Detention Centres in Europe
(Extract from - *JRS-Europe - Detention in Europe October 2004)
((there are 218 facilities for detaining migrants/asylum
seekers in the 23 countries listed below))
5.1. Detention Centre in Austria
In Austria, there is only one detention centre: Traiskirchen.
5.2. Detention Centres in Belgium
In Belgium, there are 6 detention centres: Brussels (Centre 127, Centre
127bis, INAD), Bruges, Merksplas (Anvers/Antwerpen) and Vottem (Liège/Luik).
5.3. Detention Centres in Croatia
In Croatia, there are two detention centres: Jezevo
and Sasna Grada.
5.4. Detention
Centres in the Czech Republic
The
Czech Republic has 8 detention centres: Balkova, Cerveny Ujezd, Fry’dek-Mistek,
Poötorná/Bfieclav, Praha-Ruzyné, Velké
Pfiílepy/Praha I and II and Vysni 6. There are three
types of "asylum establishments" for asylum-seekers in the Czech Republic.
First, people who arrive at the Czech borders are detained in the
"reception centre" of Vysni Lhoty. There they undergo a medical examination
and have their first asylum interview for their asylum application.
Then, after the quarantine period, most asylum-seekers are transferred
to one of the "residence/accommodation centres" where they stay pending
the examination of their asylum applications. If asylum is granted,
they are transferred to an "integration centre".
In "residence/accommodation centres", asylum-seekers are freer than
in the reception centre and may leave the centre temporarily after
authorization. In addition, applicants may live outside the centre,
if they can bring evidence that they have accommodation in the Czech
territory. Asylum-seekers stay in "residence/accommodation centres"
until the Czech authorities decide if they are eligible for the status
of refugee.
5.5. Detention Centres
in Denmark
In Denmark, there are 2
detention centres: Sandholm and Nyborg.
5.6. Detention Centres in France
In France, there are 20 detention centres: Bordeaux, Calais-Coquelles,
Strasbourg- Geipolsheim, Hendaye, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes,
Nice, Région parisienne (Bobigny, Le Mesnil-Amelot-Roissy,
Nanterre, Paris, Versailles), Rivesaltes, Rouen, Saint Louis, Sète
and Toulouse.
5.7. Detention Centres
in Germany
An estimated 45 detention
centres exist in Germany: Adelsheim, Aichach, Bautzen, Berlin, Büren,
Bremen, Bützow, Chemnitz, Dresden, Eisenhüttenstadt, Frankfurt
(Main), Fulda, Görlitz, Goldlauter, Halberstadt, Hamburg, Ingelheim,
Kassel, Landshut, Langenhagen, Leipzig, Lübeck, Mannheim, Moers,
München-Stadelheim, Neuss, Nürnberg, Offenbach, Ottweiler,
Plauen, Rassnitz, Rendsburg, Rockenberg, Rottenburg, Volkstedt, Stollberg,
Wiesbaden, Zweibrücken and Zwickau. Persons are detained in special
detention centers and in prisons.
5.8.
Detention Centres in Greece
In Greece, there are 19 detention centres: Athens (airport), Andros,
Chios, region of Evros, Githio, Ierapetra, Igoumenitsa, Kalamata,
Karistos, Kos, Lerros, Mykonos, Mytilene - Lesbos, Naxos, Rethymno,
Rhodos, Samos and Patmos, Sitia, Syros and Zakinthos.
5.9. Detention Centres in Hungary
In Hungary, there are 8 detention centres: Balassagyarmat, Budapest
(airport), Gyor, Kiskunhalas, Nagykanizsa, Nyirbàtor, Oroshàza
and Szombathely.
5.10. Detention
Centres in Ireland
In Ireland, there
are 6 detention centres: Mountjoy Prison, Arbour Hill Prison (Dublin),
Cork Prison, Limerick Prison, Clover Hill and Abbey Arch (Galway).
The Refugee Act of 1996 [as amended by the Immigration Act 1999 and
the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000] speaks about "place
of detention" (Section 9(8)). In practice, asylum-seekers are first
housed in reception centres for two weeks and then dispersed throughout
the country to former hotels, hostels and custom-built accommodation
centres.
5.11. Detention Centres
in Italy
In Italy there are 16 detention
centres, Centri di Permanenza Temporanea e Assistenza (CPTA) or Centri
di Identificazione (CDI): CPTA Torino "Brunelleschi", CPTA Milano
"Via Corelli", CPTA "La Marmora", Bologna "Enrico Mattei", CPTA Roma
"Ponte Galeriaî", CPTA San Foca di Melendugno ,Regina 6 (Lecce),
CPTA Restinco (Brindisi), CPTA Lamezia Terme "Malgradotutoo", CPTA
Caltanissetta "Pian del Lago", CPTA Agrigento "Contrada S. Benedetto",
CPTA Trapani "Serraino Vulpitta", CPTA Lampedusa, CPTA/CDI Borgo Mezzanone
(Foggia), CDI Bar-Palese (Bari), CDI ìDon Tonino Belloî,
Otranto (Lecce) and CDI "S. Anna", Crotone.
A Directive of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Direttiva generale in
materia di Centri di Permanenza Temporanea e di Assistenza ai sensi
dellíArticle 22. comma i) del DPR 31 agosto 1999, n. 394 of
30 August 2000) regulates the administration of CPTA. Detention centres
in Italy are always run by not for profit organizations, such as the
Italian Red Cross or Misericordie or Fiamme DíArgento (which
draw together retired Carabinieri, Italian policemen).
5.12. Detention Centre in Luxemburg
In Luxemburg, there is only the detention centre of Schrassig.
