Adopted in 1990 and in force since 2003, the UN Migrant Workers Convention is the most comprehensive international treaty in the field of migration and human rights. In this chapter, Mariette Grange details how the convention safeguards migrants against arbitrary detention. She explains, however, that as the convention has only been ratified by 51 states—none of which are industrialised, migrant-receiving countries—the full potential of the convention remains to be tested. […]
Staff PublicationsArticles, blogs, books, chapters, op-eds, and other publications written by Global Detention Project staff members and advisers for journals, partner organisations, scholarly collaborations, or media outlets.
Articles, blogs, books, chapters, op-eds, and other publications written by Global Detention Project staff members and advisers for journals, partner organisations, scholarly collaborations, or media outlets.
First Perspectives on the Zero Draft for the UN Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration
Following the recent publication of the Zero Draft for a UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, 17 expert academics—including GDP Researcher, Izabella Majcher—provide commentary on the positive and negative aspects of the Objectives, as well as the necessary follow up. […]
Uneven Business: Privatisation of Immigration Detention in Europe
Europe reflects a variety of policy responses to the growth of the immigration control industry – from the privatisation of the management of entire immigration detention estates to keeping all detention facilities in official hands and employing private non-profit groups. In this chapter, Michael Flynn, Matthew Flynn, and Eryn Wagon detail the variety of levels and forms of privatisation adopted across the region, as well as the challenges that the outsourcing of immigration controls posits. […]
Challenging Immigration Detention: Academics, Activists, and Policy-Makers
Governments increasingly rely upon detention to control the movement of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. Approaching detention from an interdisciplinary perspective, this new edited volume brings together leading writers and thinkers to provide a greater understanding of why it is such an important social phenomenon and suggest ways to confront it locally and globally. […]
Kidnapped, Trafficked, Detained? The Implications of Non-state Actor Involvement in Immigration Detention
This article critically assesses a range of new non-state actors who have become involved in the deprivation of liberty of migrants and asylum seekers, describes the various forces that appear to be driving their engagement, and makes a series of recommendations concerning the role of non-state actors and detention in global efforts to manage international migration. […]
Putting Immigration Detention in Interdisciplinary Perspective
What can we learn from the interdisciplinary study of immigration detention regimes? Michael Flynn explains in this essay for Oxford University’s “Border Criminologies” research network. […]
Immigration Detention and Statelessness
The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion interviews the GDP’s Mariette Grange about the detention of stateless persons and the importance of international human rights standards in safeguarding the rights of this vulnerable population. […]
Border Securitization and Containment vs. Fundamental Rights: The European Union’s “Refugee Crisis”
When the “refugee crisis” surged to the forefront of the EU’s agenda in 2015, it did little to discourage the xenophobic wave that swept across member states. It did just the opposite. […]
Detained Beyond the Sovereign: Conceptualising Non-State Actor Involvement in Immigration Detention
In this chapter for the recent book Intimate Economies of Immigration Detention (Routledge, 2016), Michael Flynn discusses the emergence of new actors in immigration detention systems across the globe and the challenges this poses in efforts to hold states accountable. […]
From Bare Life to Bureaucratic Capitalism: Analyzing the Growth of the Immigration Detention Industry as a Complex Organization
This journal article by a GDP Contributing Researcher assesses post-structuralist approaches to the study of immigration detention, contrasting them with conceptual approaches developed in bureaucratic capitalism, which highlight the various private- and public-sector interests impacting the evolution of detention regimes. […]
