OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS
Immigration Detention in Greece: Stranded in Aegean Limbo
As Greece experiences a new influx of refugees and migrants, aid workers are warning that a humanitarian catastrophe is emerging at camps and reception facilities on the Aegean islands. A critical migration entry point into the EU, Greece has long been a key focus in Europe’s efforts to halt refugee flows. Since the EU-Turkey agreement in 2016, a policy of geographical restriction has left tens of thousands of people stranded on the islands for months in conditions that observers have denounced as calamitous. The country’s immigration detention practices have been repeatedly condemned, including the detention of children in facilities that are unequipped to provide for their needs, the lack of individualised assessment, the use of police stations for immigration detention purposes, and detention in conditions that amount to inhuman and degrading treatment. Read the full report.
Joint Submission to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Qatar
In a joint submission on Qatar to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), the GDP and Migrant-Rights.org highlight various concerns regarding the detention of migrants to assist the WGAD in preparing for its upcoming mission to the country. In particular, the submission discusses how a new law adopted in 2018 liberalising some migrant labour laws nevertheless contains a number of exceptions that may leave hundreds of thousands of domestic workers vulnerable to arbitrary deprivation of liberty at the hands of their employers. Read the full submission.
Submission to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture: Ireland
In advance of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture’s (CPT) visit to Ireland later this year, the GDP has submitted information to the committee regarding the country’s migration-related detention policies. Among the concerns the GDP highlights in its submission are the continued use of prisons to hold immigration detainees, the lack of legal safeguards and procedural guarantees for persons detained at Dublin Airport, limits in the provision of detention statistics, and the uncertainty surrounding the intended use of the country’s new immigration detention facility. In particular, the GDP urges the committee to determine the intended use of the new centre, located at Dublin airport, and to assess the conditions that immigration detainees face when confined in prisons and police stations. Read the full submission.
NEWS AND ACTIVITIES
Immigration Detention in the European Union: In the Shadow of the “Crisis”
Springer has announced that it is set to release this new book by the GDP’s Izabella Majcher, Michael Flynn, and Mariette Grange in January 2020. Detailed information about the book is available here.
Internazionale a Ferrara: Debate on Detention
On 5 October, the GDP’s Executive Director will participate in a public debate organised by Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) concerning immigration detention policies around the world. The debate, “The World Behind Bars,” is part of the Italian news weekly Internazionale’s annual arts and social affairs festival in the city of Ferrara. The panel will include Rony Brauman (MSF France) and Luigi Manconi (former Italian politician), and will be moderated by Marco Damilano (L’Espresso). More information about the festival is available here.
Twentieth Anniversary of the Mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants
On 12-13 November, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants (SRHRM) will hold an event in Mexico commemorating the mandate’s 20 years of work protecting the human rights of migrants. The event, which will take place at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, will include a presentation by the GDP on ideas for building a rights-based approach for migration policy.
CPT Visit to Karreç Detention Facility: Albania
The CPT has made its first visit to an immigration detention facility in Albania. Reporting following its November 2018 visit, the committee lists various concerns regarding the country’s Karreç Detention Facility, including practices that could amount to inhuman and degrading treatment. In particular, the committee highlights an instance in which a detainee was allegedly hand- and ankle-cuffed to a bed in a stress position for 24 hours. Read the CPT’s full report.
Joint Open Letter on Concerns about the Global Increase in Hate Speech
In September, 26 UN human rights mandate holders, including the SRHRM, released a joint open letter highlighting their alarm over “the recent increase in hateful messages and incitement to discrimination and hatred against migrants, minority groups and various ethnic groups, as well as the defenders of their rights.” The full letter is available here.
GDP ON THE RECORD
- “AppCID Promotional Video,” Bonigi, September 2019.
- “Racism and Syrians in Turkey: The Political Economy of Discrimination,” H. Mackreath, Jadaliyya, September 2019.
- “More Than a Wall: Corporate Profiteering and the Militarization of US Borders,” T. Miller, 2019.
- “The Revised Returns Directive: A Dangerous Attempt To Step Up Deportations By Restricting Rights,” J. Kilpatrick, Statewatch, September 2019.
- “Female Asylum Seekers: A Critical Attitude on UK Immigration Removal Centres,” M. De Angelis, Social Policy and Society, 2019.
- “COPCAT Shorts – Joint UN Statement on Child Immigration Detention,” Canada OPCAT Project, September 2019.
- “Submission to the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights of Switzerland,” Human Rights Watch, September 2019.
- “Book Review: Challenging Immigration Detention: Academics, Activists and Policy-Makers. By Michael J. Flynn and Matthew B. Flynn (eds),” S. Turnbull, Journal of Refugee Studies, September 2019.
- “The Role of Critical Social Work Education in Improving Ethical Practice with Refugees and Asylum Seekers,” C. Morley, C. Le, and L. Briskman, Social Work Education, 2019.
- “Legacy of Exclusion: The Geopolitics of Immigration and Latinas/os in the South,” Y. Matos, Labor: Studies in Working Class History, 2019.
- “Moving Towards Self-Actualization: A Trauma-Informed and Needs-Focused Approach to the Mental Health Needs of Survivors of Commercial Child Sexual Exploitation,” J. A. Laser-Maira, D. M. Peach, and C. E. Hounmenou, International Journal of Social Work, 2019.
- “At Europe’s Edge: Migration and Crisis in the Mediterranean,” C. Mainwaring, 2019.
- “National Report on the Governance of the Asylum Reception System in Finland,” Ö. Wahlbeck, Ceaseval, Research on the Common European Asylum System, 19, 2019.
- “Criminalization of Illegal Immigrants in the European Union: New Paradigms from the Celaj Case,” F. A. L. Carvalho, Brazilian Journal of International Law, 2019.
- “From Internal to Extra-Territorial Administrative Detention of Migrants: Profiles of State Responsibility,” A. M. Pelliconi, Federalismi.it, 2019.
- “Child Immigration Detention: Part 1,” and “Part 2,” Humanium, September 2019.
