At its July 2026 meeting, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) adopted its updated standards on immigration detention. In these standards, which will be published later this autumn, the CPT sets out how foreign nationals who are detained – notably in reception centres or immigration removal centres – should be treated, stressing that detention should be used only as a measure of last resort. The new standards place particular emphasis on protecting detained foreign nationals from ill-treatment, ensuring the existence and application of safeguards and that foreign nationals are offered non-punitive conditions of detention and provided with adequate healthcare, avoiding the detention of persons with specific vulnerabilities, and establishing effective accountability mechanisms.