Botswana has both administrative migration-related detention measures, including for the detention of refugees, as well as criminal penalties that can include lengthy imprisonment for migration offenses. These measures violate norms promoted by the Working Group, which says that migration infractions must not be subject to criminal penalties and there should be a prohibition on the detention of refugees, asylum seekers, and children. […]
Immigration detention
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Submission to the Committee against Torture
Detained non-citizens in the UAE frequently face arbitrary arrests, poor conditions of detention, an inability to access information about their cases, and deportation without recourse to legal remedies. Their treatment may amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prohibited by Article 16 of the UN Convention against Torture. […]
TURKEY: Joint Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
As Turkey has stepped up immigration controls there have been increasing reports of human rights abuses in detention centres and in other sites along its borders. Women have been subjected to abuses and gender-specific violations, including reports of rape of refugee women in some removal centres as well as humiliating strip searches. […]
Immigration Detention amidst War: The Case of Ukraine’s Volyn Detention Centre
In early March, shortly into Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Global Detention Project (GDP) began receiving email messages and videos from individuals claiming to know people who remained trapped in an immigration detention centre inside Ukraine, even as the war approached. … […]
UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW: Immigration Detention in India, Morocco, Poland, South Africa
In March, the GDP worked with partners in four countries—Poland, India, South Africa, and Morocco—to prepare submissions for the 41st Session of the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR). […]
SOUTH AFRICA: Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
For the 4th cycle UPR review of South Africa, the GDP teamed up with Lawyers for Human Rights to highlight numerous shortcomings in South Africa’s treatment of refugees and migrants. Despite important progress that has been made in implementing judicial control over immigration detention operations, the submission highlights South Africa’s failure to improve poor detention conditions and prevent abuses in the Lindela privately-run immigration detention centre. […]
MOROCCO: Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
Morocco has consistently faced criticism for its treatment of migrants and refugees. In particular, collaboration between Europe and Morocco has increased the vulnerability of migrants to a range of human rights abuses, including forced displacements and ad hoc detention. In a joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review, the GDP and GADEM highlight key areas of concern and urge the Government of Morocco to take numerous vital steps to protect the rights of non-citizens. […]
INDIA: Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
The GDP’s submission on India, made in partnership with the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), highlights human rights concerns within India’s immigration detention system, including lack of judicial review and indefinite detention, lack of legal aid for detainees, and poor detention conditions. […]
POLAND: Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
41st Session of the UPR Working Group, 7-18 November 2022 Issues Related to Immigration-Related Detention and Asylum This submission focuses on human rights concerns relating to Poland’s treatment of migrants, refugees, and people seeking asylum, including its use of immigration detention. This submission is made taking into account the millions of refugees who have crossed into […]
PERU: Submission to the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families
In their joint submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers concerning the upcoming report on Peru, the Global Detention Project and the Grupo de Movilidad Humana de la Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos highlight concerns regarding Peru’s militarisation of border controls, which have become more severe since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and point […]
