On World Refugee Day (20 June), rights groups called on Mozambican authorities to release a group of 16 African refugees and asylum seekers detained in the country since 2019 and who are held in conditions in which their health is not safeguarded. The group, which includes 15 Congolese people and one Ethiopian man, were arrested […]
Covid-19
Guatemala: Covid-19 and Detention
Responding to the Global Detention Project’s Covid-19 survey, Guatemala’s immigration authority (Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración) reported that no moratorium on new immigration detention orders has been established. The Guatemalan immigration authority also reported that currently only Guatemalan national residents and accredited consular diplomats are allowed to enter the country. Non-citizens are only allowed to leave […]
Greece: Covid-19 and Detention
Although Greece lifted its lockdown measures in May, authorities have continued to impose movement restrictions upon migrants and refugees held in Reception and Identification Centres (RICs) on the Aegean islands as well as facilities on the country’s mainland. Initially extended until 10 May, lockdown measures for such facilities were later extended until 7 June—and now […]
Luxembourg: Covid-19 and Detention
Responding to the Global Detention Project’s Covid-19 survey, Luxembourg’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported (on 17 June) that the country has not established a moratorium on new immigration detention orders and has not implemented new immigration, asylum or border policies. The ministry stated that on 16 March, 19 detainees (“retenus”) were released, in part because […]
Nicaragua: Covid-19 and Detention
The Covid-19 crisis has had an important impact on Nicaragua, in particular on people seeking to leave the country, whose numbers have grown considerably in recent years. In early March 2020, a UNHCR spokesperson said that “serious political and social crises in the country have prompted Nicaraguan students, human rights defenders, journalists and farmers to […]
Netherlands: Covid-19 and Detention
Responding to the Global Detention Project’s Covid-19 survey, a government official who asked to remain anonymous reported that no moratorium on new immigration detention orders had been established and that no such measure was under consideration. The official confirmed that people who were awaiting removal to another EU member state under the Dublin Regulation have […]
Argentina: Covid-19 and Detention
Responding to the Global Detention Project’s Covid-19 survey, the country’s prison ombudsman (Procuración Penitenciaria de la Nación or PPN), reported that the country’s immigration authority (Dirección Nacional de Migraciones or DNM) had informed them that deportations had been temporarily suspended. This measure was adopted through Disposition 1717/2020 of the DNM ordering the “suspension of expulsion […]
Republic of Korea (South Korea): Covid-19 and Detention
As of the end of 2019, there were an estimated 360,000 undocumented foreign nationals living in South Korea. Amidst fears that they would not seek testing and treatment for fear of being arrested, in late January South Korean authorities announced that they were scrapping the requirement for medical staff to report undocumented migrant patients to […]
Canada: Covid-19 and Detention
Since a peak on 3 May, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases has significantly declined in Canada in the past month. The province of Quebec has been the most affected during the pandemic, with almost half of the total number of cases. Two COVID-19 related deaths have been recorded in a provincial and a federal […]
Kazakhstan: Covid-19 and Detention
According to information submitted to the GDP by the International Legal Initiative (ILI), Kazakhstan has introduced a moratorium on new detention orders related to violations of migration legislation, and has temporarily ceased deportation proceedings. However, persons who commit other offences may still be placed in immigration detention, and no persons have been released. Meetings with […]
