Global Detention Project

28/05/2026

Tanzania: Allegations of Detention Amidst Coerced Returns

The Global Detention Project has received allegations from Burundian refugees in Tanzania reporting the detention of individuals who leave Nyarugusu refugee camp, restrictions on their movement within the camp, and increased harassment and intimidation reportedly aimed at encouraging departures from the country.

These allegations, which align with reports from other observers, suggest a broader pattern of pressure on Burundian refugees that coincides with efforts by Tanzanian authorities to close refugee camps and coerce returns.

Read more: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/tanzania-allegations-of-detention-amidst-coerced-returns

20/05/2026

📢 Our 2025 Annual Report is now live: *Building Momentum to Roll Back Immigration Detention*

In a year marked by expanding detention and deportation regimes worldwide, the report documents how the Global Detention Project continued to advance research, advocacy, and international engagement in defence of migrants', refugees', and asylum seekers' rights.

As one former detainee released from Welisara Detention Centre in Sri Lanka with support from the GDP and local partners shared:

“Although this experience has been challenging and unjust, it has made me truly aware of the power and hope represented by international human rights organizations and principled legal professionals. I will always remember and cherish the assistance and support provided by your organization.”

Some of the key highlights from the year include:

⭐ Impacting policy recommendations issued by international human rights mechanisms aimed at ending harmful detention measures in nearly two dozen countries.
⭐ Facilitating assistance for detainees through our global network of partners.
⭐ Using data to expose detention practices. We logged more than 10,000 data entries covering 200 countries and 840 detention centres.
⭐ Building an evidentiary record of detainee treatment aimed at piercing the opacity surrounding detention practices.
⭐ Documenting the growing number of bilateral agreements aimed at shifting responsibility for migration and asylum procedures to third countries.
⭐ Launching the GDP’s Lived Experience Fellowship to centre the expertise of former detainees, refugees, and migrants in advocacy and documentation work.

Read the full report here: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/2025-annual-report-building-momentum-to-roll-back-immigration-detention

07/05/2026

In April, after the Democratic Republic of Congo announced the launch of a “temporary reception system for third country nationals,” a group of deportees from the United States arrived, marking the latest expansion of the Trump administration’s massive immigration crackdown and deportation agenda.

Upon arrival, the group were placed in a hotel from which they were reportedly prevented from leaving, raising credible fears of de facto detention.

With the DRC facing a severe and well-documented human rights crisis characterised by ongoing armed conflict, mass displacement, and widespread abuses by state and non-state actors, the choice of destination is a deeply troubling one.

Read more: https://lnkd.in/eKvQk-Mc

23/04/2026

Despite rights bodies calling for stronger protections for migrants on the "Southern Route," the UK & Kenya have signed an MOU on "border security" reinforcing a securitised approach to migration that includes detention in police stations & prisons.

Analysis of Kenya’s migration detention policies, examining the tension between national security and the protection of refugees and asylum seekers.

17/03/2026

EU plans in eastern Libya threaten increased “pullbacks” and detentions

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Amidst growing numbers of irregular departures from eastern Libya towards the Greek islands of Gavdos and Crete, internal EU documents reveal plans to collaborate with the country’s de facto leader Gen. Khalifa Haftar to intercept irregularly departing migrants.

The plans could significantly expand Libya’s migrant “pullbacks,” leading to more people being stranded in the country’s network of detention facilities, which have been repeatedly denounced for their inhuman conditions.

Read more: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/libya-eu-plans-in-eastern-libya-threaten-increased-pullbacks-and-detentions

26/02/2026

⚠️ Cyprus - Stepping Up Efforts to Return Non-Nationals During EU Council Presidency

In recent weeks, Cypriot authorities have stepped up nationwide enforcement raids targeting irregular and undocumented migrants resulting in dozens of detentions and deportations. These events are part of the country’s wider focus on stepping up the return of non-nationals to their countries of origin–something that the country also seeks to prioritise during its Presidency of the EU Council.

These recent enforcement operations are part of a broader trend in Cyprus. During the past few years, there has been heightened scrutiny of the country’s migrant-control practices, which have included pushbacks at sea, asylum seekers being left stranded in the buffer zone, widespread detention of migrants and asylum seekers in police cells, the alleged murder of a Pakistani migrant (Shoaib Khan) near the buffer zone, and claims of abuse by police during raids–such as in the case of a 2024 raid on an apartment in Limassol which resulted in the death of a Bangladeshi national, Anisur Rahman.

