About

Who is boniĝi?

Globally, immigration detention is one of the most opaque and least accountable areas of public administration. Effective monitoring of conditions of immigration detention is vital. It opens up an otherwise closed and often dangerously secretive world. It increases transparency and accountability. It helps to make detainees safer and increases pressure on states to use non-custodial alternatives to detention.

It protects some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Quite literally, it can save lives. Imagine being able to use digital technology to monitor conditions more frequently, more systematically, and more efficiently.

Imagine being able to use that technology to capture, triangulate and show data more comprehensively. Imagine being able to provide official monitors with more structured alerts and insights into patterns and trends in detention practices.

Imagine being able to harness that data to change detention policies and institutional cultures. The term boniĝi is an Esperanto term meaning to improve, make good, or mend.  Established in 2017, we are a social enterprise making this imagined future a reality.

 

Why boniĝi?

Never has the use of immigration detention been so widespread and the evidence of the human cost of immigration detention is undeniable.

The Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees highlight significant data and detention deficits in the area of immigration detention. The transformative potential of digital technology is currently an untapped resource in immigration detention monitoring efforts. If advocates are to demonstrate that non-custodial, community-based alternatives are a better public policy choice they will need a stronger evidence base than is currently available. Only then can they show that alternatives to detention are less harmful and a more responsible use of public funds.