waiting time71 for the accommodation centers, since people already staying in them were not leaving them to travel to Northern Europe. This fact inevitably led to the extension of the detention of the minors in the form of protective custody both in the RICs and the Special Spaces for the Accommodation of Third-country Nationals (EHPA) in Amygdaleza, as well as in the police stations.72 A result of this practice was the fact that the asylum seeking unaccompanied minors, whose liberty was restricted according to Article 46(10) of Law 4375/2016, were still detained after the lapse of the 45-day period, provided for by the above article. This detention, despite having the sense of protective custody, was now based on the provisions on detention of Law 3386/2005. Even though the concept of protective custody, with the exception of the provision of Article 46(10) of Law 4375/2016, is not specified precisely in the relevant laws on detention, Administration invoked it also in the past to justify the restriction of the liberty of unaccompanied minors.73 Protective custody is provided for under Article 118(2a) of Presidential Decree 141/1991, which includes, inter alia, minors who have voluntarily or involuntarily disappeared from home, until returned to their family. It is noted that paragraphs 3 and 4 provide that “3. Protective custody is not considered an arrest in the sense of the Code of Criminal Procedure and 4. The persons placed under protective custody shall not be locked up in police station cells, unless the danger they pose to themselves or to others cannot be prevented otherwise”. Gradually, towards the second half of 2016, the number of unaccompanied minors that remained under protective custody was reduced.74 A particular issue that highlights, in our opinion, the police’s confusion in the effort to operate based on protection, instead of repression terms, was also the issue of the transport of the unaccompanied minors from pre-removal (detention) centers to The particular issue of treatment by the police 71 See Statistics of 2015 of the Service for the management of Accommodation Applications of Asylum Seekers and Unaccompanied Minors of the National Center for Social Solidarity (EKKA) (http://www.ekka.org.gr/portal_docs/forceaccount/ picture/25_1072.pdf) and Press Release of the Greek Ombudsman 30.3.2016 (https://www.synigoros.gr/resources/dt-asynodeytoi-anilikoi-3032016.pdf) accommodation centers. Even though the specific action had basically been assigned to NGOs, when its funding ceased, their transport from the borders to mainland facilities was taken over by the Hellenic Police, which handcuffed the minors, giving their escort the characteristics of a police detainee transfer. The Greek Ombudsman underlined that unaccompanied minors transferred to accommodation facilities are not detainees, and are therefore not to be transported as detainees but escorted by police officers for reasons of protection.75 3.3. The treatment of unaccompanied minors in freedom The inappropriate conditions of implementation of the protective custody measure lead to the organisation of safe spaces, which were created within the Open Safe and controlled Temporary Accommodation Facilaccommodation ities for Refugees and Migrants. spaces for The Ombudsman together with unaccompanied the Prosecutor’s Office of the Suminors within the preme Civil and Crininal Court, in Open Temporary April 2016 carried out a visit at Accommodation the Temporary Accommodation Facilities for Facility of Diavata (Thessaloniki) Refugees in order to explore the possibility and Migrants. of safely accommodating temporarily the unaccompanied minors that were detained in police stations in the nearby Kilkis Region.76 Subsequently, on 7.6.2016 with its circular No. 4375, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Civil and Crininal Court, addressing the Prosecutor’s Offices of the country, asked for the placement of unaccompanied minors who were detained in police stations, in safe zones of the Open Temporary Accommodation Facilities. The Ombudsman recognised this as a positive development.77 Such zones were entered into pilot operation in 2016 in three facilities, with a total capacity of 110 places, in Diavata and Lagkadikia (Thessaloniki) and also in Alexandreia of Imathia Region, but the facilities in Lagkadikia and Imathia were then shut down, whereas in the end of 2016, a new facility opened in Elaionas, Athens. There is currently a plan78 for the operation of 75 See Ombudsman’s older document on case No. Φ 164738/2013. 72 E.g. in September 2016, there were 39 unaccompanied minors detained in Police Stations mainly in Northern Greece. 76 See http://www.0-18.gr/gia-megaloys/nea/episkepseis-synigoroytoypaidioy-se-choroys-ypodochis-kratisis-kai-filoksenias-asynodeyton-anilikon 73 Greek Ombudsman’s Special Report: Administrative Detention and Deportation of Minor Third-country Nationals 2005. 77 See relevant letter to the General Secretary for Reception athttp://www.0-18. gr/downloads/Epistoli-safe%20spaces.pdf 74 In the biannual report op. cit., the start of the decrease is pinpointed in July 2016, attributed also to the increase of the accommodation facilities. 78 See the relevant statement of the special associate of the Minister for Migration Policy, during a seminar of the Doctors of the World held at the 27