Detention
The three main goals of the strategy are to
- End the detention of children
- Ensure that alternatives to detention are available in law and implemented in practice
- Ensure that conditions of detention where detention is necessary and unavoidable meet international standards by, inter alia, securing access to places of immigration detention for UNHCR and/or our partners and carrying out regular monitoring.
The Global Strategy will be implemented at country and regional level, through the development of specific national plans of action. These will include a set of specific actions and initiatives that would need to be developed in order to achieve the overall global goals, including advocacy, awareness-raising and campaigning, cooperation and capacity-building, strengthening partnerships, information sharing, data collection and reporting, research and monitoring.
UNHCR has identified a number of countries to work with initially to revisit detention practices and to strengthen alternatives to detention, including Canada, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Zambia. UNHCR plans to expand this group of countries over the coming five years.
Key document: Detention Guidelines UNHCR position on non-detention of children
Beyond detention
Alternatives to Detention
- UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Options Paper 1: Options for governments on care arrangements and alternatives to detention for children and families, 2015
- UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Options Paper 2: Options for governments on open reception and alternatives to detention, 2015
Monitoring Immigration Detention
- UNHCR Policy on Detention Monitoring UNHCR/HCP/2015/7
- UNHCR, Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and the International Detention Coalition (IDC), Monitoring Immigration Detention: Monitoring questionnaire
- UNHCR, Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and the International Detention Coalition (IDC), Monitoring Immigration Detention: A Practical Manual, 2014
Beyond Detention statements
![](https://webarchive.archive.unhcr.org/20171227101826im_/http://img.youtube.com/vi/xO2nPjR6H5Y/mqdefault.jpg)
UNHCR - IDC video on alternatives to detention for children
Guidelines and Tools
- UNHCR Guidelines on the Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers and Alternatives to Detention, 2012
- UNHCR-IDC Vulnerability Screening Tool - Identifying and addressing vulnerability: a tool for asylum and migration systems, 2016
- IDC-UNHCR Vulnerability Screening Tool – Handout
- Stateless Persons in Detention: A tool for their identification and enhanced protection