In early, 2012 Greece adopted Law 4075/2012, amending Law 3386/2005. The new law
added health-related grounds for immigration detention. Accordingly, non-citizens may
be detained if they constitute a danger to public health because of an infectious disease,
belong to a group vulnerable to infectious diseases, or live in conditions that do not meet
minimum standards of hygiene. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of
Migrants has argued that these measures are discriminatory and target the most
vulnerable migrants, and that the majority of medical problems suffered in immigration
detention are directly linked to detention conditions in the country.13 The GCR has
pushed for a revocation of this legislation on the grounds of its incompatibility with
international law, while the UN Committee against Torture has urged the country to
replace it with appropriate medical measures.14 As of October 2017, this provision is still
in force, yet it is not used in practice.15
Children. Greek legislation does not prohibit the detention of migrant or asylum-seeking
children. The provisions of Law 3907/2011 addressing detention within pre-removal
procedures (article 32) are modeled upon the Returns Directive. Accordingly,
unaccompanied minors and families with minors are only to be detained as a measure of
last resort—when no other adequate and less coercive measure can be used for the
same purpose—and for the shortest period of time possible. Law 4375/2016, regulating
detention within asylum procedures, provides that as a rule, unaccompanied children
should not be detained (article 46(10)(b)). Only in “very exceptional cases” should
unaccompanied minors who apply for international protection while in detention remain
in detention—and this should always be a last resort to ensure that they are safely
referred to appropriate accommodation facilities for minors. This detention measure is
exclusively limited to the necessary time to safely refer the minor to appropriate
accommodation facilities and cannot exceed a period of twenty-five days, extendable for
twenty days. In 2016, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) recommended that Greece
amend Law 4375 and abolish immigration detention of children altogether.16
Despite these legislative restrictions on the detention of children, the CPT and GCR
report that in practice, unaccompanied children are systematically detained because of a
constant lack of space in reception centres and open shelters. For this reason, for
example, 324 unaccompanied children were detained on 28 December 2016, and 321
13
Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of
migrants on his mission to Greece,” A/HRC/23/46/Add.4, 17 April 2013,
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Migration/SRMigrants/Pages/CountryVisits.aspx.
14
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), “Second Joint
Submission of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles
(ECRE) to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in the case of M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece
(Application no. 30696/09) and related cases,” February 2013, http://www.refworld.org/docid/54f5cd00a.html;;
Committee against Torture, “Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention:
Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture: Greece,” CAT/C/GRC/CO/5-6, 27 June 2012,
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx.
15
Greek Council for Refugees, Email correspondence with Izabella Majcher (Global Detention Project), October 2017.
16
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT),
“Report to the Government of Greece on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention
of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 13 to 18 April and 19 to 25 July 2016,”
CPT/Inf (2017) 25, September 2017, https://www.coe.int/en/web/cpt/greece.
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