UNHCR has recently published a set of recommendations relating to proposed amendments to Estonian national asylum legislation.
The proposal to amend Estonia’s Act on Granting International Protection to Aliens (AGIPA) contains, in the view of UNHCR, a much too broad range of cases where an asylum seeker may be detained, which could lead to their arbitrary and systematic detention, prohibited under international law.
The IDC is also highly concerned over these developments and would urge the Estonian government to review their proposal and to ensure that international and regional obligations are upheld and that detention is only ever used as a last resort after alternatives to detention have been fully explored and exhausted.
See UNHCR’s recommendations in full.