Read more: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/cyprus-stepped-up-efforts-to-return-non-nationals-during-eu-council-presidency

19/02/2026

"The state cannot prevent the public from knowing where they are keeping deportees who are not even citizens. That goes to the whole idea of shady deals in the dark." Joseph Awah Fru (a lawyer who has been assisting the deportees in Cameroon)

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As of mid-February, the Trump administration has quietly deported seventeen men and women to Cameroon under a murky arrangement that is part of broader U.S. efforts to send “unremovable” migrants and asylum seekers to third countries.

Upon arrival, deportees have been detained in a “state-owned compound in Yaoundé.” According to observers with whom the Global Detention Project has been in email correspondence, the detention compound is opposite the Presbyterian Church Adna. Here's our page on the centre: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/africa/cameroon/detention-centres/2929/ad-hoc-detention-compound-yaounde

However, Cameroonian authorities appear to be attempting to shield the detention operations here from scrutiny: on 17 February, four journalists and a lawyer representing the detainees were arrested outside the compound. Media reports allege that at least one of the journalists was beaten, and that prior to their release, journalists' phones, cameras, and laptops were confiscated by the police.

More here: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/cameroon-another-third-country-removal-scheme-ending-with-detention

The world’s leading research centre for immigration detention as response to migration and refugee movements; promoting respect for the rights of detainees.

11/02/2026

⚠️ Poland - More migrant children to be detained following controversial legislative changes

"Immigration detention of asylum-seeking unaccompanied children became legally permissible in Poland in January 2026 as a result of a 2025 amendment to Poland’s Law on International Protection," writes Maja Lysienia, PhD (Association for Legal Intervention).

"The Polish government insists that the amendment, which was adopted without public consultations, will help keep children safe despite the fact that it contravenes Poland’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as EU and domestic law."

Read more: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/guest-post-poland-more-migrant-children-to-be-detained-following-controversial-legislative-changes

05/02/2026

📢 *EU: New Return Regulation Threatens to Significantly Expand Detention, Warn UN Special Procedures *

UN Special Procedure mandate holders have raised serious concerns about the EC's proposed Return Regulation, expressing serious doubts about its compatibility with international human rights obligations and warning that it normalises punitive and disproportionate measures–and would likely result in an expanded use of detention across member states.

Along with new grounds for detention, a failure to protect children and other vulnerable groups from detention, and extending the maximum length of detention from 18 to 24 months (while also providing for indefinite detention in certain cases, such as detention on the grounds of threat to safety and security)–the proposed Regulation does not require authorities to determine whether less coercive measures can be applied when weighing a detention order, making detention the rule rather than exception.

Of particular concern to the UN experts is the fact that while it does propose the use of various ATDs, it promotes applying these measures outside the framework of adjudicating detention orders and instead as additional measures to detention (when detention is not, or is no longer, justified). They note: "Labelling such measures as ‘alternatives to detention’ is therefore misleading and normalises the use of restrictive measures and surveillance. We oppose using alternatives to detention as alternatives to release and turning personal freedom into an exception."

Read more: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/eu-new-return-regulation-threatens-to-significantly-expand-detention-warn-un-special-procedures

27/01/2026

*Health in Immigration Detention*

A new report from the World Health Organisation–prepared by the GDP’s Michael Flynn with assistance from Sanja Milivojevic (University of Bristol) and GDP staff–reveals the inherently harmful impact of immigration detention on the health and well-being of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers across the globe.

Based on an exhaustive review of evidence from scholarly studies, official documents, and human rights monitoring agencies, the report demonstrates how immigration detainees experience harmful social and environmental conditions, are often denied access to medical procedures and screening, and suffer lasting physical and mental harms.

Yet, despite the growing body of evidence about its harmful impacts, immigration detention is rapidly expanding in nearly every region of the world. The evidence summarised in this study reveals the urgent need for states to uphold these norms and to actively work to limit the use of detention measures.

"Ultimately, to prevent the damaging health impacts of detention, immigration detention should be avoided during migration and asylum proceedings.”

Read more: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/health-in-immigration-detention-gdp-evidence-brief-for-the-who