The Constitutional Court allowed the legal action of unconstitutionality, which is currently under review. The latter, could be the first legal precedent in Latin America where the Supreme Court of a Latin American state rules on the issue and the legal interpretation that should prevail in immigration detention, in accordance with national and international human rights law, such as non discrimination and the right to personal liberty.

The IDC is currently in contact with organizations in Costa Rica to follow up on developments by the Constitutional Court.

Related news from Costa Rica:

• Suspenden detenciones prolongadas de inmigrantes indocumentados en Costa Rica (Departamento 19), Suspension of long-term detention of irregular migrants in Costa Rica (Departamento 19, English translation)
• Gestión ante Sala IV impide a Migración detener a ilegales (La Nacion), Management Sala IV to prevent illegal migration arrest (La Nacion, English translation)

A new report by European NGO Pro Asyl, in collaboration with the Greek Council for Refugees and other affiliated groups, has like many before it, criticised the Greek government over detention centres in the northern region of Evros, near the Greek-Turkish border in Greece. The report entitled Accounts from the Inside: The Detention Centres of Evros, details the alarming situation of immigration detention in this particular region of Greece and the conditions in which irregular migrants, including vulnerable groups such as trafficked persons, victims of torture and trauma, as well as unaccompanied minors find themselves.

This report has been published at a time when the Greek government has announced the building of a further 30 detention centres within Greece which has been met with concern from civil society groups. Increasing political instability also continues as a result of inconclusive elections and heightened anti-immigrant sentiment remains a major problem throughout the country.

Download the full report by Pro Asyl, Walls of Shame, Accounts From the Inside: The Detention Centres of Evros

Further news from Greece:

• First migrant detention center opens despite protests (Ekathimerini)
• Court rules for migrant detention center (Ekathimerini)
• La Grèce ouvre un premier centre de détention pour clandestins (Original translation, Reuters France)
• Three people dead while trying to escape Frontex control (Keep Talking Greece)
• Greece’s far right hopes for new dawn (BBC)
• UNHCR expresses reservations on the operation of new detention centres for irregular migrants (UNRIC)
• Refugees flock to Greece despite crisis (Al Jazeera/YouTube video)

Under the UPR, each of the 192 UN Member States will have their human rights records reviewed once every four years.  48 States are reviewed each year, and the each country is reviewed by it’s peers, that is, by other member states.

NGOs have the chance to input information prior to the review, but this must be done well in advance.   Whilst the opportunity has passed to submit information for the 13th and 14th sessions of the UPR, groups in Mali, Burundi and Botswana have until July 9 this year to submit reports prior to the review of their countries in the 15th session, to be held in early 2013.

For those who were unable to submit information prior to the review, the UPR process can still help in your advocacy work.  Recommendations made to each government during the review process are made public, as is the government response to each recommendation.  NGOs can keep track of any commitments and recommendations made around immigration detention, and use these as a benchmark for advocacy work, to encourage and pressure governments to stand by them.

Find out more about how you can engage in the UPR process and when your country is under review:

See OHCHR website information about the UPR process

See information here for NGOs about the UPR process

See more on the CRIN website

Governments who have relied on immigration detention are now facing a situation of overcrowded detention facilities, and questions of human rights abuses as a result.  This has contributed to the introduction of “push back” policies. For example, Italy has called for a state of emergency and has momentarily closed its border gates, while France has recently deported 28,000 migrants from its lands. This has seemingly contributed to more migrants and refugees being detained in the Middle East and North Africa. Over the past four months, Libya has detained 1,217 migrants in the city of Benghazi alone and many others in various other cities.

In the Gulf countries, detention is also thought to be an increasing issue, with many concerns regarding the detention of migrant workers who come to the country under the ‘kafala’ system (worker sponsorship system).   Under these systems, migrant workers have their documents and passport confiscated by the employer, leaving them vulnerable to the will and whims of the employer.  A worker unsatisfied with their job or the working conditions (and reports of abuse are widespread), who choose to leave and search for alternate employment or indeed to return home, are at risk of capture and detention by authorities, as they are considered to be undocumented. The Saudi Arabian government has begun drafting to abolish the section of the Kafala system that enables employers to confiscate employees’ passports. This means that migrant workers will be documented at all time and therefore reducing the risk and rate of them being detained. Although this move is minor compared to the large scale of the problem concerning migrant workers in the country and region, there are hopes that this step will encourage and influence Gulf countries to abolish this system completely.

