The detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants in Europe

1.       The detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants in Council of Europe member states has increased substantially in recent years. Whilst the cause of this increase is in part due to the growing number of arrivals of irregular migrants and asylum seekers in certain parts of Europe, it is also to a large extent due to policy and political decisions resulting from a hardening attitude towards irregular migrants and asylum seekers.

2.       Overcrowding in detention centres is a serious problem. As population pushes up against capacity, states are building more and bigger centres. However if they build more, they fill more, often to justify the expenditure. Yet this does not necessarily translate into better conditions for the persons detained. Furthermore, alternative facilities, which are inappropriate for detaining asylum seekers and irregular migrants belonging to this group, such as police stations, prisons, disused army barracks, hotels, mobile containers, etc. are also being used in order to detain growing numbers of persons.

3.       Whilst it is universally accepted that detention must be used only as a last resort, it is increasingly used as a first response and also as a deterrent. This results in mass and needless detention. The Parliamentary Assembly is concerned by this excessive use of detention and the long list of serious problems which arise as a result and which are regularly highlighted, not only by Council of Europe human rights monitoring bodies such as the European Court of Human Rights, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the Human Rights Commissioner and the Assembly’s Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, but also by other international and national organisations.

Read more