The UK’s Home Affairs Select Committee has called on the government to investigate concerns that cramped conditions in asylum accommodation are putting people at risk of the virus. In particular, the Committee noted its concerns regarding reports of poor conditions in an asylum centre in West Yorkshire that reportedly breached measures to control the spread […]
Human Rights
Hong Kong (China): Covid-19 and Detention
Hong Kong (officially the Hong Kong Special Adminsitrative Region) began taking measures to contain and combat the COVID-19 pandemic in early February after thousands of medical workers undertook a week-long strike to demand the government close the border with China and provide workers with personal protective equipment, among others measures. From 25 March 2020, the […]
Canada: Covid-19 and Detention
While Canada took measures early on to shrink populations in its dedicated immigration detention centres, people still remain in detention and there are questions about the extent to which immigration detainees confined in prisons have been provided additional safeguards. According to Solidarity Across Borders, as of 16 April the Laval Immigration Detention Center continued to […]
Malawi: Covid-19 and Detention
As of 19 April Malawi did not have any reported cases of Covid-19. The country has also not taken any measures to lockdown businesses as the country’s High Court blocked such measures in a ruling on 19 April. However, there are growing concerns among civil society organizations about the impact the virus could have in […]
Guatemala: Covid-19 and Detention
On 19 April 2020, Guatemalan President, Alejandro Giammattei, stated that a total of 50 migrants deported by the United States to Guatemala have tested positive for Covid-19. Human Rights advocates had been warning for weeks that deportation flights from the United States, the country with the largest known number of Covid-19 cases, could spread the […]
Ireland: Covid-19 and Detention
A hotel that was converted to a “direct provision” asylum reception site in the town of Cahersiveen has been placed under lockdown after several residents tested positive for Covid-19. More than one hundred asylum seekers were transferred four weeks ago to the hotel to await the outcomes of their asylum procedures. All the residents have […]
Bahrain: Covid-19 and Detention
Although little information regarding the country’s immigration detention system is available, data collected by the GDP over the past years shows that the country has used at least five facilities to hold immigration detainees, including prisons and detention centres (see the GDP’s Bahrain immigration detention profile). In 2017, the country had around 820,000 international migrants, […]
Tunisia: Covid-19 and Detention
As of 17 April 2020, there were 780 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 35 deaths related to the virus in Tunisia. No cases had yet been recorded among the prison population. While the President released 1,420 prisoners at the end of March, the GDP has been unable to find reports indicating that any measures to protect […]
Rwanda: Covid-19 and Detention
Refugees and migrants, relocated to Rwanda from Libya and subsequently held in Gashora Emergency Transit Centre outside Kigali, have protested against their lockdown. Rwanda has accepted several hundred persons, evacuated from Libya’s notorious detention facilities. Some have been screened and approved for relocation to countries including Canada and Norway, but the lockdown has suspended their […]
Russian Federation: Covid-19 and Detention
On 18 April, President Putin signed a decree “On Temporary Measures to Resolve the Legal Situation of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons in the Russian Federation in Connection with the Threat of Further Spread of the new Coronavirus Infection Covid-19.” This new decree provides that the period from 15 March until 15 June 2020 will […]
