Statement on Immigration Detention Rules
Joint statement adopted unanimously by the NPMs of Council of Europe member States who participated in the Conference that was co-organized by the Council of Europe and OSCE-ODIHR in Strasbourg on 31 May and 1 June 2017 to discuss the first comprehensive draft set of rules on the administrative detention of migrants prepared by CJ-DAM.
We welcome the fact that rules on the administrative detention of migrants are now being codified. We believe that such rules could make a significant improvement in the conditions in which people are detained. We also welcome the opportunity given to us by the Council of Europe to comment on the first draft and appreciate the involvement during these two days of the experts and drafters themselves.
However, discussion over the last two days has revealed some fundamental concerns among National Preventive Mechanisms about the draft at hand, particularly, who they will apply to and even the definition of detention.
We hope that the issues we have raised will be taken seriously and that we will have a formal opportunity and sufficient time to prepare and give our views collectively on the full second draft when this is ready.