Below is an non-extensive list of tools and resources on immigration detention. It is meant for anyone visiting detention centres: volunteers, NGO staff, social workers, legal providers, pastoral counsellors, official monitoring bodies, policymakers, etc. These resources have been assembled from a variety of other sources, in particular the International Detention Coalition. 

JRS EUROPE RESOURCES

• Becoming Vulnerable in Detention (2010) -- Based on interviews with 685 asylum seekers and irregular migrants in 23 EU countries. Proposes an alternative model for assessing vulnerability in situations of detention.

• Detention Conditions in the Ten New Member States (2007) -- Report on detention conditions for asylum seekers and irregular migrants in the ten countries that acceded to the EU in 2004.

• Detention in Europe (2005) -- JRS Europe's first report on detention conditions in the European Union

• Alternatives to Detention for Asylum Seekers: Working Paper (2008)

• Anna Marie Gallagher, Helen Ireland and Naboth Muchopa, Handbook for Visitors and Workers in Detention Centres (for JRS Europe, 2006)

GUIDELINES AND MANUALS

• Detention Watch Network, Visiting Immigrants in U.S. Detention Facilities (2009)

• Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees (AVID), Immigration Detention: A Handbook for visitors (2011). *Go to AVID's website to learn how you can obtain a copy.

• Amnesty International, Irregular Migrants and Asylum-Seekers: Alternatives to Immigration Detention (2009)

• Amnesty International, Migration-Related Detention: A Research Guide on Human Rights Standards Relevant to the Detention of Migrants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees (2007)

• Association for the Prevention of Torture, Monitoring Places of Detention - A Practical Guide (2004)

• Nottingham University, Detention Monitoring Toolkit for Human Rights Advocates (2008)

• International Detention Coalition, Working with refugees and asylum seekers in places of detention: Tools and resources for legal providers (2011)

• International Detention Coalition, Detention monitoring checklist (2011)

• International Detention Coalition, Legal framework and standards relating to the detention of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants (2011)

• International Detention Coalition, Immigration Detention at the UN Level (2011)

• International Detention Coalition, There Are Alternatives: A handbook for preventing unnecessary immigratoin detention (2011)

• International Detention Coalition, 10 point position on immigration detention 

CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS

• Association for the Prevention of Torture -- The APT is an international non-governmental organization whose primary focus is the abolition of torture worldwide.  It carries out this work through advocacy, capacity building and producing practical tools, such as its guide on monitoring detention places.

• Global Detention Project -- The GDP is a research project that investigates the role that detention plays in states’ responses to global migration.  The GDP website contains information on the situation and laws relating to immigration detention in countries around the world.

• International Detention Coalition -- The IDC is a network of more than 200 non-governmental organizations, faith-based groups, academics and individuals that provide legal, social, medical and other services, carry out research and reporting, and undertake advocacy and policy work on behalf of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in detention.   Its website contains a database with resources relating to detention issues worldwide.  In addition, it contains links to its members which work with detainees in over 50 countries.

• See the 'links' section of this website for other organisations working on detention

UNITED NATIONS

• UN High Commissioner for Refugees -- UNHCR’s guidelines relating to detention of asylum seekers can be found on its website in addition to other resources, including reports on alternatives to detention and UNCHR Executive Committee (ExCom) conclusions relating to detention. 

• UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention -- The WGAD receives individual complaints relating to conditions of detention, conducts country visits and can respond to emergency requests relating to detention.

• UN Committee Against Torture -- This committee is a body of ten independent experts which monitors the implementation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by its State Parties. The Committee monitors compliance through consideration of individual complaints or inquiries, by conducting country visits and by receiving inter-state complaints.

• Optional Protocal to the Convention Against Torture (Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture) -- The Protocol gives the SPT authority to visit the places of detention of those States party to the OPCAT, and to examine the treatment of the people held there.

UNHCR RESOURCES

• RefWorld database on detention -- Provides extensive resources on the legal and social aspects of detention, on a global and regional level, as well as reports and tools.

• Operational Protection in Camps and Settlements (2006)

• Ophelia Field and Alice Edwards, Alternatives to the Detention of Asylum Seekers and Refugees (2006)

• Procedural Standards for Refugee Standard Determination under UNHCR's Mandate (2005)

• Revised Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards Relating to the Detention of Asylum Seekers (February 2009)

• Alice Edwards, Back to Basics: The right to liberty and security of person and 'alternatives to detention' of refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless persons and other migrants (2011)

COUNCIL OF EUROPE

• European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) -- The CPT organises visits to places of detention, in order to assess how persons deprived of their liberty are treated. These places include prisons, juvenile detention centres, police stations, holding centres for immigration detainees, psychiatric hospitals, social care homes, etc. CPT delegations have unlimited access to places of detention, and the right to move inside such places without restriction. They interview persons deprived of their liberty in private, and communicate freely with anyone who can provide information. 

• Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Refugees, Migration and Population, The detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants in Europe, by Mme Ana Catarina Mendonça Mendes (2010)

EUROPEAN UNION

• EU Fundamental Rights Agency, Detention of third country nationals in return procedures (2010)

Last updated on: 10/08/2011