In June, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) published the report on its October 2025 ad hoc visit to the Netherlands during which it examined the treatment and conditions of immigration detention in two administrative detention centres (Shiphol and Rotterdam) and a prison (Ter Apel) for foreign nationals awaiting removal. While noting a continued decline in the use of immigration detention, the CPT raised concerns about delays in adopting proposed draft legislation for a unified legal framework for immigration detention that would also introduce a potentially more restrictive regime and expand the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention. In addition, the Committee is critical of the detention of increasingly vulnerable migrants with complex health needs, including persons with mental and addictive disorders, in facilities ill-equipped to provide appropriate care. The CPT also called for introducing an appropriate daily regime with a programme of organised and purposeful activities, for reducing the use of solitary confinement with a view to abolishing its application altogether as a disciplinary punishment in immigration detention facilities, and for improving the effectiveness of the complaints system for immigration detainees.
On 19 June, as part of a roundtable conference held in Nicosia under the joint Council of Europe–European Union project to strengthen Cyprus' National Preventive Mechanism, a CPT delegation held high-level talks with the Cypriot authorities, during which it also presented inter alia the immigration-related findings of its 2025 visit report to representatives of the Migration Department (including the Deputy Minister of Migration), police officials and other key stakeholders. Discussions focused on the implementation of the CPT's recommendations, including concerns over the prolonged detention of migrants in police facilities and the need to advance reforms regarding immigration detention practices.
On 18 June, a representative of the CPT Secretariat participated in the 13th Meeting of the Council of Europe Network of Focal Points on Migration and presented the Committee’s standards and approach to immigration detention. The CPT is currently updating these standards. A guiding principle is that, if states choose to deprive foreign nationals of their liberty, detained persons must be protected from torture and other forms of ill-treatment, and their dignity must be fully respected.
On 11 June, the CPT also attended an inter-institutional meeting with representatives of appointed or future Independent Monitoring Mechanisms (IMMs), many of which also hold the National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) mandate. The Committee has previously provided input to the draft tool for monitors drawn up by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. During the meeting, the CPT representatives raised the importance of monitoring, establishing independent and effective IMMs, setting up a proper monitoring methodology, and ensuring a link to effective investigations.
