These Guidelines reflect the state of international law relating to the immigration detention of asylum-seekers and other persons seeking international protection. You can read the guidelines in depth here.
- The right to seek asylum must be respected: every person has the right to seek asylum and asylum-seekers shall not be penalized for their illegal entry or stay.
- The rights to liberty and security of person and to freedom of movement apply to asylum-seekers: These rights apply in principle to all human beings, regardless of their immigration, refugee, asylum-seeker or other status.
- Detention must be in accordance with and authorized by law: Insufficient legal protections against arbitrary detention, such as no limits on the maximum period of detention or no access to an effective remedy to contest it, could call into question the legal validity of detention.
- Detention must not be arbitrary, and any decision to detain must be based on an assessment of the individual’s particular circumstances: international law provides substantive safeguards against unlawful as well as arbitrary detention; decisions to detain are to be based on a detailed and individualised assessment of the necessity to detain in line with a legitimate purpose
- Detention must not be discriminatory: International law prohibits detention or restrictions on the movement of a person on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, such as asylum-seeker or refugee status.
- Indefinite detention is arbitrary and maximum limits on detention should be established in law: asylum-seekers should not be held in detention for longer than necessary; the length of detention can render an otherwise lawful decision to detain disproportionate and, therefore, arbitrary.
- Decisions to detain or to extend detention must be subject to minimum procedural safeguards: asylum-seekers are entitled to nine minimum procedural guarantees
- Conditions of detention must be humane and dignified: asylum-seekers are entitled to a 18 minimum conditions of detention.
- The special circumstances and needs of particular asylum-seekers must be taken into account: Asylum seekers who are victims of trauma, torture, and/or trafficking; children; women; people with disabilities; the elderly; and/or LGBTI may require special conditions.
- Detention should be subject to independent monitoring and inspection: to ensure that immigration systems comply with international law, immigration detention centres should remain open to scrutiny and monitoring by independent national and international institutions and bodies.