This news article was written by the current IDC student intern.

On 7 May, 2012, ECRE and Amnesty International (Europe) submitted an appeal to the EU institutions urging that the presumption against detention in EU asylum legislation be maintained and to uphold as a minimum, a list of essential safeguards on the detention of asylum seekers in EU asylum legislation.The appeal Not crossing red lines – A negotiator’s checklist on minimum detention safeguards was signed by 166 organisations comprising human rights, medical and judicial civil society organistions active across Europe and internationally. The detrimental effects of detention on the physical and psychological well-being of people fleeing persecution, regardless of their age, sex and physical and psychological health is widely documented. What is more, when asylum seekers are granted international protection, detention can greatly hinder their successful integration into the host society.

Appeal letter to EU Institutions- Ensure respect for asylum seekers right to liberty

ECRE & Amnesty International- Not crossing red lines- A negotiators checklist on minimum detention safeguards

See ECRE website for further information

Human rights groups have previously voiced concerned and criticism however that ICE continues to detain & deport undocumented immigrants who do not have criminal convictions but have been solely targeted for entering the United States irregularly. There are also concerns by human rights groups that ICE continues to target individuals with minor convictions such as traffic offences. Authorities disagree with these allegations.

Further coverage of the issue:

• En megaoperativo detiene EU a 3 mil indocumentados (Original Spanish text, El Universal, Mexico)
• Agents arrest more than 3,000 criminal immigrants in sweep (Reuters)
• Hundreds in South Florida Arrested in ICE Crackdown (NBC Miami)
• ICE arrests 3168 criminal aliens in sweep (ABC News)
• 3100 arrested in 6 day immigration sweep (USA Today)

The 9-month inquiry examined the country’s detention system and has made 31 recommendations. The length of time in detention was found to be the key cause of mental breakdown. Several psychologists said three months was the limit from most detainees. The report recommends that no detainee should be kept longer than 90 days, however many refugee advocates argue that the time frame should be even less with calls from some to enforce a time limit of 30 days. Last financial year the government spent more than $772 million on running detention facilities, compared with an estimated cost of $150 million to operate the community detention program this financial year.

The IDC would urge the Australian government to address fully the concerns highlighted within the parliamentary inquiry’s report and to explore alternatives to detention. We would also urge the Australian government to only ever use detention as a last resort and to look at community based alternatives which have been proven to be cost effective and far less harmful for the individual while still effective in reaching government objectives.

Further news about the inquiry:

• Inquiry finds detention causes mental illness (ABC Lateline)
• MPs detention plea (The Age)
• Time limit urged for detention of asylum seekers (The Australian)
• ASIO detention rulings like ‘Guantanamo Bay’ (ABC)
• Bowen cautious on asylum detention time limit (ABC)
• Amnesty horror stories from detention (ABC)
• Asylum- Is the treatment of detainees in Australia’s immigration detention centres causing long-term mental health problems? (Al Jazeera)

“We need help, we are more than fifty detainees in the Arad detention centre, Romania. We are asylum seekers and they put us in detention… We are a group of men and one pregnant woman.

We are badly treated, worse than animals.

The detention guards are beating us up, badly. This happens often. For example, Tuesday this week…some policemen wanted to spray tear gas on one detainee, we don’t even know why. They brought him to the isolation cell, downstairs, to beat him up. We heard him shout from our cells.”

So begins the report recently published by European NGO, Migreurop, in which they have collected detainee stories from the Arad camp in Romania. The stories told are harrowing accounts of guard brutality, inhumane conditions and the serious and harmful psychological impact of lengthy detention periods.

The IDC would urge Romanian authorities to ensure that minimum standards of care are being met in Romanian detention facilities and that detention is only ever used as a last resort. Reports of violence within detention centres such as Arad should also be thoroughly investigated.

