Migrants and asylum seekers who test positive for COVID-19 are routinely being confined in “inadequate conditions” on quarantine ships stationed off the country’s coast. According to ARCI (Associazione Ricreativa Culturale Italiana), five quarantine ships are currently in operation; however, the total number of people quarantined on these vessels has not been released. Following a visit […]
European Union
Greece: Covid-19 and Detention
Amidst a surge in cases across the country, several migrants and asylum seekers held in Chios’ Reception and Identification Centre (RIC) are reported to have tested positive for COVID-19. (The exact number remains unclear: while Greek media referred to two positive cases confirmed in Chios hospital, InfoMigrants cited reports of “at least 30” confirmed cases.) […]
Netherlands: Covid-19 and Detention
Unlike many of its EU neighbours, the Netherlands largely avoided implementing strict measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. But in the past month, the country has seen a surge in new cases, leaving the Netherlands with one of the highest infection rates in the world (160 […]
Amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007
For over a decade, the GDP has relentlessly pushed states to provide better migration detention data, in particular in the European Union, where Eurostat maintains a wealth of statistics on a range of key immigration enforcement measures—except detention. Until now. In June, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted proposed reforms to […]
Foreign nationals deprived of their liberty in Malta (from report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture 2020 visit to Malta)
1. Preliminary remarks; (Read full CPT report) 8. Malta, a small densely populated Mediterranean island of around 515,000 people, measuringsome 246 km², is situated in a highly strategic location at the border of Europe, lying directly northby sea from Tripoli, Libya. For asylum seekers and migrants crossing the Mediterranean, some fromconflict-ridden home countries and others […]
Greece: Covid-19 and Detention
More than 240 refugees and migrants have tested positive for Covid-19 in the newly erected Kara Tepe camp on Lesvos. The new camp, which was constructed after a fire levelled Moria camp, is built on a former military firing range near the main town of Mytilene. In the wake of the Moria fire, more than […]
Metsälä Detention Unit for Foreign Nationals from report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture 2020 visit to Finland)
B. Foreign nationals deprived of their liberty under aliens legislation (Read full CPT report)25. There had been no major changes to the legal framework for immigration detention since the2014 visit. As previously, foreign nationals could be deprived of their liberty by the police or theBorder Guard if it was necessary to establish their identity, to […]
Greece: Covid-19 and Detention
On 9 September 2020, a few days after several people in Lesvos’ Moria Camp tested positive for Covid-19, fires broke out that destroyed the camp, leaving some 13,000 people without shelter and resulting in a major humanitarian crisis. It is unclear how the fires began but according to Greece’s migration minister, the fires “began with […]
France: Covid-19 and Detention
In its response to the GDP’s Covid-19 survey, La Cimade, a French human rights NGO that operates inside many of the country’s immigration detention centres (Centres de Rétention Administrative or CRAs), confirmed previous reports that the country had not implemented a detention moratorium since the onset of the pandemic. The organisation explained, however, that in […]
Spain: Covid-19 and Detention
In Melilla, more than 1,400 refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants–including 150 women and 143 children–have again been confined in the enclave’s overcrowded CETI (Center for Temporary Stay of Immigrants) following a Covid-19 diagnosis. On 21 August, the facility was closed with no-one permitted to enter or exit–despite a judge’s decision on 24 August to overturn […]
