with small children. The women will be transferredto the new lopen camp' that has been established in the last few days in Mytilene,which offers better conditions and freedom of movement.The demonstratorsinitiallycelebrate the news of the women's liberation as a victory,but the enthusiasm withersaway as soon as we hear that the women do not want to leave. Since the authoritiesrefusedto free also theirhusbands and fathers,the womenprefer not to be separated fromthe men and decide to remain in Pagani. Whereand when would theymeet theirpartnersagain? Andwhat ifthat willnot happen at all? Afterall, the women's decision appears reasonable. A sense of frustrationremains among the activists, however, who may also be trapped in the deceptive logic of this selective regimeof migrantdetention. What does this storytell us about the functioningof Lesvos detention centre withinthe overall EU policy regimeof migrationcontrols? How is the mobility of migrantwomen,in particular,beingregulated in this specific location at the South Easterngate of the EU? those who 'deserve' special The peculiar'gendertechniques' used to differentiate treatmentin detention representimportantdevices shaping the temporal and spatial patterns of the EU managementof migrants'mobility.How are these techniqueslinkedto the humanitariandiscourse of a 'gentlerdetention'that No Borderactivists are confrontedwith? 1 The UNHCR, after the recent visit to the centre in Lesvos declared its particular concern for the detention of minors in the centre and denounced the overall conditions of detention unacceptable for those suffering illness related to the cramped and unsanitary conditions (UNHCR, 2009, http:// www.unhcr.org/ 4a97cb719.html). The internationalactivistsgatheredon Lesvos forthe No Bordercamp chose this particular location not only to organize action and publicity against the extremelypoor conditions under which the migrantsare detained,1 but also because the island is one of the 'hot spots' wherethe tensionsand contradictions of the EU migrationregimecoalesce and find emblematicexpression.Lesvos is one of the maingates to the EU formigrantsmainlycomingfromAsia, Northand EasternAfrica.Men, women and childrenoften comingfromcountriessuch as Afghanistan,Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine, Eritrea,Ethiopia,Congo, are detained in the centreuntiltheyreceivea 'whitepaper' bythe local authority.Thisdocument is administratively a deportationorder that allows the migrantsto board the and reach Athens,wherethey may apply forasylum.At the same time the ferry white paper includes an obligation to leave Greece within30 days. Those who lodge an asylum application in the mainland frequentlyface obstructive bureaucraticproceduresand sometimesharassmentby the immigration police in Inthe end onlya minimalpercentage Athens(http://lesvos09.antira.info/tag/call/). of the asylum applications is accepted. Accordingto Human RightsWatchthe asylumapprovalrate in the firstinstanceforall nationalitiesin 2006 was only0.6 per cent and 1. 2 per cent in 2007, out of a total of 25,000 claims (HRW,2008: 5). Centresforthe detentionand identificationof migrantshave sprungup all over countriesin the last decade, and are officiallydesigned Europeand neighbouring to facilitate the expulsionand returnof 'irregular'migrantsto theircountriesof origin.The EU 'politics of return'reflectsthe positionof the large majorityof the member states who deem detention and deportations as indispensable in Gabrielia Alberti fern i n ist This content downloaded from 163.1.255.60 on Fri, 10 Apr 2015 17:57:53 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions revi ew 94 2010 139