This is a compilation of the tweets by the Africa Regional Coordinator of the International Detention Coalition. For live updates, follow @IDCAfrica
Regional: High risk of statelessness and detention of displaced persons across the region.
“Crackdown fuels migration crisis within Africa”. The majority of Africans who emigrate remain within Africa. With European Union and African heads of state due to meet in Malta in November to discuss the Mediterranean migration crisis, experts say any solution needs to address the lack of economic possibilities in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Rape, Stigma, Poverty – the Lot of Urban Refugees in Cameroon“. With minimal protections in place, and hostile attitudes from nationals, refugees in urban centers such as Yaoundé are consistently vulnerable to unlawful arrests, detention, deportation and sexual exploitation.
Malawi: Horrific conditions for hundreds arrested and detained in Malawi en route to South Africa. Built to accommodate 800 prisoners, Maula prison in the capital city of Lilongwe, currently houses about 2,650 inmates. 300 of whom are undocumented migrants.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have been working inside the prison over the past year, and have observed that the number of foreign citizens, mostly Ethiopians, detained in Malawi for ‘illegal’ entry has increased in the past few years. Whilst most have been charged for three months, in reality, undocumented migrants have been detained for much longer. Malawi law requires that after their period of detention, migrants are to return to their homelands; a journey of repatriation, that they are expected to cover the expenses for. Yet bureaucratic delays have left those indefinitely locked-up increasingly vulnerable to physical and mental ill-health in an overcrowded, under-resourced prison.