New report reveals rights violations in French administrative detention centres In July 2021, the French NGO La Cimade published a report on the situation of people in French administrative detention centres during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report points out serious health problems, insufficient health protocols, limited external visits and a high level of isolation. Moreover, the majority of people detained remained in the centres for longer periods due to the closure of many borders in third countries where people were supposed to be deported. Four more detention centres are currently under construction in France and will add to the 23 already operating. Human rights court condemns Bulgaria for unlawful deportation to Turkey In D. vs. Bulgaria, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bulgaria violated Article 3 and Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights by forcibly returning a Turkish journalist without prior assessment of the risk of torture and ill treatment he could face back in Turkey in 2016. The case concerns a Turkish journalist who was apprehended in a truck at the Bulgarian-Romanian border in 2016 and sent back to Turkey in less than 24 hours, without being able to access a lawyer or an interpreter. PICUM’s member Center for Legal Aid - Voice in Bulgaria, which supported the applicant in the proceedings together with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and Foundation PRO ASYL, highlight that this is not an isolated incident but part of a systematic practice of pushbacks by Bulgaria. European Court of Human Rights condemns Hungary for collective expulsions On 8 July, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Hungary for violating the prohibition of collective expulsions in case Shahzad v. Hungary, which saw a Pakistani national forcibly expelled from Hungary to Serbia as part of a “collective” removal, without access to individualized procedures and adequate legal remedy. This ruling is of significance in the overall interpretation of Hungarian domestic regulation on pushbacks. According to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the police in the country carried out nearly 72,000 such pushbacks since July 2016. With this decision, for the first time, the Court declared that collective expulsions carried out by Hungary are in breach of human rights standards in EU law.