Read more of the Migreurop report on their website: Arad camp (Romania): “We are in hell”- Detainee stories collected by Migreurop on the 08/03/2012

Further news:

• Migrants complain over inhuman conditions in Arad detention centre (Romanian Times)
• Arad camp (Romania)- Handcuffed and beaten for a lighter (Open Access Now)

The campaign was initially founded by the IDC as a result of  IDC members sharing their growing concerns of the practice of detaining children. NGOs from around the world have already endorsed the campaign with interest continuing to grow. As the IDC’s report highlights, thousands of children are locked up every day simply because they do not hold the right documentation. Many of these children are unaccompanied minors. Immigration detention has a devastating effect on children’s physical, emotional and psychological development and must be stopped.

Immigration detention of children occurs globally. It is estimated that there are thousands of children in detention every day and tens of thousands every year, including in Australia, Greece, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa and the United States. For example, Australia currently holds 528 children in secure and remote facilities and there are approximately 100 unaccompanied minors currently detained in Greece. These numbers fluctuate daily and most governments do not keep or release data about child detention. The campaign asks governments first and foremost to end the immigration detention of all children and to collect and publish disaggregated data on children and families subject to immigration detention.

Jeroen Van Hove, Grant Mitchell & Jessica Jones at the launch of the IDC report and global campaign

Detention, even for a very short period of time, can cause long lasting damage and is unnecessary in the case of children and families. “Substantial evidence shows that detention, even for short periods, can seriously damage the mental health and development of children – from infancy through teenage years”, said Dr. Madelyn Hicks, psychiatrist at the launch. “Children also suffer because their parents lose authority over what they eat and how they sleep and because their parents often also suffer from the mental affects of detention.”

The “Captured Childhood” report describes models to prevent the immigration detention of children already in practice in countries such as Belgium, Philippines, Argentina, Sweden and Japan.

“It is possible for governments to end child immigration detention and set up humane alternatives, said Jeroen Van Hove, Campaign Coordinator. “Governments should not detain children just because they are fleeing abuse, war and poverty or don’t have any papers. Many of these children are unaccompanied, have lost their parents, are already traumatized and just want safety. Children should not be locked up. They pose no threat to the community”, he said.

“This is about the basic human rights of children and about obliging governments to respect, care for, and protect their rights as required under international law. It is never in the best interests of a child to be detained for immigration purposes. States should ensure that a minimum level of protection and support for children is in place in the community”, said Dr David Corlett, IDC researcher.

The global campaign to end the immigration detention of children has now been launched internationally and in a number of countries around the world including Malaysia, Tanzania and Australia. The campaign will initially focus on: Australia, Greece, Mexico, Israel, Malaysia, South Africa and the United States.

To find out more, visit: www.endchilddetention.org

Their experiences highlight the need for alternative approaches to managing the irregular migration of children.

The report also introduces a new model to ensure the rights and liberty of refugee, asylum seeker and irregular migrant children affected by immigration detention.

Read more about the report and IDC’s Child-Sensitive Community Assessment & Placement (CCAP) model

View or download the entire IDC Policy Document

Go to the main page about CCAP

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Photo by Bill MacKeith, Campaign to Close Campsfield

Concerns are continuing to be voiced by civil society and UNHCR over the treatment of asylum seekers in detention facilities in the Ukraine as well as of detention conditions more broadly. Since early January 2012, approximately 60 Somali refugees, amongst them women and minors, have been on hunger strike at the Zhuravychi Migrant Accommodation Centre in the Ukraine. According to some recent reports, these individuals have also been attacked by Ukraine riot police who threatened and beat them in order to force them to eat. The police were armed.

In the Ukraine, asylum seekers can be detained for many months. They can also be re-detained immediately after release without reason. Men and women, whole families including women, pregnant or with children and unaccompanied minors are all detained indiscriminately. There are also real concerns about corruption.

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia has spoken out about the situation in Ukraine stating “The authorities must ensure there is no torture or other ill-treatment of these detainees, who should not be held in the first place, these migrants and asylum-seekers are merely trying to escape human rights violations in their countries of origin and they are now being subjected to abuses in Europe.”

Numerous large international NGOs including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have stated that Ukraine is not a safe country for refugees. The number of individuals who receive asylum there amounts to barely any.

