Facing increasing pressures on its shared border with Northern Ireland and sharply rising asylum requests, Ireland has ramped up border controls and deportations. Growing Crackdown on Immigration in Ireland and Northern Ireland Recent reports reveal increasing immigration restrictions in Ireland, following a spike in irregular arrivals from the UK via Northern Ireland. According to the […]
Europe
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Reports of Pushbacks, Detention of Children and Inadequate Conditions in Detention Facilities
Recent reports reveal the abusive treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including violent pushbacks, arbitrary arrests, and the detention of children. Conditions in the country’s detention facilities have also been the subject of harsh criticism for their abysmal conditions and for failing to meet minimal standards. In a joint submission for […]
Slovakia: Detention Increases as Country Continues Migrant and Asylum Crackdown
Slovakia has been among the more outspoken opponents of the EU Migration Pact, adopted in April 2024, with the country’s new populist Prime Minister Robert Fico stating that Brussels “cannot order a country that it must accept, in the Slovak case, up to 300 migrants you know nothing about, or pay 20,000 euros for each […]
Lithuania: Reports of Arbitrary Detention, Physical Abuse, and Pushbacks
Recent reports highlight ongoing abuses of migrants and asylum seekers by Lithuanian border guards, including arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and pushbacks into Belarus. The Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI), a GDP partner in Lithuania, recently documented three cases involving unlawful restrictions of migrants’ liberty, abuses by Lithuanian authorities, and pushbacks to Belarus. According to their report, […]
Bulgaria: The Alarming Case of Detained Saudi Journalist Abdulrahman al-Khalidi
Bulgaria’s extremely long immigration detention of a Saudi law student and human rights activist reveals the degrading conditions in which migrants and asylum seekers are detained in the country. It also reflects a broader trend in Europe and globally: the de facto use of immigration detention for purposes that may have nothing to do with […]
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 […]
UN Experts Denounce Human Rights Backsliding in EU Migration Pact
UN Experts Denounce Human Rights Backtracking in EU Migration Pact […]
Europe: The Spectre of Detention Looms across the Continent as Immigration Pressures Grow
So far this year, 233,500 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe’s Mediterranean region, compared to 159,410 during the whole of 2022. Several EU states–including the EU’s three largest economies, Germany, France, and Italy–have focused on intensifying detention measures as a tool for responding to these growing challenges, raising concerns about the region’s faltering commitment […]
Ukraine: Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
The Global Detention Project (GDP) is pleased to provide this submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment in response to her call for input[1] to inform her upcoming report on Ukraine. This submission provides an overview of concerns regarding immigration detention in Ukraine with a […]
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Secrecy and Confusion Surrounding New Detention Centre for “Fake Asylum Seekers”
In 2022, the EU announced plans to fund a new detention unit within the grounds of a Temporary Reception Centre near Bosnia’s north-western border with Croatia. In recent months, however, significant confusion and controversy has emerged surrounding the centre. […]
