This year, the Trump administration has quietly deported seventeen men and women to Cameroon under a murky arrangement that is part of broader U.S. efforts to send “unremovable” migrants and asylum seekers to third countries. Upon arrival in the capital Yaoundé, the deportees were detained in an ad hoc facility and threatened with removal.
Full Country ProfileYes
Has laws regulating migration-related detention?
642,948
International Migrants
427,706
Refugees
16,034
Asylum Applications
In 2023, the CESCR issued key recommendations to Lithuania on asylum seeker and migrant rights—but serious issues remain, including legalised pushbacks, evidence of refoulement, a failure to prohibit the detention of children, and arbitrary confinement in quarantine facilities.
Full Country Profile832
Migration Detainees
43
Total Number of Detained Children
685
Total Immigration Detention Capacity
219
Deportations/Forced Removals
Malaysia’s immigration enforcement regime is one of the world’s most punitive, arbitrary, and harmful detention systems. Children, like adults, are subjected to these enforcement measures, exposing them to acute risk of abuse and rights violations.
Full Country Profile21,530
Total Immigration Detention Capacity
1,030
Total Number of Detained Children
21
Detention Centres
150
Detainee Deaths
Although conditions in Taiwan’s detention centres have frequently been criticised, they have received little international scrutiny because of China’s opposition to Taiwan’s UN membership.
Full Country Profile10,844
Migration Detainees
4
Number of Detention Centres
Yes
Has laws regulating migration-related detention?
1,418
Total Immigration Detention Capacity
Every day, hundreds of thousands of people are detained across the globe for reasons related to their immigration status, including children, asylum seekers, refugees, trafficking victims, torture survivors, stateless persons, and others. The GDP relentlessly pursues information about where they are locked up and how they are treated to ensure that their human rights are respected.
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Together with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Ghana-based Democracy Hub, and the Global Strategic Litigation Council, the Global Detention Project has urged the UN Committee on Migrant Workers to assess the country’s recent agreement with the United States to accept deported third-country nationals, as well as its subsequent detention and removal of these individuals. […]
Although Serbia maintains official immigration detention facilities, migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers continue to be deprived of their liberty in a range of informal sites where their fundamental rights are violated. Testimonies from former detainees and reports by the country’s National Preventive Mechanism also highlight poor detention conditions in both formal and informal settings–with limited access to health care remaining a particular concern–and vulnerable groups including children remain at risk of detention. […]
Immigration detention poses significant risks to health and well-being, yet its use is increasing globally. In this WHO report, prepared by the GDP, the available evidence related to the health of migrants in immigration detention is reviewed, setting out the current status, main challenges, and evidence gaps. […]
Drawing attention to the connection between externalisation and the spread of arbitrary immigration detention practices across the globe, this submission highlights the ongoing violations committed against migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers forcibly removed to third countries under migration and asylum management deals. […]
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has issued a new resolution cautioning against the externalisation of migration governance and urging African States to safeguard the rights and dignity of migrants deported from non-African countries. Adopted amidst a surge in bilateral agreements between African governments and external partners–in particular the United States and the European Union–the resolution echoes similar warnings from other international monitoring bodies and underscores the serious risks associated with externalised migration enforcement schemes. […]
Uganda’s important role in hosting refugees recently received global attention after it agreed to a deal with the United States to accept deported third-country nationals who have pending asylum claims in the United States. While this agreement has raised concerns about Uganda’s commitments to uphold its human rights and humanitarian commitments, it nevertheless follows a pattern of adopting increasingly restrictive policies and practices in recent years, undermining Uganda’s long-held reputation as a welcoming country. […]
