Alternatives to Immigration Detention

This report presents the findings of a comprehensive study on immigration detention and alternatives to detention (ATD) across 19 countries within the five sub-regions of the Asia-Pacific: East and Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South and Southwest Asia, North and Central Asia, and the Pacific. Across the Asia-Pacific region, there is widespread use of...

This Information Note is designed to serve as a resource for practitioners dealing with migration detention and non-custodial alternatives to detention (ATDs). It aims to acquaint them with the relevant international instruments and standards that States are required to uphold in this field. The purpose of this Information Note is to provide an overview of...

The Global Youth Consultation on Ending Child Immigration Detention, organised by the Migration Youth & Children's Platform in collaboration with UNICEF, IDC, UNHCR, and UNNM, brought together over 80 young participants from around the world to discuss and share their ideas on ending child immigration detention. The consultation resulted in key youth...

Victims of trafficking are subjected to exploitation in various ways. Sometimes, as a result of their victimization, they engage in illegal conduct. Common examples include involvement in the sex trade, involvement in drug production or trafficking, petty crime, possession or the use of fraudulent documents or entering another country in a manner that does...

Why are migrant centres so important? Migration journeys are interrupted when people get stranded along their route without any form of protection, shelter, food or health care, and this is when situations become critical. IOM, Governments and partners have set-up migrant centres along the main migratory routes, to provide life-saving assistance. Centres...

Sudan is at the centre of the East African migration route towards North Africa and Europe. Over the past decade, hundreds of irregular migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees have been transiting through Sudan every month, with some choosing to seek asylum in the country. Those on the move are mostly young Eritrean Tigrinya speakers from urban areas, but they...

Young migrants and refugees set out to escape harm or secure better futures – and face staggering risks in the process. For children and youth on the move via the Mediterranean Sea routes to Europe, the journey is marked by high levels of abuse, trafficking and exploitation. Some are more vulnerable than others: those travelling alone, those with low levels...

Independent child migration is not necessarily an exploitative or damaging experience for children, but rather a multidimensional phenomenon. Children can be actively involved in the decision-making process regarding their future, including the decision to continue their education, to work or to combine both. Nonetheless, policy responses to support these...

Rapid changes in migratory flows towards Europe in the past decade have solidified irregular migration as a priority on the political agenda in the European Union (EU) and most of its Member States. Awareness-raising campaigns on the risks of irregular migration have been among the many responses aimed at reducing irregular migration to Europe. Given the...

The Practitioners Guide on Migration and International Human Rights Law analyses the protection afforded to migrants by international law and the means to implement it at national and international levels. The Guide synthesises and clarifies international standards on key issues, in particular: the rights and procedures connected to the way migrants enter a...

The study aims to examine the influence of staying in immigration detention on the decision-making process of irregular migrants in immigration detention regarding leaving the country. It will do so by making an inventory of the factors and roles of immigration detention in these decision-making processes. Such an inventory makes it possible to map the...

This screening tool on identifying and addressing situations of vulnerability is a UNHCR and IDC collaboration intended to help guide and inform frontline workers and decision-makers on the relevance of vulnerability factors to detention decisions, referrals to alternatives to detention, open reception facilities, community-based placement and support...

The present report is part of the evaluation of the Swiss Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) mandated by the Federal Office for Migration (FOM) in 2012. The report aims at contributing to reaching the evaluation objectives and providing answers to the three principal questions by presenting data and experiences from Georgia. At the same time...

This special edition of Focus on Migration is one of the activities implemented by the IOM project ‘Assisted Voluntary Return to Migrants in Detention III (AVRD III)’, funded by the European Return Fund 2011 and co-funded by the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice.