The detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants is a growing phenomenon not only in Europe, but worldwide. International law provides for basic rights, but these are not always transposed into national legislation, impeding detainees from claiming these rights. 

International human rights law stipulates that the detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants - either to prevent unauthorised entry or pending removal - must not be arbitrary, and must be carried out on a sound legal basis. Intenational standards and guidelines establish that immigration detention should be used as an exception, in the last resort, rather than automatically. It should be used only when other less restrictive measures have been exhausted.

• The International Commission of Jurists Migration and International Human Rights Law Guide (June 2011) contains a thorough reading of international human rights law in relation to immigration detention (p.147). 
• The International Detention Coalition monitors the use of detention worldwide, and coordinates advocacy initiatives with its partners on a global scale. The Jesuit Refugee Service is a founding member. The IDC is based in Melbourne, Australia.
• The Global Detention Project maps detention worldwide and provides country-by-country information. The GDP is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, established in 1991, investigates cases of deprivation of liberty, collects information from governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations, sends urgent appeals to governments in cases of deprivation of liberty, conducts field missions, formulates deliberations and presents annual reports to the Human Rights Council. The UN WGAD is an important source of human rights standards and guidelines relating to detention.
• The UN Refugee Agency maintains a Refworld database on detention. Here visitors may find the most relevant international legal provisions on detention, declarations and resolutions, UNHCR policy, UNHCR Executive Committee conclusions, as well as a variety of tools, websites and resources from a multitidude of organisations and monitoring bodies.
• In 2012 the Equal Rights Trust published Guidelines to Protect Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention. These Guidelines address a gap in protection which affects the many stateless persons who are held in immigration detention. They aim to complement rules which have been developed to protect asylum seekers and refugees. They focus attention on the vulnerability of stateless persons within the larger population of detained irregular migrants. They see human rights as central to the protection of stateless persons.

Page last updated on: 18/07/2012