C. Safeguarding human rights - The challenge of the refugee crisis The question, regarding the degree of response of the Greek State to its obligation to safeguard the fundamental rights of individuals and populations in the context of the refugee crisis, is inevitably part of a general evaluation regarding the management of the phenomenon up to the end of 2016. The reply to this concern cannot be absolute, without risking blanket (or to the contrary overly optimistic) statements; it emerges however in broad terms later, when approaching various themes related to fundamental rights. It is self-evident that, beyond these themes - which were selected here in particular due to the Ombudsman's greater involvement, and, accordingly, the weight and duration of the violations - the totality of actions or infringements related to the presence and management of the migrant and refugee populations in Greece are intrinsically linked to fundamental rights which, accordingly, may be ensured in a satisfactory manner, may be endangered or violated to some degree, or even to their core, raising serious issues of legality in the framework of the Greek legal order. 1. The problem with administrative detention Administrative detention presents certain problems today, which appear to reflect a variety of policies, lacking the necessary cohesion at a European and national level, on the restriction of the personal liberty of irregular migrants. The deprivation of personal liberty is the most severe restriction, affecting the core of the freedom of the individual. Thus, despite the fact that administrative detention is defined as a last resort, the actual implementation and excessive use of this measure raises the legitimate question if it actually aims at deterring the migration wave into Europe. 1.1. General findings To these policy issues there are added weaknesses of the machinery of state to adequately respond to the stipulated procedural and substantial guarantees of detention. The consequences for those who are subjected to these dysfunctions are tangible and pertain mainly to the restriction of fundamental rights and poor living conditions. The main issues emerging in practice are summarised below: • A dministrative detention is not imposed as an exception- al measure, but as the norm, without examining alternative, less onerous, measures. • It is in fact imposed as a general measure, without always being preceded by individual assessment. • Its duration frequently exceeds the necessary measure, because it does not follow the rule of due administrative diligence for each individual case, but generalised practices and directions. • T he reasons of detention often differ from the basic legal framework of Law 3907/2011 (and the Return Directive), which provides that the legal basis must be the reasonable prospect of return of the third-country national to the country of origin, or it otherwise imposes release from detention. On the one hand the pre-existing law of detention for public order reasons survives, as an exception, albeit a generalised one, and on the other hand the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016 creates one more differentiated group - and speed - of detainees, as does the lodging of asylum applications. • T he detention sites vary, from Pre-removal Centers (De- tention Centers), arranged into mass detention dormitories (e.g. Tavros, Corinth) or wings with the installation of containers, (e.g. Amygdaleza), to police station cells, which are the most inappropriate spaces from the aspect of standards. It must also be noted that the Reception and Identification Centers (hotspots) are in principle spaces designated for 25-day detention (Law 4375/2016). There are detainees of different speeds in the Detention Centers, depending on the reason of their detention. • T he Hellenic Police has not managed to date to fulfil the commitment it made two years ago, to limit administrative detention to special Pre-removal Centers and to not use police station cells for the third-country nationals waiting for return, despite the fact that the detention conditions in the latter may constitute a de facto inhuman or degrading treatment according to the criteria of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Hellenic Police provides - also to the Ombudsman only the numbers of detainees in the Pre-removal Centers 57