A new report on the detention of 'unreturnable' migrants in EU countries has been issued by a collaborative project involving Flemish Refugee Action (Belgium), Detention Action (UK), France Terre d'Asile (France), Menedék – Hungarian Association for Migrants (Hungary) and The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE).
You can read more about the project at http://www.pointofnoreturn.eu/ and you can read the full report here.
The project involved qualitative research based on the experiences of 39 unreturnable migrants who have been detained in Belgium, France, Hungary and the UK.
With the report and related campaign, the project partners say they hope to increase momentum amongst policy-makers at national and EU levels to reduce detention and find solutions for unreturnable migrants.
The report says unreturnable migrants cannot go back to their country of origin for reasons beyond their control. At the same time, they cannot obtain a residence permit in the country where they live. Without documents or status, they can be detained for a forced return that never becomes possible.
It continues: "Unreturnable migrants live in long-term limbo, facing the constant threat of immigration detention. In the UK, they can be detained indefinitely. In each country, they can be repeatedly redetained and released. States refuse to acknowledge the fact of unreturnability, so use detention to attempt to enforce return."
"Unreturnable migrants frequently remain for years in an irregular situation, without prospects of a regular residency status. As a consequence they are excluded from rights to health care, housing, education and work. They experience destitution, poor physical and mental health, and even criminalisation. They are simply stuck, with nothing that they can do to take responsibility for their lives."
The report says that unreturnable migrants should not be detained as there is no prospect of return, and detention should not be used to incentivise voluntary return or to punish refusal to return.