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). […]
Poland
Joint Submission to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Preparation for its Visit to Poland
The submission highlights concerns regarding Poland’s discriminatory detention practices of non-Ukrainian refugees, inhuman and degrading conditions in “Guarded Centres for Foreigners,” abuses of non-citizens on the border with Belarus, and the country’s increasing detention of children for migration purposes. […]

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 […]

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. […]

Poland Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
Poland Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from Poland, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Poland Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Poland: Country Page Poland: COVID-19 Updates Report: Immigration Detention in Poland: Systematic Family Detention and Lack of Individualised Assessment […]

Global Detention Project Annual Report 2018
What conditions do asylum seekers, migrants, and refugees face in detention around the world? What countries have reformed their migration policies and what countries are still using unnecessary immigration detention? What progress has been made and what still needs to be done? The GDP’s 2018 Annual Report takes a look. […]

NEWSLETTER: Immigration Detention: “Never in the Best Interests of Children”
This past summer, people across the globe watched in outrage as children were forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border and placed in hastily set up camps and cages. Overlooked in much of the criticism, however, was the fact that children are locked behind bars for immigration-related reasons in dozens of other counties across the globe, all of whom—with the notable exception of the United States—have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. […]

Immigration Detention in Poland: Systematic Family Detention and Lack of Individualised Assessment
Poland has experienced a sharp drop in the numbers of people applying for asylum since 2017. Yet, anti-immigrant rhetoric dominates public discourse, foreigners are viewed as security threats, and pushbacks are common along the border with Belarus. While material conditions in detention centres appear to meet basic standards, Poland rarely considers “alternatives to detention,” systematically […]

Immigration Detention in Poland
Although Poland has not faced the same refugee challenges impacting neighbouring countries, it has adopted similar responses. It accepts only a small number of asylum seekers, opposes EU relocation quotas, and has boosted its detention efforts. It recently amended its legal framework, including the adoption of alternatives to detention and restrictions on child detention. It […]

Polish Ministry of Interior – Access to Information Request, 29.04.2013
The Polish Ministry of Interior’s official response to an information request submitted by the Global Detention Project and Access Info Europe in 2013 as part of a joint project to map access to migration-related detention data in several dozen countries in Europe and North America. The results of the investigation were reported in the joint […]
