There Are Alternatives
Today, we celebrate our first regional launch of the IDC Handbook There Are Alternatives, at the 57th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).
With human migration reaching unprecedented levels, many States are struggling to respond to new refugee, asylum-seeker and migrant arrivals. States in the Africa region are no exception. But one thing is clear: detention is part of the problem, rather than a solution.
In Africa, EU Governments have most recently proposed building immigration detention centers, to prevent onward movement.
There is an urgent need for alternative approaches that respect fundamental rights to liberty, security and human dignity, while still ensuring that African states can responsibly govern their borders.
With this is mind, the IDC’s groundbreaking research on the benefits and best practices around alternatives to immigration detention, There Are Alternatives: a handbook for preventing unnecessary immigration detention (revised edition), details over 250 examples from over 60 countries. The research provides readers with the guidance needed to successfully avoid unnecessary detention and to ensure community options are as effective as possible.
There are many ways that people live in the community while their migration. In Zambia for example, a national referral mechanism enables front line officers to identify people with vulnerabilities, and refer them to the appropriate service, rather than languishing in immigration detention. Find out more.
You can read IDC’s new report here and find an interactive map of alternatives here.
For those of you in Banjul, you are warmly invited to attend the launch event at 1.30pm at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.
Ms Junita Calder, Africa and Middle East Regional Coordinator at the IDC will open and close the launch. The event also includes a Panel Discussion on Immigration Detention of Children and Alternatives to Detention.
Speakers on the Panel are Honourable Commissioner Maya Sahli Fadel from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Mr Wayne Ncube, Attorney and Head of the Detention Monitoring Unit, and Mr Ben Lewis, Advocacy Coordinator at the International Detentin Coalition (IDC).
▻http://idcoalition.org/africa-publication-launch-there-are-alternatives
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