Detainees being detained in Ukraine report bad food, lack of medical care and a total lack of any educational or other activities in detention. Some are showing signs of mental problems due to prolonged and repeated detention.

The IDC would urge the Ukraine government to ensure that the human rights of all individuals detained for immigration purposes in their country are upheld. More so, the IDC would urge the Ukraine government to consider exploring and implementing alternatives to detention and to immediately release vulnerable groups out of detention facilities, including children, women and asylum seekers.

Further reports about situation in Ukraine:

UN: UN refugee agency concerned over treatment of asylum seekers in Ukraine

Amnesty International: Press release: Ukraine must release Somali asylum seekers

ProAsyl: German NGO ProAsyl report on detention conditions in the Ukraine

Amnesty International: Ukraine must protect detained asylum seekers attacked by security forces

Human Rights Watch: Ukraine: Stop harassing Somali asylum seekers

Human Rights Watch: Report: Ukraine- Buffeted in the Borderland, The Treatment of Asylum Seekers and Migrants in Ukraine

Global Detention Project: Ukraine Country Profile

Following a sub-regional roundtable on alternatives to immigration detention in South Korea last year, the Japanese government released children from immigration detention, and have subsquently further reformed their policy, with the reduction in the number of prolonged detention cases.

The IDC and Japanese NGOs continue to work with the government on reform efforts, particularly on alternatives to immigration detention, as outlined in the media article below.

Growing cooperation between authorities and NGOs, such as a conference held in Seoul, Korea, last year where Japanese and Korean NGOs and Japanese authorities worked on reform measures, as well as the recent efforts by the Ministry of Justice to speed up aspects of the process, point to some positive changes in attitude by the authorities in these matters.

Japan: Japanese immigration authorities respond to criticism (Majirox News)

With major populations of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons in camps across Africa, sometimes the issue of immigration detention can be hidden.

With IDC members now in numerous African countries, we know however that immigration detention is unfortunately an issue across the continent.  This month a number of members from across the Africa region submitted reports regarding immigration detention to the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants. These reports outlined issues including, but not limited to, arbitrary detention, length of time in detention, refoulement from detention, poor detention conditions, and detention of children.

An urgent area of concern is the criminalisation of migration and the detention of refugees and asylum seekers in prisons and police cells for immigration purposes. Strong civil society networks are already working together however to protect refugees and asylum seekers from detention and indeed to ensure protection under international law, as seen in the Zimbabwe and South Africa articles below. The IDC is looking to increase our membership base across Africa in order to strengthen our capacity to work together with members and engage governments on immigration detention issues across the region.

Lawyers for Human Rights: LHR submission to the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants

Across the Middle East and North Africa, governments struggle with how to manage mixed migration and transitory flows of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.  As seen in other regions of the world, states in MENA are being pressured to act as border guards for their neighbours, including Europe.  Urgent engagement with governments across the Middle East and North Africa is required to stop the trend towards use of immigration detention, and to advocate for an exploration and undetaking of alternatives to detention.

In post revolution Libya, the authorities are reportedly looking to the EU for support to bolster immigration detention centres and to collaborate to stop the transit of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to Europe.  Now is a critical time to explore migration management and protection options that do not involve immigration detention.

Furthermore and of great concern, in January the Israeli parliament passed the ‘Prevention of Infiltration Law’, mandating automatic detention of anyone entering Israel without permission, allowing for people to be held without charge or trial for three or more years.  Those considered to be from countries hostile to Israel, including asylum seekers from surrounding countries, could be detained indefinitely.  Civil society in Israel is now preparing to challenge the situation and ensure respect and promotion of the human rights of everyone in Israel, including those who have reached Israel after perilous journeys through the Sinai desert to seek protection.

Further news reports regarding Israel and the region’s detention and immigration issues:
Egypt: Egyptian police detain 52 Africans crossing into Israel (Times Live), Egypt police kill two Africans on Sinai border
Israel: Cruel and questionable deterrence (Haaretz), Israeli government tells police and prisons to gear up for more migrants (Haaretz), Israel threatens migrants with unlimited detention (Reuters), New detention law violates rights of asylum seekers (Amnesty International), Israel detains 180 Eritreans at Egyptian border (Ma’an News Agency), Israel battles illegal immigration (Video, France24), New law jails asylum seekers for longest in West (Haaretz), Israel will create a detention camp for illegal immigrants (Le Monde, English translation), Israël va créer un camp de rétention d’immigrés clandestins (Le Monde, French original text)

Background
In September 2008, pursuant to Resolution 9/5, the Human Rights Council requested the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of Migrants, other special procedures of the Council and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to pay special attention to cases of arbitrary detention of migrants, particularly of migrant children and adolescents.

