With one of the world’s largest migration detention systems, Turkey has long served as Europe’s reluctant refugee gatekeeper. This role has repeatedly been put on display, including in the wake of the refugee “crisis” in 2015, which culminated in the adoption of the controversial EU-Turkey refugee deal; and, more recently, after the 2021 Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, which spurred Turkey to extend border walls and engage in often violent pushbacks of Afghan refugees. […]
Externalisation
Statement by Abdul Aziz Muhamat* at the launch of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers’ General Comment No. 5 (2021) on migrants’ right to liberty
Statement by Abdul Aziz Muhamat at the launch event for the UN Committee on Migrant Workers’ General Comment No. 5 (2021) on migrants’ rights to liberty, freedom from arbitrary detention and their connection with other human rights by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
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Statement by Michael Flynn on CMW General Comment #5
While much of the conversation today about how to treat migrants revolves around developing better management strategies and improving service provisions, the Committee on Migrant Workers with this General Comment affirms loudly and clearly that the most important conversation we should be having is how to preserve migrants’ fundamental rights. […]
Afghanistan Situation Report
The evacuation of foreign militaries from Afghanistan is spurring a new refugee exodus. This “Situation Report” provides an overview of early responses to the crisis in key countries across the globe as well as a summary of recommendations from human rights monitors. […]
Immigration Detention in Morocco: Still Waiting for Reforms as Europe Increases Pressure to Block Migrants and Asylum Seekers
Morocco has long prided itself for defending the rights of migrants and asylum seekers, a reputation it sought to reprise when it took a leadership role in the negotiations over the Global Compact for Migration, adopted in Marrakech in 2019. However, this reputation has repeatedly been tarnished as criticism has grown over its treatment of asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants […]
Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Morocco
An important transit and destination country for migrants, Morocco has witnessed significant migratory flows in recent decades. Amongst these flows number thousands of women migrants and asylum seekers, many of whom have experienced abuse and rights violations on their journey to the country. […]
Immigration Detention in Spain: A Rapid Response to Covid-19
On 6 May 2020, Spain reported that for the first time in its history, its long-term immigration detention facilities, “Foreign Internment Centres,” were empty. These centres had long been the target of activists, local politicians, and human rights bodies, who argued that they were unnecessary and abusive. The Covid-19 crisis, which shut down deportation flights, provided a final push. But enormous questions remain. […]
Immigration detention in Italy
As the main European destination for asylum seekers and undocumented migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean by boat, Italy confronts considerable migration challenges. It has responded by ramping up its domestic detention system, implementing the controversial “hotspot” approach to process maritime arrivals, boosting interdiction efforts, and adopting new legal measures that restrict avenues for asylum. The […]
Border Securitization and Containment vs. Fundamental Rights: The European Union’s “Refugee Crisis”
When the “refugee crisis” surged to the forefront of the EU’s agenda in 2015, it did little to discourage the xenophobic wave that swept across member states. It did just the opposite. […]
Sovereign Discomfort: Can Liberal Norms Lead to Increasing Immigration Detention?
Liberal democracies betray discomfort at public scrutiny of immigration detention, neglecting to release statistics, cloaking detention in misleading names, and limiting what they define as deprivation of liberty. These countries have also expanded their detention activities and encourageed their neighbors to do the same. What explains this simultaneous reticence towards and embrace of detention?
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