Guinea, located on the west coast of Africa, declared a state of emergency on 26 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which included several emergency measures like the closure of borders and schools. By 26 February 2021, the country had recorded 15,789 cases of COVID-19 and 88 related deaths. On 14 February 2021, […]
Last updated:
DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
LENGTH OF DETENTION
DETENTION INSTITUTIONS
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
MONITORING
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOs)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
CTOCSP, Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
2005
2005
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2004
2004
ICRMW, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
2000
2000
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
1989
1989
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 14/19
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on the Rights of the Child
§ 41. "The Committee welcomes the adoption of Law No. L/2018/050/AN on Asylum and the Protection of Refugees in the Republic of Guinea, on 3 September 2018, and the accession of the State party to the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, of 1961, on 17 July 2014. With reference to its general comment No. 6 (2005) on treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin and to joint general comments No. 3 and No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families / No. 22 and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the human rights of children in the context of international migration, the Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Adopt all the decrees and administrative procedures necessary to facilitate the effective implementation of Law No. L/2018/050/AN and increase the human, technical and financial resources allocated to the National Service on Humanitarian Assistance;
(b) Repeal article 73 of Law No. L/94/019/CTRN in order to decriminalize irregular migration, and prohibit the detention of asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children and provide alternatives that allow children to remain with their family members and/or guardians in non-custodial, community-based contexts;
(c) Ensure that cases involving unaccompanied asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children are processed in a positive, humane and expeditious manner in order to find durable solutions."
2019
2019
2019
Committee on Migrant Workers
"§22 (a)indicate in its next periodic report the number of migrants, disaggregated by age, sex, nationality and/or origin, who are currently being detained for having violated the law on migration, specifying the location, the average length and conditions of detention and providing information on the number of expulsions and the procedures used;
(b)amend act no. l/94/019/ctrn to decriminalize irregular migration, since the committee considers that, in accordance with general comment no. 2 (2013) on the rights of migrant workers in an irregular situation and members of their families, staying in a country in an unauthorized manner or without proper documentation or overstaying a residence permit should not constitute a criminal offence;
(c)detain migrant workers for immigration offences only in exceptional circumstances and as a last resort, and ensure in all cases that they are held separately from ordinary prisoners, that women are detained separately from men, that conditions of detention are in conformity with international standards and that alternatives to detention are used for children and their families and for unaccompanied minors;"
"§26.
26. the committee recommends that the state party:
(a)facilitate access by guinean migrant workers residing abroad to consular and diplomatic assistance from the state party, particularly in cases of detention or expulsion;"
2015
2015
2015
Committee on the Rights of the Child
§ 76. "The Committee urges the State party to adopt a comprehensive legal framework for refugees and asylum seekers in line with international standards and to develop an efficient and well - founded cooperation mechanism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify and provide assistance to children in need of protection, especially unaccompanied asylum - seeking children. The Committee encourages the State party to seek technical assistance from UNHCR. The Committee also recommends that the State party consider ratifying the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness."
2013
2013
2013
> UN Special Procedures
> UN Universal Periodic Review
REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
Regional Legal Instruments
Year of Ratification (Treaty) / Transposed (Directive) / Adoption (Regulation)
Observation Date
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
Guinea, located on the west coast of Africa, declared a state of emergency on 26 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which included several emergency measures like the closure of borders and schools. By 26 February 2021, the country had recorded 15,789 cases of COVID-19 and 88 related deaths. On 14 February 2021, the Ministry of Health informed the WHO of a new cluster of Ebola infections in the Gouécké Nzérékoré region.
There is little information available about the impact of the pandemic on refugees and migrants in Guinea. According to UNHCR, as of 31 January 2021, there were 5,561 refugees and 305 asylum seekers in the country. As of 15 February, there were 511 Ivorian arrivals to the country, and registration and border monitoring were on-going. According to UNHCR, most of the new arrivals in Guinea had entered through unofficial points, not subject to COVID-19 precautions. In addition, due to the recent outbreak of Ebola in areas of Guinea bordering Côte d’Ivoire, sensitisation campaigns are taking place amongst refugee communities to raise awareness and prevent the spread.
In December 2020, the country began vaccinating its population with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine. Government officials were the first to receive the vaccine at a vaccination centre in Conakry. Dr Sakoba Keita, the Director-General of the National Health Security Agency said: “We have ordered 2 million doses (from Russia) to be able to vaccinate vulnerable people and we have also placed orders in the People’s Republic of China, all that in order to show the commitment of the government to go onto the offensive to use this latest strategy that served us well during the Ebola (outbreak).”
The GDP has been unable to establish the extent to which detention facilities are used in Guinea as part of immigration procedures or to get details about COVID-related precautions or restrictions officials may have adopted vis-à-vis foreigners in administrative procedures.
Articles 73 and 75 of Act No. L/94/019/CTRN on the conditions of entry and residence for foreign nationals in the Republic of Guinea provide criminal penalties for foreigners who remain in Guinea irregularly and those who overstay their visas. In its concluding observations in 2015, the Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) noted the government’s statements that the act is not applied and that migrant workers in an irregular situation are not usually placed in detention. The Committee nonetheless recommended that Guinea: “(a) Indicate in its next periodic report the number of migrants, disaggregated by age, sex, nationality and/or origin, who are currently being detained for having violated the law on migration (...); (b) Amend Act No. L/94/109/CTRN to decriminalise irregular migration, since the Committee considers that, in accordance with general comment No. 2 (2013) on the rights of migrant workers in an irregular situation and members of their families, staying in a country in an unauthorised manner or without proper documentation or overstaying a residence permit should not constitute a criminal offence.”
As regards the COVID-19 situation and protective measures adopted in the country’s prisons, on 29 April 2020, Guinea’s National Health Security Agency told AFP that authorities had discovered a positive case of COVID-19 inside Conakry’s central prison, without specifying whether an inmate or a guard had been infected. By 28 August, there were reportedly 86 cases in the country’s prisons and three prisoners had died from the disease. Rights groups say the country’s prisons are often disease-ridden and overcrowded. For instance, according to Amnesty International, Conakry central prison has capacity for 500 inmates, but currently holds around 1,700.
Humanitarian and civil society organisations have been providing support to the country’s prisons. In June 2020, Prisonniers Sans Frontières provided 20 bags of rice and 48 liters of oil for detainees at Conakry central prison. In addition, on 20 June, Fraternié des Prisons de Guinée installed 27 hand-washing stations, 10 soap cartons and two bleach cartons to the Dubréka and Coyah prisons. On 31 May 2020, the Minister of Social Action, Promotion of Women and Children announced the release of children in detention. The minister also said that 42 children had already been released from the prisons of Conakry, Labé, and Kankan.
