Alternatives to Detention of Asylum Seekers and Refugees

This study is a contribution to UNHCR’s Agenda for Protection in 2002, which urged ‘States more concertedly to explore alternative approaches to the detention of asylum seekers and refugees ...’ in response to the increasing use of detention of asylum seekers and/or refugees. This study presents an overview of the legal standards under international law applicable to both detention as well as alternatives to detention. Then it goes on to present a range of alternatives to detention used by many receiving countries and attempts to evaluate those measures, specifically in relation to rates of absconding.