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. […]
Switzerland
Switzerland Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
Switzerland Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from Switzerland, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Switzerland Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Switzerland: Country Page “Prison for Profit” Special Report: Harm Reduction in Immigration Detention (2019) […]
Prison for Profit
On 7 March, GDP Director Michael Flynn joined Abdul Aziz Muhamat (2019 Martin Ennals Prize Winner), Ilse Van Velzen (filmmaker), Ruth Hopkins (investigative journalist), Agnès Callamard (UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and Director of “Freedom of Expression”), and journalist Luc Hermann to discuss the privatisation of prisons and administrative detention in […]
Global Working Group of National Societies Working in Immigration Detention
On 20 March, the GDP was invited to make a presentation about our report “Harm Reduction in Immigration Detention” at the annual meeting of the Global Working Group of National Societies Working in Immigration Detention, a gathering of National Societies of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement co-hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross. […]
Harm Reduction in Immigration Detention
This Global Detention Project Special Report systematically compares conditions and operations at detention centres in several European countries to identify practices that may be used to develop “harm reducing” strategies in detention. […]
Detention of Migrant Children in Switzerland: A Status Report
How many children are placed in immigration detention in Switzerland? Where are they detained? What are the conditions of their detention? Is this information even available? In this Special Report, the child rights NGO Terre des hommes argues that there are gaps in Switzerland treatment of children in immigration detention. To complete the report, Terre des hommes commissioned the the Global Detention Project to survey children detention practices in Swiss cantons. […]
Discipline and Punish? Analysis of the Purposes of Immigration Detention in Europe
Pre-removal detention is usually considered an administrative measure aimed at the facilitation of the removal of irregular migrants by preventing them from absconding during removal proceedings. The administrative nature of immigration detention implies that persons subject to this measure do not have access to the fair trial guarantees that criminal detainees are entitled to. However, the assessment of pre-removal detention under European Union and Swiss legislation demonstrates the penal nature of such detention despite its formal administrative classification.
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Swiss Federal Office for Migration – Access to Information Requests, 14.03.2013 & 24.10.2013
The Swiss Federal Office for Migration’s official responses to information requests 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 […]
Immigration Detention in Switzerland
This Global Detention Project Special Report provides a first-of-its-kind view of the Swiss immigration detention system. When compared to detention facilities elsewhere in Europe, some Swiss detention sites—like its Frambois facility, located just outside Geneva—have decidedly good reputations for their humane conditions. On the other hand, many Swiss detention practices and policies have been heavily […]
