The report that forms the basis of this Policy Brief was written in the framework of the WHO (World Health Organisation) Europe Region entitled ‘Addressing the health challenges in immigration detention, and alternatives to detention: A country implementation guide’. The report is based on a literature review of publications in English, Dutch, French and Russian conducted during the summer of 2021. The literature review focused on identifying how detainees' health is affected by detention, what possible measures can be taken to adapt detention to minimise negative health effects, and what alternatives to detention are available.
Some overall conclusions and recommendations
- The WHO report shows that detention in many cases contributes to a negative impact on the health status of detainees.
- In addition to a more general deterioration in health and need for care, the report highlights mental health as a major problem, which in turn often seems to be linked to the situation of being deprived of liberty.
- In this context, it should be noted that the report also points out that staff working in detention centres can often have a stressful work situation.
- Individuals held in detention centres often live under great stress in the face of pending deportation or expulsion. This, combined with a not negligible presence of drugs, presents both detainees and staff with difficult situations that, according to Delmi, should be addressed.
About the author
Andreas Savelli works as an research coordinator at the Delmi secretariat
Photography: https://unsplash.com/@mutecevvil
