Reports of Inhumane Conditions and Worrying Lack of Transparency at Milan’s CPR

In February, a detainee protest concerning harmful living conditions and health risks in a detention centre in Milan was met with violent repression. This latest event, one of a string of similar incidents in Italy’s network of CPRs (Centro di Permanenza per il Rimpatrio), has raised broader concerns about the disregard for human rights across […]

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A group of migrants in Milan's CPR, Source https://www.fanpage.it/milano/appalti-truccati-al-cpr-di-milano-perquisizioni-in-corso-della-guardia-di-finanza/

Europe: The Spectre of Detention Looms across the Continent as Immigration Pressures Grow

So far this year, 233,500 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe’s Mediterranean region, compared to 159,410 during the whole of 2022. Several EU states–including the EU’s three largest economies, Germany, France, and Italy–have focused on intensifying detention measures as a tool for responding to these growing challenges, raising concerns about the region’s faltering commitment […]

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ITALY: Human Rights Court Rules Against “Hotspot” Detention 

In an important ruling, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found that Italy breached Articles 3, 4, and 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in its treatment of four Tunisian claimants who were detained and deported in October 2017.  In October 2017, four Tunisians attempted to travel to Italy from […]

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Immigration Detention in the European Union

This book offers a unique comparative assessment of the evolution of immigration detention systems in European Union member states since the onset of the “refugee crisis.” By applying an analytical framework premised on international human rights law in assessing domestic detention regimes, the book reveals the extent to which EU legislation has led to the adoption of laws and practices that may disregard fundamental rights and standards. […]

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Places of Quarantine as Places of “Detention”

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the GDP has received increasing numbers of reports detailing the detention of non-nationals as a quarantine measure. In Bangladesh for example, more than 300 Rohingya refugees have been confined in prison-like facilities on the remote island of Bhasan Char since April–a detention situation that has been billed by […]

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Italy Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)

Italy Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from Italy, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Italy Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Italy: Country Page Report: Italy – Complicit in Grave Human Rights Abuse? Book: Immigration Detention in the European Union […]

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Physical Fences and Digital Divides: Final Report of the Global Detention Project Special Investigation into the Uses of Electronic Media in Today’s Migration Journeys

The “refugee crisis” helped spur a “tech turn” in how people travel across borders and how governments and others respond to these movements. Everyone from civil society organisations—including the Global Detention Project—and individual activists to humanitarian technologists, government officials, and international bureaucrats have experimented with social media and other new forms of digital technology to […]

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Crossing a Red Line

“Crossing a Red Line” is the final report of the Red Line Project, a collaborative initiative led by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee that was aimed at documenting the shift from “reception” to “detention” in EU border regions and the implications of this shift on asylum seekers. The project also counted on the participation of the Global Detention Project, the Bulgarian Foundation for Access to Rights, the Greek Council for Refugees, and the Italian Council for Refugees. […]

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Crossing a Red Line

Italy: Complicit in Grave Human Rights Abuse?

Immigration Detention in Italy (2019 Report): An important European destination for asylum seekers and migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Africa, Italy has been an aggressive proponent of draconian migration control practices, spurring accusations that the country has been complicit in grave human rights violations. During the tenure of notorious former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, Italy […]

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“Red Line”: The Rise in Detention of Asylum Seekers at the External Borders of the EU

Led by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC), the “Red Line” project is working to reduce unnecessary and unlawful use of detention as a deterrence measure for asylum-seekers and irregular migrants in Europe, with a particular focus upon four key irregular migrant entry states: Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy. In many such countries, “reception” has morphed […]

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