Responding to the Global Detention Project’s Covid-19 survey, a governmental actor, verified by the GDP, reported that no moratorium on new immigration detention orders had been established due to the pandemic and that no such measure was under consideration. According to the source, the Estonian Police and Border Guard (PBGB) did not release any immigration […]
European Union
Greece: Covid-19 and Detention
Despite repeated criticisms of its continued lockdown of refugee and migrant camps (see 18 June update), Greece recently announced its fifth extension of these lockdown measures. As of 4 July, camps are to be quarantined until 19 July, with migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers continuing to face movement restrictions. According to the country’s migration ministry, […]
Austria: Covid-19 and Detention
Responding to the Global Detention Project’s Covid-19 survey, the Austrian Ministry of Interior reported that no moratorium on new immigration detention orders had been established and that no such measure was under consideration. In addition, the Ministry said that no persons had been released from immigration detention, but that former detainees who had previously been […]
Spain: Covid-19 and Detention
After the release of immigration detainees from detention centres (Centros de Internamiento de Extranjeros or CIEs), there has been considerable discussion on the future of the country’s detention policies. The Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de Andalucía (APDH) reports that “since CIEs have been closed and detainees released, no catastrophe has ensued” and the organisation urged […]
Croatia: Covid-19 and Detention
In a joint statement published on 19 June, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe González Morales, and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Nils Melzer, said that they “are deeply concerned about the repeated and ongoing disproportionate use of force by Croatian […]
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 […]
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 […]
Denmark: Covid-19 and Detention
In response to the Global Detention Project’s Covid-19 survey, the Danish Ombudsman’s office, which also acts as the country’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), forwarded to the GDP a letter it had sent to the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT), the international body established by the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture. […]
Immigration Detention in Hungary: Transit Zone or Twilight Zone?
Hungary’s efforts to block asylum seekers were at the centre of an important May 2020 European Union Court of Justice ruling concerning its “transit zone” detention sites, located along the border with Serbia. For years, Hungary refused to acknowledge that people were “detained” in these facilities, going so far as to refuse the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention entry during its visit to the country in 2018. […]
