France interns Austro-Germans
During World War I France opened some 60 internment camps in the south and west of the country, where tens of thousands of foreigners were held for all or part of the conflict.
The French authorities feared that if left free the foreigners would spy or sabotage the war effort or join enemy ranks.
At the time of the mobilisation to war, there were plans to evacuate only Austro-Hungarians and Germans living in the north-east region as well as Paris and Lyon.
An August 2, 1914 decree gave them 24 hours to leave France, but very few took advantage and they were transferred in cattle trucks to makeshift refuge centres.
From September 1914 internment in “concentration camps” became commonplace.
Bulgarians and Ottomans were included after their countries entered the war.
In the spring of 1918, under the Bern accords, civilian internees were freed and repatriated.
…and Canada, Ukrainians
From 1914 to 1920 more than 8,500 “enemy aliens”, including women and children, were interned in Canada in around 20 internment camps under the terms of the War Measures Act.
Most of them were Ukrainian and considered enemies as Ukraine belonged at the time to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Americans and Japanese
Fearing “the enemy within” after having declared war on Japan, a day after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Washington quickly put into place measures to protect its territory during World War II.
Americans of Japanese origin and Japanese on American soil from one day to another became suspects. Subject to insults, racism and violent threats, they were no longer free to move about freely.
On February 19, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a decree setting up military exclusion zones from where the Japanese could be controlled.
The American government set up 10 concentration camps and more than 112,500 American-Japanese were driven from their homes and forcibly relocated up to 1945.
In 1988 the United States apologised and the administration of president Ronald Reagan paid compensation of $20,000 to survivors.
Saddam Hussein and western hostages
On August 8, 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and a day later closed its borders, leaving thousands of westerners stranded. Asians and Arabs were allowed to leave, mainly via Jordan, which saw an influx of refugees.
On August 18, Iraq said it had “decided to play host to the citizens of these aggressive nations as long as Iraq remains threatened with an aggressive war”.
It said the foreigners would be moved to military locations that would be likely targets of a military attack, effectively making them into human shields.
On August 23 Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein caused a storm of outrage when he appeared on state television with western, mainly British, hostages.
The hostages were freed little by little over several weeks as a result of negotiations on the Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait.