Libya: Covid-19 and Detention

Reports indicate that while Libya has taken steps to release some prisoners, its detention centres for holding migrants and asylum seekers remain in operation. In Tripoli, 466 prisoners were released in early April. Although many migrant detention centres are still functioning, staff have reportedly been reduced to a minimum. Doctors Without Borders reported that the […]

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UNHCR Staff Distributing Emergency Aid in Tripoli to Assist Vulnerable People During Ramadan, (Mohamed Alalem, UNHCR,

Hungary: Covid-19 and Detention

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on 14 May that “the placing of asylum seekers or third-country nationals who are the subject of a return decision in the Rözke transit zone at the Serbian-Hungarian border must be classified as ‘detention’.” The Court came to that conclusion as “the conditions prevailing in […]

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Rözke Transit Zone in Hungary, (MP Ákos Hadházy, 22 August 2019, https://bit.ly/2E4nLCD)

Portugal: Covid-19 and Detention

Global Detention Project Survey completed by Portugal’s Provedor de Justiça (Ombudsman). IS THERE A MORATORIUM ON NEW IMMIGRATION DETENTION ORDERS? Yes. Migrants who have not legalized their presence in the country and had pending cases before the authorities, as well as asylum seekers, were granted a special temporary authorization of residence, with their cases being […]

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Portuguese Authorities Testing Migrants in a Hostel in Lisbon for Coronavirus, (Rafael Marchante, Reuters,

Belarus: Covid-19 and Detention

In response to an information request submitted by the Global Detention Project and the NGO Human Constanta, Belarus Deputy Minister of the Interior Ministry Aleksandr Barsukov confirmed that during the pandemic non-nationals who violate the country’s legislation may continue to face detention and deportation. He wrote, “For foreigners violating the legislation of the Republic of […]

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A Person Walking by a Wall of the Centre for Isolation of Offenders (Центр изоляции правонарушителей), (Spring96, www.spring96.org)

Italy: Covid-19 and Detention

The Italian Minister for Agricultural Policies, Teresa Bellanova, said (6 May) that she wants to regularise some 600,000 undocumented workers. She said: “If this doesn’t happen, the State becomes not only an accomplice but also a promoter of illegality in which these workers are forced.” The confederation of Italian farmers said the regularisation of undocumented […]

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Asylum Seekers Queuing in Italy in April 2017, (UNHCR,

Hong Kong (China): Covid-19 and Detention

Human rights lawyers and lawmakers have raised concerns about conditions in the Castle Peak Bay Immigration Detention Centre, saying they are worried about the risk of Covid-19 spreading among detainees. The Immigration Department nonetheless stated that the health and safety of staff and detainees is a prime concern and that appropriate measures have been put […]

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Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre in Tuen Mun, (Handout,

France: Covid-19 and Detention

On 1 May, a journalist from France Info visited a detention centre for migrants (Centres de retention administrative – CRA) near Paris. They confirmed that there are new arrivals every week; at the time, 59 detainees were at the centre. In the absence of international flights in destinations of non-european countries, detainees awaiting deportation are […]

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Detainees in the Courtyard of the Mesnil-Amelot Detention Centre, (FranceInfo,

Ukraine: Covid-19 and Detention

According to information provided to the Global Detention Project (GDP) by the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG), the Ukrainian government is currently preparing to release inmates from prisons across Ukraine in an effort to stem the spread of the virus. Together with the Ministry of Justice, KHPG has prepared two bills on amnesty and […]

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Inside Lukyanivska Prison in Kyiv - a facility which is notorious for its terrible conditions, 2018 (Radio Free Liberty, https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-detention-center/29067856.html)

United Kingdom: Covid-19 and Detention

Despite an unsuccessful legal challenge from Detention Action seeking the release of all immigration detainees at the High Court in March (see 5 April update), more than 700 detainees were released between 16 March and 21 April as the government responded to concerns about the spread of Covid-19 within immigration detention facilities. The organisation has […]

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Protesters Outside Yarl's Wood Detention Centre Calling for its Immediate Closure in June 2015, (

Trinidad and Tobago: Covid-19 and Detention

Trinidad and Tobago reportedly operates one dedicated immigration detention centre, the Aripo Detention Centre in Arima, which has a total capacity of 150 places. In recent years, the country has cracked down on Venezuelan migrants and asylum seekers who have fled violence and economic hardship in their country. The Covid-19 pandemic reached the Carribean in […]

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National Security Minister Stuart Young speaks to Venezuelan nationals detained at the Aripo Immigration Detention Centre during his visit to the facility on 2 April 2019, (