papadopoulos-ston-athina-9-84-fovi-gia-neo-farmakonisi-apo-tis-paranomes-epanaproothisis/>, last accessed 29 March 2018. 22 A., d’Angelo et. al., Mapping Refugee Reception In the Mediterranean: First Report of the Evi-Med Project, 16 June 2017, <https://evimedresearch.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/evi-med-first-report-final-16-june-2017.pdf>, last accessed 29 March 2018. 23 Greek Council for Refugees, Reports of systematic pushbacks in the Evros region [press release], 20 February 2018, <http://gcr.gr/index.php/en/news/press-releases-announcements/item/790-anafores-gia-systimatikes-epanaproothiseis-ston-evro-apo-eksypiretoymenous-tou-esp>, last accessed 15 March 2018. 24 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2016’, UNHCR [website], 19 June 2017, pp.16-17, <http://www.unhcr.org/5943e8a34.pdf>, last accessed 29 March 2018 and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), ‘Yemen UNHCR Update, 15 - 31 January 2018’, reliefweb [website], 31 January 2018, <https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen%20Update%2015_31%20Jan%202018%20%28Final%29.pdf>, last accessed 15 March 2018. 25 Information acquired via interview with police representatives at the Pre-Removal Center at Fylakio, Evros, on 22 December 2017. 26 As per information provided both by the Evros RIS and GAS (Directors of RIC and RAO, respectively), during our interviews (21 and 22 December 2017), 99% of non-Syrian and non-Iraqi nationals, when ultimately registered at the RIC, apply for asylum. Therefore, they are de facto asylum seekers who are forced in detention until their request can be heard. 27 Interview with the Director of the RIC at Fylakio, Evros, on 21 December 2017, and interview with UNHCR staff at the Fylakio RIC, in Evros, on 22 December 2017. 28 In the case of families and minors, to be noted, this prioritization takes place even if the RIC is beyond its capacity, which is the usual case. 29 Interview with UNHCR staff at Kos Field Office on 11 January 2018. 30 Others make references to even 62 detainees crammed in the cells, during the same time. See Fourla, D., M., ‘Ασφυξία στα κρατητήρια του Α.Τ. Κω-Α.Κυδωνάκης: Δεν έχουν γίνει απελάσεις εδώ και 6 μήνες’ [Suffocating conditions at the cells of the police precinct of Kos – A. Kidonakis: there have been no expulsions for 6 months], Dimkoratiki, 16 March 2017, <http://www.dimokratiki.gr/16-032017/asfixia-sta-kratitiria-tou-t-ko-kidonakis-den-echoun-gini-apelasis-edo-ke-6-mines/>, last accessed 20 March 2018. 31 In January 2017, for instance, GCR undertook 8 such cases, all of whom were subsequently released, following GCR’s intervention. Information acquired through GCR internal report on Kos, for January 2017. 32 Interview with Director of the 2nd Police Directorate of Dodekanisa, on January 12, 2018. Detention and other means of restriction As per UNHCR’s Guidelines on the Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers and Alternatives to Detention, the “[…] detention of asylum-seekers should be a measure of last resort, with liberty being the default position”.33 Similarly, as per the Reception Directive, detention of asylum seekers can only be enforced as a measure of last resort, and only “if other less coercive alternative measures cannot be applied effectively”.34 In spite of this, however, and notwithstanding the cases already mentioned in the preceding section, detention forms an integral and systemic aspect of the reception of asylum seekers at the Greek borders, and is enforced in a way that largely circumvents any safeguards dictated by law,35 including the duty to examine less coercive alternatives.36 If anything, detention seems to at times constitute the default position for applicants of international protection who, much in the spirit of the overall European deterrent policy 15