JRS Europe releases new report on detention in Europe

JRS--Europe's 400-page report on detention in Europe called "Becoming Vulnerable in Detention" was released at a June 8th conference held in Brussels.

The long study includes the voices of 685 asylum seekers detained in 21 European countries and is the work of JRS along with 23 European partners. It highlights how asylum seekers and irregular migrants who are held in detention quickly become susceptible to hazardous psychological stress. The longer they are detained, the more vulnerable they become.

The study notes that vulnerability is influenced by a variety of personal, social and environmental factors that differ from person to person.  It calls governments and policy-makers  to recognize that a more holistic and individual assessment of vulnerability within the environment of detention is necessary.

Three key factors stand out in terms of creating and intensifying vulnerability in detention:

1. language capacity and the inability to communicate with detention centre staff results in medical needs going unmet. Language barriers foster misunderstandings and even abuse.

2. detainees' level of awareness of asylum and immigration procedures left 79% of detainees not knowing when they might be released from detention. Of those left 'totally uninformed' with regard to asylum procedures 88% described their mental health in negative terms.

The loss of rights, isolation from the outside world and the 'shock' of being in detention are too much for most detainees to bear. Ninety percent of child detainees report mental problems.

3. The prison-like conditions were cited by the overwhelming majority of detainees as the main reason for their sense of vulnerability. Most spoke of their place of confinement as 'prison,' and of themselves as 'prisoners.'

The conference participants (ICRC, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Belgian NGOs, academics, private lawyers and others) unanimously supported the call to policymakers to rethink the need for detention as a tool of migration policy.  They demanded much more help by way of information and social counselling and assistance for those who currently remain in detention.

The conference explored alternatives to asylum and heard Dr. Alice Edwards of the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University describe recent research showing that when migrants are given choices and support, instead of being forced into detention, most agree to fully abide by official asylum or immigration procedures--including possible return to their country of origin.

The full report can be downloaded here