Arbitrary detention of asylum-seekers

A comparison of some recent practice from Italy and the UK

Speakers: Dr Daniel Wilsher (City University London) and Francesca Cancellaro (Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna)

The detention of asylum seekers is always particularly controversial. The Saadi v UK decision of the Strasbourg Court was much criticised for condoning administrative detention of asylum seekers. It did, however, impose apparently strict legal constraints on such detention. Nevertheless, in that time, executive practice in Europe has evolved in ways that arguably further undermine these constraints. This seminar will consider practices in the UK under the detained fast-track system and in Italy on the island of Lampedusa to assess the current state of detention and its compliance with the rule of law.