With the recent tragic surge in the number of deaths in the Mediterranean of migrants attempting to reach Europe, public attention focused on the European migratory policies and the treatment of these people across the Mediterranean. Yet, the tragedies at sea should not live down the situation of migrants detained in European detention centres. Indeed, one of the key words of the European migratory policies is the detention of foreigners whose only crime is to flee their country to reach Europe, sometimes without the legal documents required. The non-profit research centre « Global Detention Project » publishes a paper to highlight some of the vulnerabilities that people seeking international protection face when they are taken into custody in Mediterranean countries. Observations confirm that conditions of detention of migrants – and especially asylum seekers – are horrific and inhumane, which makes detention inadequate to human rights.

http://www.globaldetentionproject.org/fileadmin/DIVERSE/GDP_Med_report_final.pdf