New Project Safeguarding Principles on Immigration Detention
BIICL embarks on a new project to update our work on Rule of Law safeguarding principles for immigration detention.
In 2013, BIICL published ""Immigration Detention and the Rule of Law" a series of 25 principles intended to give protection to the many migrants facing deprivation(s) of their liberty at the hands of the State exercising immigration powers. Those principles were highly influential, used by NGOs, legal representatives, and others to inform legislative debates and court proceedings.
Since the publication of those principles, significant developments have taken place in detention practices as well as legislation, policy and judicial determinations. The UK has seen swift and highly influential legislative and policy changes. Moreover, privatisation and externalisation of detention are increasingly mainstream. More recent practices, including the use of Bibby Stockholm and Wethersfield airfield to detain migrants, have raised further questions on adherence to the rule of law standards.
To reflect these changes and ensure that the principles continue to be a useful resource for policy makers, legal practitioners and civil society actors working in this area, BIICL is implementing a new project that will update the principles ensuring they remain current and relevant. In doing so, it will address questions such as:
• What new challenges to detained migrants' human rights have arisen in the last decade that should be included in the updated principles?
• What RoL safeguards have emerged from legislative, judicial, policy, and other developments in the last decade?
• How can these be best articulated to provide effective support to those challenging violations occurring in the context of detention?
• Do existing detention practices meet basic RoL safeguards? If so, how? If not, how can adherence to RoL in this context be enhanced?
By providing an easy-to-use, concise articulation of the range of applicable standards at the international, regional, and domestic levels, we anticipate that this project will bring about enhanced adherence to the rule of law in the area of immigration detention by providing those involved (judges, policy makers, lawyers, activists) with the tools to promote rule of law compliance, challenge violations and thereby ensure respect for migrants' human rights. In addition to the updated principles a checklist will be produced to help facilitate the application of the principles.
The project is funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
