Global Detention Project

Since late 2025, the United States has been transferring individuals, including those with existing protection orders, to Equatorial Guinea under a secretive bilateral temporary transfer agreement that is similar to others set up by the U.S with countries across Africa and Latin America.

Public documentation reveals that upon arrival the deportees have been detained in a hotel in Malabo, and pressured to voluntarily return to the countries from which they originally fled.

Refoulement has already been documented, and UN human rights experts have issued an urgent appeal, warning that further returns would place individuals at imminent risk of irreparable harm.

https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/equatorial-guinea-third-country-transfers-to-one-of-the-most-corrupt-countries-in-the-world

Tanzania: Allegations of Detention Amidst Coerced Returns

The Global Detention Project has received allegations from Burundian refugees in Tanzania reporting the detention of individuals who leave Nyarugusu refugee camp, restrictions on their movement within the camp, and increased harassment and intimidation reportedly aimed at encouraging departures from the country.

These allegations, which align with reports from other observers, suggest a broader pattern of pressure on Burundian refugees that coincides with efforts by Tanzanian authorities to close refugee camps and coerce returns.

Read more: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/tanzania-allegations-of-detention-amidst-coerced-returns

📢 Our 2025 Annual Report is now live: *Building Momentum to Roll Back Immigration Detention*

In a year marked by expanding detention and deportation regimes worldwide, the report documents how the Global Detention Project continued to advance research, advocacy, and international engagement in defence of migrants', refugees', and asylum seekers' rights.

As one former detainee released from Welisara Detention Centre in Sri Lanka with support from the GDP and local partners shared:

“Although this experience has been challenging and unjust, it has made me truly aware of the power and hope represented by international human rights organizations and principled legal professionals. I will always remember and cherish the assistance and support provided by your organization.”

Some of the key highlights from the year include:

⭐ Impacting policy recommendations issued by international human rights mechanisms aimed at ending harmful detention measures in nearly two dozen countries.
⭐ Facilitating assistance for detainees through our global network of partners.
⭐ Using data to expose detention practices. We logged more than 10,000 data entries covering 200 countries and 840 detention centres.
⭐ Building an evidentiary record of detainee treatment aimed at piercing the opacity surrounding detention practices.
⭐ Documenting the growing number of bilateral agreements aimed at shifting responsibility for migration and asylum procedures to third countries.
⭐ Launching the GDP’s Lived Experience Fellowship to centre the expertise of former detainees, refugees, and migrants in advocacy and documentation work.

Read the full report here: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/2025-annual-report-building-momentum-to-roll-back-immigration-detention

In April, after the Democratic Republic of Congo announced the launch of a “temporary reception system for third country nationals,” a group of deportees from the United States arrived, marking the latest expansion of the Trump administration’s massive immigration crackdown and deportation agenda.

Upon arrival, the group were placed in a hotel from which they were reportedly prevented from leaving, raising credible fears of de facto detention.

With the DRC facing a severe and well-documented human rights crisis characterised by ongoing armed conflict, mass displacement, and widespread abuses by state and non-state actors, the choice of destination is a deeply troubling one.

Read more: https://lnkd.in/eKvQk-Mc

Despite rights bodies calling for stronger protections for migrants on the "Southern Route," the UK & Kenya have signed an MOU on "border security" reinforcing a securitised approach to migration that includes detention in police stations & prisons.

Kenya’s Migration Policy: Security vs Refugee Protection Analysis of Kenya’s migration detention policies, examining the tension between national security and the protection of refugees and asylum seekers.