Guinea-Bissau

Detains migrants or asylum seekers?

No

Refugees

24

2023

Asylum Applications

30

2023

International Migrants

17,945

2020

Population

2,200,000

2023

International Migrants as % of Population

0.91%

2020

Overview

Types of facilities used for migration-related detention
Administrative Ad Hoc Criminal Unknown

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DETENTION STATISTICS

Migration Detainee Entries
Not Available
2019

DETAINEE DATA

Total Number of Children Placed in Immigration Detention (Year)
0
2017

DETENTION CAPACITY

ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION

ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA

PRISON DATA

Criminal Prison Population (Year)
92
2012

POPULATION DATA

Population (Year)
2,200,000
2023
2,000,000
2020
International Migrants (Year)
17,945
2020
29,916
2019
International Migrants as Percentage of Population (Year)
0.91
2020
Refugees (Year)
24
2023
1,846
2021
1,846
2020
1,846
2019
4,850
2018
11,204
2017
9,259
2016
8,684
2015
8,684
2014
Ratio of Refugees Per 1000 Inhabitants (Year)
4.91
2016
Asylum Applications (Year)
30
2023
10
2019
0
2016
Stateless Persons (Year)
0
2022
0
2016

SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS

LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Does the Country Detain People for Migration, Asylum, or Citizenship Reasons?
No
2023
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?
No
Legal Tradition(s)
Customary law
2017
Civil law
2017

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
ICRMW, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
2018
2018
CRSR, Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
1976
2017
ICERD, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
2010
2017
ICESCR, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
1992
2017
ICCPR, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
2010
2017
CEDAW, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
1985
2017
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
2013
2017
CRC, Convention on the Rights of the Child
1990
2017
CRPD, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
2014
2017
CRSSP, Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
2016
2017
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2007
2017
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 11/19
Individual Complaints Procedures
Acceptance Year
CEDAW, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 1999 2009
2009
ICCPR, First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 2013
2013
CAT, declaration under article 22 of the Convention 2013
2013
Ratio of Complaints Procedures Accepted
Observation Date
3/7
2017
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on the Rights of the Child § 35. "The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Adopt an administrative policy designed to prevent statelessness and protect stateless children; (b) Improve the administrative practices relating to civil registration in order to reduce the risk of statelessness; (c) Identify potential stateless children, and collect data on the number of cases of stateless children residing in the country; (d) Accede to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness; and (e) Amend the Law of Nationality ( Law No . 6/2010 ) to bring it in to line with the 1954 and 1961 Conventions." 2013
2013
2013

> UN Special Procedures

> UN Universal Periodic Review

Relevant Recommendations or Observations from the UN Universal Periodic Review
Observation Date
No 2015
2017
No 2010
2017

> Global Compact for Migration (GCM)

GCM Resolution Endorsement
Observation Date
2018

> Global Compact on Refugees (GCR)

GCR Resolution Endorsement
Observation Date
2018

REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS

Regional Legal Instruments
Year of Ratification (Treaty) / Transposed (Directive) / Adoption (Regulation)
Observation Date
APRW, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) 2008
2008
2017
ACHPR, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 1985
1985
2017

HEALTH CARE PROVISION

HEALTH IMPACTS

COVID-19

Country Updates
Guinea-Bissau, with an estimated population of some 1,800,000 people, is located in West Africa and shares borders with Senegal and Guinea. As of 16 March 2021, the country had recorded 3,447 cases and 52 COVID-19 deaths. On 28 March 2020, shortly after the first case was confirmed in the country, a state of emergency with night-time curfew was introduced and international flights were suspended. Certain measures have since been lifted and borders have been reopened with additional requirements for arriving passengers, including having proof of a negative PCR test. The GDP has been unable to establish the extent to which detention facilities are used in Guinea-Bissau as part of immigration enforcement procedures or to obtain details on COVID-19 related measures taken to safeguard people in immigration or criminal custody, or those in international protection situations. According to UNHCR, as of 28 February 2021, the country hosted 7,803 refugees and 38 asylum seekers. In December 2017, the government announced that it would naturalise 7,000 refugees in the country and in 2018, UNHCR began registering the refugees and working with a local contractor to produce and distribute ID cards and naturalisation and birth certificates. UNHCR’s chief of mission at the time said: “They were facing the risk of being stateless because of having no documents. It can be a lesson to others: how Guinea-Bissau managed to get rid of its caseload.” A major obstacle to naturalising refugees at that time was the large payment the government proposed per person--900,000 CFA (1,700 USD)--whcih was eventually reduced to to 150,000 CFA (270 USD). The country has ratified several human rights treaties, including the Convention against Torture, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. However, at the time of this publication Guinea-Bissau had yet to submit its first state report to many treaty bodies. During its review for the third cycle of the UN Universal Periodic Review, Guinea-Bissau received several human rights recommendations, including: Improving “conditions of detention by overcoming prison overcrowding and improving sanitary conditions (France) (para. 119.50),” and appointing and empowering “a prison ombudsman to address complaints of inhumane treatment and poor conditions in prisons and detention centres (United States of America) (para. 119.51).” As regards the country’s penitentiary system, according to the World Prison Brief, the country now has three prisons: Bafata, Mansoa, and a pre-trial detention centre in Bissau, with a capacity of 196 spaces. Guinea-Bissau used to have four jails, but they were destroyed during the 1998 civil war. In 2010, the UNODC and the country’s Ministry of Justice rehabilitated two prisons, which became the country’s first penitentiaries.