Alternatives to detention for asylum seekers and people in return procedures
Figure 1: Types of alternatives to detention
Source: FRA (2015)
Significant attention has been devoted to alternatives to immigration detention in recent years.
This has resulted both in a great deal of comparative research and in the developments of tools
and other guidance to promote the use of alternatives. This compilation is aimed at policy
makers and practitioners entrusted with the task of promoting the use of alternatives to
detention and seeks to facilitate the usage of existing materials. It presents various instruments
and research material, together with the general human rights and EU legal framework. The
first section covers the international framework that safeguards the right to liberty, while those
that follow focus specifically on alternatives to detention. The compilation sets out selected:
instruments on the right to liberty
non-binding United Nations instruments on alternatives to detention
non-binding Council of Europe instruments on alternatives to detention
European Union law provisions relating to alternatives to detention
case law from the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the EU and
the United Nations Human Rights Committee on alternatives to detention
recently developed tools
research publications.
The selected instruments are presented by category, beginning with legal instruments (binding
and non-binding), and then continuing to case law, expert guidelines and research papers. The
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