Nine projects selected for pilot Thematic Fund on Immigration Detention

On 1 July 2015, the Selection Committee met in London to decide on the projects which would be selected to pilot EPIM’s Thematic Fund on Immigration Detention. EPIM is exploring a new programme framework structured by Thematic Funds and, following the consultation of experts in the field, has decided to pilot this approach in an area of high concern: policies and practices in the detention of migrants in Europe.

This Thematic Fund concentrates on countries at the Southern and Eastern European borders of Cyprus, Bulgaria and Greece, where there is extensive use of immigration detention and high financial and technical needs for civil society action. The nine projects which have been selected will address this issue and advocate for changes in their current national policies and practices, as well as in the EU policy framework. The projects will begin on 1 September 2015, following an opening workshop, and will continue for one year. EPIM’s Immigration Detention Thematic Fund grantees are:

BULGARIA

• ‘HEAR – Hearing Entails Awareness and Rights’ Led by the Foundation for Access to Rights (FAR)
• ‘Who gets detained? Increasing the transparency and accountability of Bulgaria’s detention practices of asylum seekers and migrants’ Led by the Center for Legal Aid – Voice in Bulgaria
• ‘Improving the judicial guarantees for lawful detention of immigrants’ Led by the Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights Foundation
• ‘Free to Go: Detention as a last, not a first resort’ Led by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee

GREECE

• ‘Fostering Alternatives to Detention for Children’ Led by METAction
• ‘Monitoring Immigration Detention’ Led by AITIMA
• ‘Promoting Alternatives to Detention’ Led by the Greek Council for Refugees

CYPRUS

• ‘End Arbitrary Detention in Cyprus’ Led by KISA
• ‘Promoting and Establishing Alternatives to Immigration Detention in Cyprus‘ Led by the Future Worlds Centre