Despite calls from UNHCR and several rights groups to cease unlawful expulsions of people escaping the conflict in Burkina Faso, Ghana continues to detain and deport refugees fleeing that country’s spiralling conflict with jihadist groups. The Sahel Refugee Crisis and its Effects on Northern Ghana Since 2022, with the escalating jihadist conflict affecting the Sahel, […]
Refoulement
South Africa: Challenging Abusive Detention Practices in Court
Refugee rights groups are pursuing legal action against South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs in response to what it claims are unlawful arrests, detentions, and deportations of new asylum applicants. They denounce these practices as a violation of human rights, the country’s Constitution, and international law, including the principle of non-refoulement. A coalition of NGOs […]
An EU-Lebanon Refugee Deal Amidst An Unprecedented Crackdown on Refugees
The EU’s recently signed deal with Lebanon to provide financial assistance for hosting refugees and boosting border security comes as Lebanese authorities pursue an “unprecedented” crackdown targeting Syrian refugees. Human rights groups fear that the deal will keep refugees out of Europe while facilitating their deportation to Syria, in violation of human rights obligations. In […]
Egypt: Detaining and Refouling Sudanese Refugees Fleeing Spiralling Conflict in Sudan
There are increasing calls for Egypt to stop its summary detention and deportation of Sudanese who are fleeing the escalating crisis in their country, as well as growing pressure on the European Union to take steps to prevent its aid to the country from being used to violate the rights of refugees. The conflict in […]
Urgent Appeal on the Detention and Refoulement of Sudanese Refugees in Egypt
With the escalating conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese army and opposition paramilitary forces entering its twelfth month, the humanitarian crisis in the country continues to deteriorate, with important spill-over effects into neighbouring Egypt. As large numbers of Sudanese refugees have entered Egypt, Egyptian authorities have responded by ramping up arrests, arbitrary detentions, pushbacks, and […]
Reports of Refoulement in Kyrgyzstan Amidst Fears of Shrinking Asylum Space
In December, UNHCR expressed “grave concern” at the disappearance of an asylum seeker in Kyrgyzstan and his refoulement to his country of origin. Similar incidents have been reported in recent years, with rights observers also decrying the country’s shrinking asylum space. According to UNHCR, on 16/17 October an asylum seeker was arrested by security services […]
The Threat of Detention for Myanmar Refugees in India
Authorities in Uttar Pradesh have launched a crackdown on Rohingya refugees, leading to the arrest and detention of dozens of people apprehended during raids at camps. The arrests are part of a wider, nationwide policy targeting refugees from Myanmar. With no legal limits on detention, refugees can be held indefinitely. Recently, when a group who […]
Romania’s Treatment of Migrants and Asylum Seekers Challenged by UN Committee against Torture
On 19 and 20 July, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) considered the third periodic report of Romania. In its concluding observations following its review, CAT noted several concerns regarding the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in the country, including the immigration detention of vulnerable groups such as unaccompanied children and victims of torture; […]
Azerbaijan: Armed Conflict, Pandemic, and Immigration Detention
Azerbaijan lauds the operations at its immigration detention centres, which opened less than a decade ago. But with civil society tightly controlled, there are few independent reports detailing detention conditions. Important monitoring bodies like the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture have also yet to fully investigate this issue. […]
Immigration Detention in Tunisia: Shrouded in Secrecy
Foreigners in Tunisia, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa, face endemic racism, little or no possibility of seeking asylum because the country has yet to adopt a refugee protection regime, and pushbacks into Libya and Algeria. There is little transparency with respect to detention conditions of migrants and refugees or their treatment in border regions. Although the country had begun implementing measures in March 2020 to safeguard staff and inmates at the country’s prisons in response to the Covid-19 crisis, no such measures appear to have been taken with respect to people detained for immigration reasons. […]
