The Long Read: Biden vowed to reform immigration detention. Instead, private prisons benefitted
TED HESSON, MICA ROSENBERG AND KRISTINA COOKE, of Reuters, report…
UN torture prevention panel terminates visit to Australia
Sydney, AustraliaReuters A UN torture prevention panel terminated its suspended visit to Australia, saying it continued to face obstacles in getting access to some detention centres in the country. The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture on Monday said it had requested several assurances in order to resume its visit but some guarantees were not […]
Don’t send migrants back to Libya and “inhumane” camps – Pope
Vatican CityAP Pope Francis on Sunday made an impassioned plea to end the practice of returning migrants rescued at sea to Libya and other unsafe countries where they suffer “inhumane violence”. Francis also waded into a highly contentious political debate in Europe, calling on the international community to find concrete ways to manage the “migratory […]
Migrants in Libya fearful and angry after crackdown and killings
Tripoli, Libya Reuters Hundreds of migrants and refugees waited outside a United Nations centre in Tripoli on Sunday to seek help in escaping Libya after what aid groups called a violent crackdown in which thousands were arrested and several shot. The migrants say they have faced violent abuse and extortion in a country that has […]
Room for 10,000: Inside China’s largest detention centre
DAKE KANG, of Associated Press, reports on a visit to the Urumqi No 3 Detention Centre in Dabancheng in China’s far west Xinjiang region…
China, Canada spar at UN body over human rights failings
Geneva, SwitzerlandAP Canada and 40 other countries on Tuesday urged China to allow “immediate, meaningful and unfettered access” so independent observers can visit its western Xinjiang region, while a Chinese envoy demanded that Canadian authorities “stop violations of human rights” at home. The mutual finger-pointing, which preceded admissions from Canada’s envoy about shortcomings in her […]
Australian thinktank finds 380 detention camps in Xinjiang
Canberra, AustraliaAP China appeared to be expanding its network of secret detention centres in Xinjiang, where Muslim minorities are targeted in a forced assimilation campaign, and more of the facilities resemble prisons, an Australian thinktank found. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute used satellite images and official construction tender documents to map more than 380 suspected […]
Australian Churches Refugees Taskforce seeks assurances people in immigration detention are being kept safe during pandemic
The Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce is seeking reassurances from public health authorities that people held in immigration detention centres in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney are being kept safe during the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and Acting Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly, the taskforce – which operates under the auspices […]
A DAUGHTER’S DUTY: FROM BOSTON, A UIGHUR WOMAN CHAMPIONS HER FATHER’S RELEASE IN CHINA
AYSHA KHAN, in an article first published on Religion News Service, speaks with Samira Imin about her campaign for her father’s release…
Trump imposes rule allowing US to detain migrant families indefinitely
Washington, DCReuters The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled a rule that allows officials to detain migrant families indefinitely while judges consider whether to grant them asylum in the United States, abolishing a previous 20-day limit. The rule, which is certain to draw a legal challenge, would replace a 1997 court settlement that limits the amount […]