More information about the special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of migrants.
Download the IDC submission in PDF.

IDC submission to the Special Rapporteur concerning his report on the issue of immigration detention

El informe presentará las disposiciones legales pertinentes así como la jurisprudencia de mecanismos internacionales y regionales de derechos humanos. El Relator Especial tiene la intención de examinar, entre otros, los temas y objetos de preocupación siguientes: (i) Justificación y razones de detención; (ii) Regímenes de detención; (iii) Condiciones de detención y aplicación de respaldos legales; (iv) Necesidades específicas y problemas de protección de los grupos vulnerables de migrantes (niños, mujeres, familias y migrantes con problemas de salud mental). Se hará hincapié en las buenas prácticas y alternativas a la detención.
Sus contribuciones y sugerencias serán particularmente apreciadas, incluso a través de distintos materiales e informes que fueron publicados y que consideren relevantes.

Les estaríamos muy agradecidos si pudieran mandar sus contribuciones al Relator Especial antes del 30 de enero de 2012, a través de la Oficina de la Alta Comisionada de los derechos humanos (Sra. Christel Mobech, cmobech@ohchr.org , y Sra. Federica Donati, fdonati@ohchr.org , tel. +41 (0) 22 917 9127/ +41 (0) 22 917 9496, copiando migrants@ohchr.org ).

This was the first year that irregular migration was a major theme at the GFMD, with the issues of criminalization, rights and family-based migratory frameworks also central.

Civil society concerns continue to be raised regarding the lack of a normative global governance framework on migration, that GFMD sits outside a normative/UN system, and that migration continues to be viewed from a national security lens and not on human security and protection.

Immigration detention was a key point of discussion, including the urgent need for alternatives to immigration detention. The IDC intervention on this is listed below.

With few IDC members attending, and immigration detention, refugee, asylum seeker and stateless persons not a core agenda item, it was beneficial to have the Secretariat attend. IDC Director Grant Mitchell was asked to be on the writing team to develop the statement to states attending, and this included a call to states to not detain vulnerable groups and to explore alternatives to immigration detention.

A big thank you to the Internation Catholic Migrant Commission for their great working in organising the GFMD Civil Society Days.

Read the final report to states

A new report by IDC member Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Europe has concluded that detaining migrants is unnecessary because more humane non-custodial alternatives exist in Europe.

The report is based on in-depth interviews by JRS Europe with 25 migrants participating in alternative to detention programmes in Belgium, Germany and the UK. It found that although community-based measures are clearly a step in the right direction, unless they are accompanied by appropriate legal, social and other support, migrants can be forced into destitution.

“Community-based measures are more humane than detention, so long as migrants are given adequate support”, said Philip Amaral, JRS Europe Advocacy Officer and author of the report.

The report goes further in highlighting that community-based alternatives are five times cheaper than immigration detention, which costs states like Belgium and the UK as much as 200 euro per day. In times of economic crisis, EU states should implement cost-effective alternatives to detention, rather than waste precious resources on a harmful and ineffective system.

“Detention is akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nutshell. It does not make sense to deprive the liberty of large groups of migrants on the assumption that a minority would abscond from the authorities”, said Mr Amaral.

In each of the three projects that JRS researched, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants live freely in the community with few restrictions. The individuals and families who were interviewed expressed a strong desire to fully cooperate with the national authorities, based on their interest to resolve their cases as effectively as possible.

“Alternatives-to-detention work best when they are linked with improvements in the larger system. The migrants with whom we spoke strive to be honest in their dealings with the national authorities. They ask to be treated in a dignified and fair manner, with access to good legal advice and basic social support – conditions that are necessary for effective asylum and immigration systems ”, concluded Mr Amaral.

JRSEuropeFromDeprivationToLiberty20122011