France: Covid-19 and Detention

On 26 April 2021, the National Association for Assistance at Borders for Non-Citizens (Association Nationale d’Assistance aux Frontières pour les Étrangers or ANAFE) announced that it was temporarily stopping its operations at the Zone d’Attente pour Personnes en Instance (ZAPI) of Roissy airport, a transit zone where non-citizens without authorisation to enter France are held […]

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Outside View of the Zone d'Attente pour les Personnes Maintenues en Instance (ZAPI), (C. Bouanchaud,

Chile: Covid-19 and Detention

In late April 2021, several civil society organisations denounced the alleged mistreatment of migrants who had been detained by police in the towns of Arica and Iquique. The Jesuit Migrant Service (Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes or SJM) filed legal appeals claiming that there had been “irregularities” in their treatment, including: improper body searches; lack of […]

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Cuartel de la Policia de Investigaciones de Iquique, (Google Maps, accessed on 7 May 2021, https://tinyurl.com/xwjs7neb)(Cuartel de la Policía de Investigaciones de Iquique

India: Covid-19 and Detention

As a second wave of COVID-19 has swept across India, infection and death rates have skyrocketed across the country. On 1 May, some 392,488 new cases were reported–the largest one-day increase on record for any country–as well as 3,689 deaths, although observers suggest that real figures may be significantly higher. Despite COVID rates surging since […]

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Rohingya Refugees Along with their Luggage outside a Mosque in Jammu, Kashmir (J. Singh, EPA,

Cape Verde: Covid-19 and Detention

The Republic of Cabo Verde is an island country in the central Atlantic Ocean with a population of approximately 550,000 people. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in the country on 20 March 2020, a state of emergency was declared and a series of measures were implemented including the suspension of all incoming […]

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Military Personnel Carry Ballot Boxes and Voting Equipment to a Polling Station in Praia on 17 April 2021, (AFP, TRT World,

Canada: Covid-19 and Detention

[From the GDP’s April 2021 Canada Report] As previously reported on this platform, calls for releasing people in prisons and other Canadian detention settings began soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-March, immigration detainees submitted an open letter to Canada’s Public Safety Minister demanding their release—pointing to the close quarters where they […]

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J. Kestler-D’Amours, “Immigration Detainees Are on a Hunger Strike Over Coronavirus Fears,” Vice, 26 March 2020, https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/939v7v/laval-quebec-immigration-detainees-are-on-a-hunger-strike-over-coronavirus-fears

United Kingdom: Covid-19 and Detention

Cross-party parliamentarians have urged UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to cease the use of former military barracks for confining asylum seekers. In a letter to the Home Secretary, members of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Immigration Detention wrote: “We do not believe such sites provide the safe, stable accommodation that people seeking asylum […]

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The Guardian, “MPs and Peers Urge Priti Patel to Shut Napier Barracks Asylum Site,” 17 April 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/17/mps-peers-urge-priti-patel-shut-napier-barracks-asylum-site

Burundi: Covid-19 and Detention

Since 2015, when deadly clashes were witnessed surrounding Burundi’s presidential election, large numbers of Burundians have fled the country. Today, some 150,000 are estimated to be living in neighbouring Tanzania. Burundian authorities have repeatedly spoken of the need for refugees to return from exile, and in recent years reports have emerged highlighting instances in which […]

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Human Rights Watch, “Burundi: Free Forcibly Returned Refugees,” 8 March 2021, https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/08/burundi-free-forcibly-returned-refugees

Tanzania: Covid-19 and Detention

In a statement released on 13 April, UN experts–including members of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on Torture–called on the Tanzanian and Burundian governments to respect the rights of Burundian refugees and asylum seekers in Tanzania. Tanzania currently hosts an estimated 150,000 Burundian refugees, the majority of whom fled the […]

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Foreign Policy, “Kicking Refugees Out Makes Everyone Less Safe,” 18 February 2021, https://bit.ly/3siYV7u

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Covid-19 and Detention

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Carribean with a population of around 110,000 people. Following confirmation of COVID-19 cases in March 2020, the country implemented international travel restrictions including requiring arriving passengers from high-risk countries to present a negative COVID-19 PCR test upon arrival and quarantine at a government-approved facility. […]

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Sanitation Supplies Donated by CARICOM IMPACS  to the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prison Service, (Searchlight,

Antigua and Barbuda: Covid-19 and Detention

Antigua and Barbuda is a Caribbean archipelago with a population of approximately 100,000 that relies heavily on tourism. After its initial COVID-19 cases were detected in March 2020, the government declared a two-week state of emergency, established a nightly curfew (8PM to 6AM), and shut all non-essential services and businesses. In June 2020, the country […]

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Prison Officer Protesting in Antigua and Barbuda, (Dominican News Online,