In early November, Bulgarian authorities sent 350 additional military personnel to its border with Turkey because of concerns over increasing migration and refugee pressures. The Bulgarian Interior Ministry reported that during January-September 2021, more than 6,500 people were detained after entering the country irregularly. This was a threefold increase compared to the same period in […]
Human Rights
Belarus: Covid-19 and Detention
The escalating crisis on the Belarus-Polish border has spurred a growing number of countries to accuse Belarus of weaponizing migrant and refugee movements, using them as pawns to destabilise the European Union. At the same time, there is growing international outrage over Poland’s response to the situation–as well as that of other countries that border […]
Mexico: Covid-19 and Detention
Mexico’s Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) reported that by the end of September 2021, a total of 108,195 asylum applications had been submitted since the start of the year, the highest figure reported by Mexican authorities. Andrés Ramirez, the general coordinator for COMAR highlighted that this figure is already 53.8 percent higher than the previous […]
Poland: Covid-19 and Detention
The escalating crisis on the Belarus-Polish border has spurred a growing number of countries to accuse Belarus of weaponizing migrant and refugee movements, using them as pawns to destabilise the European Union. At the same time, there is growing international outrage over Poland’s response to the situation–as well as that of other countries that border […]
Belgium: Covid-19 and Detention
The Belgian NGO Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen reported that during 19-22 October 2021, between 60-150 asylum seekers were being denied access to the asylum registration procedure per day, and in consequence did not have access to reception. As reported on 11 August 2020 on this platform, many asylum seekers were sleeping rough after being released from detention. […]
United Kingdom: Covid-19 and Detention
In late October, reports emerged of far right groups targeting hotels where Afghan refugees were being accommodated. Britain First and other far right organisations say they are concerned at the cost of resettlement of Afghan refugees. According to the Guardian, Britain First has made several unsolicited visits to hotels housing refugees, trying to approach refugees […]
Australia: Covid-19 and Detention
On 18 October 2021, refugees and asylum seekers detained at Melbourne’s Park Hotel held a protest against their detention at the hotel during a COVID-19 outbreak. The detained decried their shared sleeping quarters, cramped eating and recreation spaces, and the fact that many of them are medically vulnerable. Three positive cases had been confirmed and […]
Libya: Covid-19 and Detention
There have been numerous recent reports of mass raids targeting migrants and asylum seekers across Libya, resulting in thousands of people being detained in western Libya during the first week of October. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), 5,152 migrants were detained in the raids, which were described by Libyan authorities as part […]
Lithuania: Covid-19 and Detention
In July 2021, Lithuania accused Belarus of using vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers as political pawns in its ongoing spat with the EU by pushing them across the border into Lithuania and other neighbouring countries. The EU had previously imposed sanctions on Belarus in June over an “escalation of serious human rights violations and the […]
Statement by Abdul Aziz Muhamat* at the launch of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers’ General Comment No. 5 (2021) on migrants’ right to liberty
Statement by Abdul Aziz Muhamat at the launch event for the UN Committee on Migrant Workers’ General Comment No. 5 (2021) on migrants’ rights to liberty, freedom from arbitrary detention and their connection with other human rights by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
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