Ahead of a key meeting of EU institutions and member states on issues relating to immigration and asylum, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued an urgent plea for EU countries to bring an end to the migration-related detention of children. “EU law should not allow for child immigration detention, even as a last […]
European Union
Uneven Business: Privatisation of Immigration Detention in Europe
Europe reflects a variety of policy responses to the growth of the immigration control industry – from the privatisation of the management of entire immigration detention estates to keeping all detention facilities in official hands and employing private non-profit groups. In this chapter, Michael Flynn, Matthew Flynn, and Eryn Wagon detail the variety of levels and forms of privatisation adopted across the region, as well as the challenges that the outsourcing of immigration controls posits. […]
Immigration detention in Italy
As the main European destination for asylum seekers and undocumented migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean by boat, Italy confronts considerable migration challenges. It has responded by ramping up its domestic detention system, implementing the controversial “hotspot” approach to process maritime arrivals, boosting interdiction efforts, and adopting new legal measures that restrict avenues for asylum. The […]
Immigration detention in Germany
Germany’s immigration detention system has undergone major changes since a 2014 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union condemning the country’s use of prisons for immigration purposes. Since then, the country’s detention infrastructure has shrunk from more than 20 to seven long-term facilities, even as new laws have broadened the grounds justifying […]
Immigration detention in Portugal
Portugal implements many strict immigration control measures despite facing comparatively minor migratory pressures. It detains asylum seekers lodging applications at ports of entry; the number of non-EU citizens ordered to leave the country has steadily increased; and it allows the detention of families with children in facilities that the country’s ombudsman considers deficient for this […]
Laws and Practice of Immigration Detention in the European Union: European Union Law vs. International Human Rights Law
Izabella Majcher presented a paper on the the EU detention regime and its compatibility with international human rights law at the Migration Law Section of the 2017 Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) Conference taking place in Dublin on 5-8 September. […]
Challenging Immigration Detention: Academics, Activists, and Policy-Makers
Governments increasingly rely upon detention to control the movement of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. Approaching detention from an interdisciplinary perspective, this new edited volume brings together leading writers and thinkers to provide a greater understanding of why it is such an important social phenomenon and suggest ways to confront it locally and globally. […]
Submission to the Council of Europe’s European Committee on Legal Co-operation
In follow up to participation in the Council of Europe hearing on the draft legal instrument codifying the existing standards related to the conditions of administrative detention of migrants, held in Strasbourg 22-23 June 2017 the GDP submitted written comments to European Committee on Legal Co-operation on 12 July 2017. See details on the […]
When the Exception becomes the rule: European Union Societies on the move
Izabella Majcher to give a presentation titled “Trends in Immigration Detention in the European Union,” which outlines the GDP’s ongoing research on immigration detention in EU countries, at the conference When the Exception becomes the rule: European Union Societies on the move, hosted by International Institute for the Sociology of Law, in Oñati, Spain, 4-5 […]
UN Experts call EU recommendation on return procedures a “slippery slope”
New EU recommendation on return procedures a “slippery slope” to solve European migration challenges – UN experts Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights GENEVA (9 March 2017) – EU countries must explore alternatives to increased detention and swift returns to uphold the human rights of migrants, UN experts* urge, as the EU […]
