Question

7. Recent news makes note of a lack of medical care for immigrants detained at our southern border. Considering the principle of Justice, how should this issue be addressed?

Answer 1

Ans) Immigration detention is not new, but the
scale of its use by states to control borders
and “manage” migration is unprecedented.
Whether as an administrative practice or as
a consequence of the criminalisation of mi-
gration, detention of migrants is now a glob-
al phenomenon which affects an increasing
number of vulnerable migrants, for increas-
ingly long periods of time, often in conditions
which fall far below the standards set by in-
ternational human rights law.

- The principle of justice equality has a dual relevance to immigration detention. First, the decision to detain should not be discriminatory; second, non-nationals should enjoy substantive
equality with nationals in the rights they en-
joy in detention.

- Some issues of inequality which arise within immigration detention. It first examines the use
and dimensions of this form of detention,
the limits which human rights law places on
states’ recourse to detention and the bars to
detention which is arbitrary, or discrimina-
tory. It then contrasts the rights of those in
administrative detention with the greater
protection often provided by criminal justice
systems, and considers the special needs of
non-nationals to legal access and health care.
It argues that special steps are required to
ensure the substantive equality of immigra-
tion detainees.

- Equal treatment in this context is not al-
ways equivalent to identical treatment. As
the UK’s Immigration Detention: Expecta-
tions recognise – for example with regard
to health – special steps, positive action and
even different treatment may be required
to ensure substantive equality between im-
migration detainees and detained nationals.
To be effective in protecting rights, rules
and procedures will therefore need to take
account of these differences. To attain full
and effective equality for vulnerable immi-
gration detainees it will sometimes be nec-
essary to treat them differently to reflect
their different circumstances.