territory. […]
Niger: Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
Since the 2023 coup, Niger’s migration landscape has changed dramatically, with new legislation tightening entry, stay, and movement, criminalising irregular migration, and granting broad powers to enforcement officers. In a joint submission to the UPR, the GDP, JMED Niger, and REMIDDH raise concerns over arbitrary and harmful detention, poor conditions, and abuse of migrants, urging Niger to amend its policies to ensure detention is used only as a last resort and in line with international human rights standards. […]
Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants: Mauritania
Amid growing European pressure, Mauritania has increasingly subjected migrants to arbitrary arrest, detention, and forced expulsion—particularly in the past year. Due to limited transparency and the ad hoc nature of these practices, comprehensive data on all detention facilities remains unavailable. Nevertheless, the GDP has documented the use of multiple sites for immigration detention. […]
European Court Ruling Challenges Italy–Albania Detention Deal and Other Externalisation Plans
On 1 August, the European Court of Justice delivered a landmark ruling on Italy’s application of the “safe country of origin” concept, delivering a blow to the country’s offshore asylum processing scheme in Albania. Beyond Italy, the ruling has wider implications across Europe, where it is likely to impact new EU asylum regulations due to come into force in June 2026, as well as EU Member States’ efforts to externalise their own migration management schemes. […]
Deportations to Eswatini Reflect Unprecedented Expansion of U.S Detention Regime
The Trump administration’s recent deportation of five migrants to the southern African country of Eswatini is the latest in the country’s unprecedented expansion of its immigration enforcement system. This has included growing numbers of migrant raids and arrests, massive injections of funding for Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), record numbers of detentions, and a proliferating range of overseas targets for “third-country deportations”–including, most recently, the tiny island nation of Palau. […]