5.13. Detention Centres in Malta
In Malta, there are 3 detention centres: Ta’Kandja,
Floriana, and Safi Barracks. Article 34 of the Immigration Act describes
a "place of detention" as follows: "A person detained in custody under
this Act, other than under Article 10 or 22, but not serving a sentence
of imprisonment, may be detained either in prison or in any place
appointed for the purpose by the Minister by notice in the Gazette,
but if detained in prison he shall be treated as a person awaiting
trial."
5.14. Detention Centres
in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands
foreigners are detained in at least eight facilities: inter alia in
Amsterdam, Tilburg and two international airports (Amsterdam and Rotterdam).
5.15. Detention Centres in Poland
In Poland there are 24 detention centres: Bia a
Podlaska, Bielsko ñ Biaa, Che m, Elblàg, Gdaƒsk,
Jelenia Góra, Jaworzno, Katowice, Konin, Krosno Odrzaƒskie,
Lesznowola Wrocaw, Lublin, Limanowa, Opole, Ostro´ka, Pia, Piotrków
Trybunalski, Tychy, Suwaki, Szczecin, Toruƒ, Wabrzych and Warszawa
ñ Raginis Street.
In Poland there
are two types of detention centres for aliens: "guarded centres for
aliens" and "deportation arrest" in border guard or police premises.
The locations of deportation centres change very often.
Foreigners who apply for asylum at the Polish frontier are automatically
detained in "closed centres". Similarly, asylum applicants against
whom a decision of deportation has been taken may be placed in a "guarded
centre". In-country asylum applicants, i.e. those who do not apply
for asylum at the border, are in most cases accommodated in "refugee
centres".
5.16. Detention Centres
in Romania
In Romania there are 2
detention centres: Bucharest and Arad.
5.17. Detention Centres in Russian Federation
According to Radio Free Europe, in October 2003,
Anatolii Batrukin, head of the Moscow Interior Ministry’s directorate
for migrant issues, told city legislators that six "detention centres"
are being set up in the city. According to Anatolii Batrukin, there
are already three such centres.84 In March 2004 the St. Petersburg
Times reported that St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia,
announced a "Detention centre for migrants is being planned". Alexander
Babikov, head of the St. Petersburg city Migration Service, was quoted
to have said that the first centre in St. Petersburg 'will not be
a jail, but people will be locked in and provided with food and places
to sleep and wash", and that the new centre would be capable of holding
up to 270 people and would have food and security services.85
5.18. Detention Centres in Spain
In Spain, there are numerous (13) detention centres:
Algeciras, Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Madrid, Málaga,
Murcia, Tarifa ("Isla de las Palomas" of the Civil Guard), Tenerife,
Valencia, Ceuta - Calamocarro, Melilla and at the airport of Madrid.
5.19. Detention Centres in Slovakia
In Slovakia, there are two (police) detention centres for aliens,
called "Útvar policajného zaistenia pre cudzincov".
They are under the responsibility of the Border and Alien Police and
situated in Seãovce and Medveìov. As a rule, families
are placed in the police detention centre in Seãovce.
5.20. Detention Centres in Slovenia
In Slovenia, there are 4 detention centres in the
2 cities of Prosenjakovci and Postojna.
5.21. Detention Centres in Sweden
In Sweden, there are 5 detention centres in three cities: Stockholm,
Göteborg, and Malmö.
5.22. Detention
Centres in Turkey
In Turkey, 2 detention centres are known of: Istanbul and Yozgat.
5.23. Detention Centres in Ukraine
In Ukraine, there is at least one detention centre,
in Pavshino (Mukachevo). In March 2004, Mr. Nicholas Hellen from the
Sunday Times wrote about "Detention camps to halt asylum-seekers in
east", being funded by Brussels - The new network of centres, - is
intended to catch migrants on routes westward from China, Afghanistan
and the Indian sub-continent. - The first two centres, housing about
1,600 illegal migrants at a time, are to be set up in Ukraine, which
is on a key transit route from Asia to Britain - Jeffrey Labovitz,
head of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Ukraine,
said about 40,000 people annually made it into the EU from Ukraine
- There were 4,280 detainees in the first nine months of 2003. At
present, migrants caught trying to cross illegally from Ukraine into
Poland, Hungary and Slovakia are housed at border posts in squalid
conditions. The concrete buildings are unheated and officials have
only 20p a day to feed each detainee. After six months they are released
and little is done to prevent them from making fresh attempts to cross
into the EU - The Ukrainian embassy in London confirmed that the preferred
locations were on the sites of former barracks at Chernigov, north
of Kiev, and Lutsk, on the Polish border. An embassy spokesman said:
We hope this will reduce the number of migrants heading for the EU.
5.24. Detention Centres in the United
Kingdom
In the United Kingdom there
are 12 detention centres: Campsfield House (Oxfordshire), Colnbrook
(West London, near Heathrow airport), Dover (Kent near ferry port),
Dover Harbour (short term holding facility), Dungavel (Renfrewshire,
Scotland), Harmondsworth (West London, near Heathrow airport), Haslar
(Portsmouth, near ferry port), Lindholme (near Doncaster), Manchester
airport (short term holding facility), Oakington Reception Centre
(Cambridgeshire), Tinsley House (South London, near Gatwick airport)
and Yarlís Wood (Bedfordshire, not too far from Luton airport).
There are different types of centres in which
asylum-seekers and migrants are detained in the United Kingdom, namely:
"removal centres" (called "detention centres", before the 2002 Nationality,
Immigration and Asylum Act), "immigration detention centres" managed
on behalf of the Immigration Service, and "holding centres" for people
who apply for asylum at borders. Some foreigners are also detained
under Immigration Rules in prisons and in police cells.
Source for this page:
JRS-Europe - Detention in Europe October 2004
Download the full report: JRS-Europe
- Detention in Europe October 2004.pdf |
