The GDP’s November 2022 roundup of research, publications, and events – including our latest submission regarding the treatment of immigration detainees in Botswana, September advocacy visits to Geneva, the latest from our Transparency Initiative, and recent updates to the Immigration Detention Monitor. […]
Egypt: Covid-19 and Detention
While Egypt has been courting world leaders in Sharm el Sheikh as the host for COP27, it has continued to arbitrarily and indefinitely detain thousands of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Many are also being forcibly deported to countries where they may face persecution or torture. Egypt has a track record of detaining non-nationals for […]
Czech Republic: Covid-19 and Detention
Sharp increases in the numbers of unauthorised border crossings from Slovakia into neighboring Czechia have led to tensions between the two countries. Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger planned to meet with his Czech counterpart in Prague on 10 November to discuss Czechia’s introduction of border controls, which Slovakia claims may undermine Schengen freedom of movement […]
United Kingdom: Covid-19 and Detention
A short-term holding facility for newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers has been denounced for “catastrophic overcrowding” and “grotesque treatment,” with the country’s Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration reporting that he was left “speechless” by the conditions he observed inside. Thousands are currently detained in Manston Processing Centre where rights groups argue a “humanitarian […]
BOTSWANA: Joint Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
In a joint submission with Lawyers for Human Rights, the GDP has submitted information to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) addressing issues related to immigration detention in Botswana. Amongst various recommendations, the GDP and LHR urge CERD to call on Botswana to ensure that child migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are not detained; to end the practice of arbitrary detention; and to reform national legislation that is discriminatory in content, language, and application. […]
Israel: Covid-19 and Detention
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel has welcomed large numbers of Ukrainian and Russian Jews within the scope of its Law of Return. Its treatment of these groups, however, stands in stark contrast to that experienced by other refugees and asylum seekers–many of whom face detention and deportation. Most recently, the country’s Interior Ministry announced […]
Latvia: Covid-19 and Detention
Latvia has violently pushed back and arbitrarily detained scores of refugees and migrants, including children, in secretive tented camps along its border with Belarus, says a recently published Amnesty International report. The rights group contends that authorities have used undue force including torture to stop “illegal crossings” since declaring a state of emergency in mid-2021. […]
Australia: Covid-19 and Detention
On 7 October, Australia’s Commonwealth Ombudsman (CO) and Human Rights Commissioner (HRC) published a joint statement expressing concern regarding the country’s use of hotels for detaining refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers–in some cases for years on end. Drawing on observations gathered by the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman in its role as Australia’s National Preventive […]
The GDP and the International Refugee Rights Association Submit Freedom of Information Requests to Türkiye’s Presidency of Migration Management
In September 2022, the Istanbul-based International Refugee Rights Association (IRRA) submitted three freedom of information (FOI) request’s to Türkiye’s Presidency of Migration Management regarding the country’s immigration detention practices. The access to information requests were issued as part of IRRA’s participation in the Global Detention Project’s “Global Immigration Detention Observatory” project, which seeks to build […]
United Kingdom: Covid-19 and Detention
The number of victims of trafficking detained in the UK has likely tripled in the past five years, says a new report published by the Helen Bamber Foundation in early October. Despite broad recognition of the vulnerabilities faced by trafficking and slavery victims, the report says, the UK government is treating survivors as criminals rather […]
