9 ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION Discussions on alternatives to detention should begin with an acknowledgement that depriving someone of their personal freedom should be a last resort. As the European Court has reiterated in many cases, authorities should consider the fact that administrative detention is imposed on people who have fled their own country, often in fear of their lives, and who are suffering further trauma and revictimization in the countries that should be hosting them safely and in dignified conditions. 79 In Greece, prioritizing alternative measures to detention is mandated by law, but administrative practices do not comply with this. The authorities often use exemption clauses to justify detention, though these practices are illegal. The Greek Council for Refugees has commented that the recent change to the legal framework ‘undermines the general principle that the detention of asylum-seekers should be exceptional and only be resorted to when necessary to achieve a legitimate purpose’. 80 Asylum legislation references the possibility of imposing alternative measures to detention, as it states that detention of asylum seekers may be imposed ‘… under the condition that there cannot be implementation of alternative measures as those mentioned in paragraph 3 of Article 22 of L.3907/2011’. 81 Those alternative measures mentioned in L.3907/2011 include: 1. The duty to appear before the competent authorities on a regular basis pending his/her removal from the country. 2. The duty to deliver travel documents to the authorities. 3. The duty to stay in a certain place. 4. The duty to deposit a financial guarantee. 82 The Greek administrative courts have also imposed – in the context of examination and approval of appeals against detention decisions – the following terms as alternatives to detention: 1. A deadline for departure. 2. An obligation to provide residence and contact information. 3. An obligation to present to the Asylum Service within 10 days to complete the asylum application registration. The administrative courts have also imposed the same timeline on the authorities in the same context. Instead of extending the detention, authorities can: 1. transfer the migrant to a reception and identification centre for identification procedures; 2. transfer the migrant who has stated his/her intention to apply for international protection before the Asylum Service to complete the registration procedure. 83 It is unacceptable that 10 years after this legislation was implemented, the Greek authorities have not even tried to implement alternative measures to detention. For example, the amount of the financial guarantee required has not been determined 22