December 2024: Immigration detention is an important tool of immigration control in Taiwan, where detainee numbers have steadily risen in recent years. 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. Taiwan also lacks an asylum system, though the need […]
Country ReportsIn-depth narrative reports examining trends and developments in migration-related detention laws and practices.
In-depth narrative reports examining trends and developments in migration-related detention laws and practices.
Immigration Detention in Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China): Severe Detention Regimes and Paltry Conditions
Detention is a key immigration enforcement measure in Hong Kong, despite the fact that detention facilities have long been criticised for poor conditions and complaints of mistreatment. […]
Immigration Detention in Australia: Turning Arbitrary Detention into a Global Brand
Australia’s migration detention system is uniquely severe, arbitrary, and punitive. It includes a range of extreme and controversial policies–mandatory, indefinite, offshore, fully privatised detention–which are given blanket legal cover, are vigorously defended in the face of growing global opprobrium, and are spreading to countries near and far. […]
Immigration Detention in Turkey: Trapped at the Crossroad Between Asia and Europe
With one of the world’s largest migration detention systems, Turkey has long served as Europe’s reluctant refugee gatekeeper. This role has repeatedly been put on display, including in the wake of the refugee “crisis” in 2015, which culminated in the adoption of the controversial EU-Turkey refugee deal; and, more recently, after the 2021 Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, which spurred Turkey to extend border walls and engage in often violent pushbacks of Afghan refugees. […]
Immigration Detention in Morocco: Still Waiting for Reforms as Europe Increases Pressure to Block Migrants and Asylum Seekers
Morocco has long prided itself for defending the rights of migrants and asylum seekers, a reputation it sought to reprise when it took a leadership role in the negotiations over the Global Compact for Migration, adopted in Marrakech in 2019. However, this reputation has repeatedly been tarnished as criticism has grown over its treatment of asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants […]
Immigration Detention in South Africa: Stricter Control of Administrative Detention, Increasing Criminal Enforcement of Migration
Long an important destination for migrants and refugees from across Africa and Asia, South Africa has increasingly viewed cross border movements through the lens of national security and criminality. The country’s Border Management Act, adopted in 2020, reflects this embrace of a securitisation agenda, say observers, who worry that the country’s policies will encourage an […]
Immigration Detention in Canada: Progressive Reforms and Missed Opportunities
In recent years, Canada has adopted both progressive refugee policies and restrictive border control measures, including agreeing to accept more refugees than other countries while at the same time adopting policies that restrict asylum eligibility. Canada’s immigration detention system has also continued to attract criticism, particularly because of its persistent use of prisons for immigration purposes, the carceral environments of its dedicated immigration detention centres, and its failure to adopt a maximum time limit for immigration detention, leaving some detainees facing indefinite detention. […]
Immigration Detention in Mexico: Between the United States and Central America
Mexico has one of the largest immigration detention systems in the world, employing several dozen detention centres—euphemistically called “estaciones migratorias”—and detaining tens of thousands of people every year. […]
Immigration Detention in the Republic of Korea: Penalising People in Need of Protection
Over the last two decades, South Korea has implemented increasingly restrictive asylum and migrant worker policies. Although the government does not provide adequate data about immigration detention, making it challenging to assess trends in the country, observers have reported that in recent years this crackdown has grown in scale and intensity. Children, victims of trafficking, and other vulnerable groups can be subjected to indefinite detention, often in facilities where detainees have reported instances of abuse; asylum seekers can find themselves stranded for months in privately operated airport “holding areas”; and national and international human rights bodies have repeatedly called for reforms in the country’s immigration detention centres. […]
Immigration Detention in Colombia: At the Crossroads of the Americas
Located at the juncture between South and Central America, Colombia has become an important transit point for migrants and asylum seekers from across the Americas and elsewhere in the world. It is also a key destination for Venezuelans fleeing the turmoil in their country, hosting more than 1.3 million by 2019. During 2010-2014, a national […]
