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 […]
Human Rights
Argentina: Covid-19 and Detention
On 31 August 2020, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child praised Argentina’s decision to not deport a Peruvian mother after she completed her sentence for drug trafficking, taking into account the best interests of her three children, marking a new precedent in the country. In 2000, she was sentenced to imprisonment and […]
Greece: Covid-19 and Detention
Greek authorities reported the first confirmed Covid-19 case in Lesvos’ overcrowded Moria Camp. In response, the country’s ministries for asylum, health, and civil protection announced in a joint statement that the camp would be closed for 14 days, and that authorities were actively tracing and testing all persons who had come into contact with the […]
Brunei Darussalam: Covid-19 and Detention
There is little available information about the treatment of migrants or asylum seekers in Brunei. The government reports that the country has no asylum seekers or refugees, although in the past the country has reported that it has more than 20,000 stateless residents. On 17 March, the Health Ministry stated that “any individual arriving in […]
Botswana: Covid-19 and Detention
Botswana, which has long operated a “Centre for Illegal Migrants” at Francistown near the border with Zimbabwe and a refugee camp in Dukwi, has struggled in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, repeatedly shutting down various regions of the country as cases have spread. While there appears to be little public information about whether measures […]
Paraguay: Covid-19 and Detention
In its official response to the GDP’s Covid-19 survey, Paraguay’s Immigration Service (Dirección General de Migraciones, DGM) reported that the country had not implemented a detention moratorium since the onset of the pandemic. The DGM explained that it is not authorised to order immigration-related detention, that that requires judicial intervention, as per Ley 978/96 de […]
Marshall Islands: Covid-19 and Detention
The Marshall Islands are not signatory to the Refugee Convention, there is no system in place for providing protection to refugees, and there is little information available regarding the country’s treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in immigration enforcement procedures. As of early September 2020, there were no confirmed cases of Covid-19. […]
Bhutan: Covid-19 and Detention
As of 2019, Bhutan reportedly had no immigration detention centres and few cases of people being placed in detention for immigration-related reasons. On 23 March, it was made mandatory for all persons travelling into Bhutan to undergo a period of quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. There have been reports of people being […]
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Covid-19 and Detention
Amidst rising xenophobic sentiment in the country (see 29 April update on this platform), in mid-August residents of Velika Kladusa (in the Krajina region, on the Bosnian-Croatian border) staged a protest to denounce purported assaults by foreigners on local civilians. The protestors reportedly blocked a road leading to an asylum seeker reception centre. During the […]
United Kingdom: Covid-19 and Detention
During the first two weeks of August, more than 650 migrants and asylum seekers crossed the Channel from France. With fewer lorries able to cross during the pandemic, migrants and asylum seekers have increasingly sought to attempt the journey in dinghies, often with the aid of smugglers. The country’s Home Office has been advancing alarmist […]
