Detention Of Asylum Seekers In Europe Analysis And Perspectives

This volume presents a compilation of cross-disciplinary essays written by representatives of non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations, practising lawyers, academics, researchers and a psychiatrist, which reflect the heightened concern among European refugee and human rights organisations about the increasing practice of detaining asylum seekers. Topics explored include recent trends in western, central and eastern Europe; detention practice in the US, Canada and Australia; UNHCR's approach to detention of refugees and asylum seekers; and the mental health implications of detention from a psycho-medical viewpoint. In addition, the relevant European and UN legal instruments are analysed, and examples are given from the case law. The book is supplemented by detailed appendices setting out the texts of relevant international legal provisions, together with a number of other reference documents, including UNHCR's 1995 Guidelines on Detention and ECRE's 1996 and 1997 papers on detention and alternatives to detention. In addition to providing both a description of current practice and a theoretical, legal analysis of this type of administrative detention, this volume is intended to serve as a practical tool and source of reference for individuals and organisations engaged in defending the rights of asylum seekers today.

This volume presents a compilation of cross-disciplinary essays written by representatives of non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations, practising lawyers, academics, researchers and a psychiatrist, which reflect the heightened concern among European refugee and human rights organisations about the increasing practice of detaining asylum seekers. Topics explored include recent trends in western, central and eastern Europe; detention practice in the US, Canada and Australia; UNHCR's approach to detention of refugees and asylum seekers; and the mental health implications of detention from a psycho-medical viewpoint. In addition, the relevant European and UN legal instruments are analysed, and examples are given from the case law. The book is supplemented by detailed appendices setting out the texts of relevant international legal provisions, together with a number of other reference documents, including UNHCR's 1995 Guidelines on Detention and ECRE's 1996 and 1997 papers on detention and alternatives to detention. In addition to providing both a description of current practice and a theoretical, legal analysis of this type of administrative detention, this volume is intended to serve as a practical tool and source of reference for individuals and organisations engaged in defending the rights of asylum seekers today.

This book offers a unique comparative assessment of the evolution of immigration detention systems in European Union member states since the onset of the “refugee crisis.” By applying an analytical framework premised on international human rights law in assessing domestic detention regimes, the book reveals the extent to which EU legislation has led to the adoption of laws and practices that may disregard fundamental rights and standards. While emphasizing policies and laws adopted in response to the “refugee crisis,” the volume also shows how these policies have evolved—and in many cases grown more restrictive—even as the “crisis” has begun to recede from the borders of many European countries. To sharpen awareness of contrasting developments across the region, the book’s country chapters are organised into geographic sections that reveal how variations in migration pressures have in some cases resulted in contrasting detention practices even as the EU directives have sought to harmonise immigration laws. A critical focus of the book are the evolving domestic norms related to grounds for detention, length of detention, non-custodial "alternatives to detention," the treatment of children, and conditions of detention. With its systematic and comparative assessment of immigration detention regimes across the EU, the book will be helpful for both academics and practitioners who seek a comprehensive guide to the evolution of one of today’s more important human rights dilemmas—states’ efforts to control global migration.

In June 2013, after lengthy and complex negotiations the EU adopted the recast “asylum package” which represents a significant step forward in the future development of CEAS. In this timely study Velluti provides fresh insights into recent legislative and judicial developments in asylum and through the “lens” of sovereignty she looks at some of the contemporary challenges faced by the EU protection regime, with a particular focus on asylum-seekers’ rights. The volume assesses whether the EU provides an adequate framework for protecting those seeking international protection from the opposing perspectives of effectiveness and fairness. It shows that, despite the newly adopted “second-generation” legislative acts which include changes aimed at ensuring a stronger level of protection for asylum-seekers, the reform process at European level does not adequately ensure an equal standard of protection across all Member States. Through a comparative analysis of selected ECtHR and ECJ asylum cases the book also examines the constitutional relationship between the two European Courts and how it impacts on the human rights of asylum-seekers and on the future of EU asylum law. Ultimately, the book shows that real progress in the development of the human rights dimension of CEAS will be achieved largely through the European and domestic courts.

The detention of migrants who have not committed a crime is one of the most disturbing contemporary practices from the point of view of human rights (Costello 2015). Administrative detention of asylum-seekers poses an additional problem: it causes an independent deterioration of the mental health of people who are (potentially) already highly traumatised (Filges et al. 2015). The intention of this book is to systematise in a comprehensive manner the obligations that States owe to detained asylum-seekers under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This objective is pursued through an analysis of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding Article 5 (right to liberty and related rights, such as the right to a judicial review of the detention) and Article 3 ECHR (conditions of detention) in cases in which the applicant was an asylum-seeker. This case law review is placed within the broader context of the human rights guarantees offered by the Refugee Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The book also seeks to identify whether the tighter migration control policies pushed for by European Union Member States after 2015 impacted the Court’s case law on asylum detention. With this twofold approach, it hopes to serve as a guide for strategic litigation before national courts and the ECtHR, as well as to contribute to the academic debate on how the European Court could raise its standards of protection in migration-related cases.

This volume engages human rights, domestic immigration law, refugee policy in the United States, Canada, and Europe, and scholarship to examine forced migration, refugee resettlement, asylum seeker experiences, policies and programs for refugee well-being in North America and Europe. Given the recent "re-politicization" of forced migration and refugees in Europe and the U.S., this edited collection presents an in-depth, multi-dimensional analysis of the history of policies and laws related to the status of refugees and asylum seekers in the U.S., Canada, and Europe and the challenges and prospects of refugee and asylum seeker assistance and integration in the 21st century. The book provides rich insights on institutional perspectives critical to understanding the politics and practices of refugee resettlement and the asylum process in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including international human rights and humanitarian law as well as domestic laws and policies related to forced migrants. Issues addressed include social welfare supports for resettled refugees; culturally responsive health and mental health approaches to working with refugees and asylum seekers; systemic failures in the asylum processing systems; and rights-based approaches to working with forced migrant children. The book also examines policy developments and strategies to advance the well-being and social inclusion of refugees in the U.S. and Europe.

International migration has been described as one of the defining issues of the twenty-first century. While a lot is known about the complex nature of migratory flows, surprisingly little attention has been given to one of the most prominent responses by governments to human mobility: the practice of immigration detention. Intimate Economies of Immigration Detention provides a timely intervention, offering much needed scrutiny of the ideologies, policies and practices that enable the troubling, unparalleled and seemingly unbridled growth of immigration detention around the world. An international collection of scholars provide crucial new insights into immigration detention recounting at close range how detention’s effects ricochet from personal and everyday experiences to broader political-economic, social and cultural spheres. Contributors draw on original research in the US, Australia, Europe, and beyond to scrutinise the increasingly tangled relations associated with detention operation and migration management. With new theoretical and empirical perspectives on detention, the chapters collectively present a toolbox for better understanding the forces behind and broader implications of the seemingly uncontested rise of immigration detention. This book is of great interest to those who study political economy, economic geography and immigration policy, as well as policy makers interested in immigration.