Guest Post by Bridget Wooding (OBMICA) On 2 October, the Dominican Republic’s Migration Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior and Police announced an upscaled operation “to deport 10,000 Haitians each week.” This decision had been taken by the Defence and National Security Council, headed up by President Luis Abinader. According to the Council’s directive, […]
Conditions in Detention
Thailand: “Champion Country” or Abusive Detainer of Migrant Children and Asylum Seekers?
Thailand’s recent decision to withdraw its reservation to a key provision in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child appears to support its status as a “champion country” of the Global Compact for Migration. However, many rights observers say Thailand continues to detain children—as well as other at-risk migrants and refugees—in often paltry, […]
Persistent Reports of Severe Human Rights Violations in Malaysia’s Immigration Detention Centres
Malaysia has been repeatedly criticised for having one of the world’s most abusive and punitive immigration detention systems. Yet the government continues to fail to address the international community’s recommendations to protect vulnerable migrants and refugees in the country, as the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) recently reported in a […]
UN Agency Adds Voice to Growing Global Clamour Over Canada’s Immigration Detention Practices
The Canadian government’s plans to use federal prisons for immigration detention has drawn the rebuke of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) as well as the ire of an international coalition of civil society groups, who have launched a petition demanding that Canada abandon the plans. The battle over prisons Canada is among […]
United States: Immigration Detention Set to Expand Despite Growing Calls to Reduce Detainee Numbers Amidst Reports of Mistreatment and Terrible Detention Conditions
A number of civil society groups in the United States have recently published highly critical reports alleging abusive and inhuman conditions at privately operated immigration detention centres. These include reports of abuse and mistreatment of vulnerable people, medical neglect, and failure to provide access to legal assistance. Private prison operators are nevertheless planning important extensions […]
Calls for Closure of Controversial Detention Centre in Trinidad and Tobago
After a Trinidad and Tobago court recognised “shocking and appalling” treatment of a Venezuelan child at the Chaguaramas Heliport detention facility, some are calling for the controversial facility to be closed. Previously, detainees have protested the conditions they were forced to endure at the facility, and human rights activists in the country have argued that […]
Reports of Inhumane Conditions and Worrying Lack of Transparency at Milan’s CPR
In February, a detainee protest concerning harmful living conditions and health risks in a detention centre in Milan was met with violent repression. This latest event, one of a string of similar incidents in Italy’s network of CPRs (Centro di Permanenza per il Rimpatrio), has raised broader concerns about the disregard for human rights across […]
Mass Escape from Malaysian Detention Centre Highlights Need for Reforms
On 1 February, 131 (mainly Rohingya) refugees escaped from an immigration detention centre in the Malaysian state of Perak following reported riots in the facility, called the Bidor Temporary Immigration Depot. This is the second mass escape in two years from a Malaysian detention centre, which observers say underscores the inhumane conditions that immigration detainees […]
Dominican Republic Deportations Surge as Authorities Announce Opening of New Detention Centre
Since our last update in December 2022, the Dominican Republic has continued to step up its policy of mass deportations of Haitians, violating the rights and dignity of non-nationals despite numerous calls for authorities to moderate their actions. To facilitate these deportations, the General Directorate of Immigration has announced plans to establish a new immigration […]
The Bahamas: Joint Submission to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
Together with CEJIL and OBMICA, the GDP submitted information to the WGAD regarding the Bahamas’ deprivation of liberty of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other at-risk groups. […]
