- 32 B. Foreign nationals deprived of their liberty under aliens’ legislation 1. Preliminary remarks 70. In the period since 2005, the CPT has paid particular attention to the issue of foreign nationals deprived of their liberty under aliens’ legislation in Greece and visited the country no less than nine times regarding this matter.40 Most recently, following its visits in April and July 2016, the CPT expressed its concern over the situation in the “hotspots” on the Aegean islands and was highly critical of the continued and routine detention of foreign national children. The report also highlighted the totally inadequate conditions of detention in immigration detention facilities and in most of the police stations visited.41 71. Although the number of arrivals of foreign nationals to Greece has significantly decreased from a peak of 856,000 in 2016 to 35,000 in 2017,42 the Greek reception and asylum system remains under pressure from the continued arrival of large numbers of irregular migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. According to UNHCR, between January and April 2018, a total of 16,500 foreign nationals arrived in Greece, with a spike in April when over 3,000 persons reached the Aegean islands and more than 3,600 persons crossed the Evros land border with Turkey. For the first time since 2013, more persons arrived by land than by sea. While persons who crossed by sea were mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, Turkish nationals were the second largest group of those who crossed by land. Amongst these persons were a high number of families with small children and other vulnerable groups. 72. At the outset, the CPT acknowledges the difficult context and the significant on-going challenges faced by the Greek authorities in dealing with the high number of foreign nationals arriving in the country, both on the Aegean islands and in the Evros region. The Committee has repeatedly stressed the need for a coordinated European approach to address this phenomenon. However, the CPT would like to recall that, even in this challenging situation, foreign nationals deprived of their liberty by the Greek authorities must be treated humanely and with dignity. In this respect, coordinated action by all competent ministries is required. Further, their detention cannot be the immediate response to this challenge.43 In this respect, the CPT notes with concern that the use of immigration detention in Greece has significantly increased. As of 30 April 2018, more than 8,200 foreign nationals were detained by the Hellenic Police under aliens’ legislation.44 40 41 42 43 44 For the corresponding visit reports, see https://www.coe.int/en/web/cpt/greece. See the CPT’s report on its 2016 visits (CPT/Inf (2017) 25). This trend is mainly due to the implementation of the European Union-Turkey Statement as of 20 March 2016. All refugees and migrants who reached the Greek Aegean islands from Turkey after that date were deemed liable to be returned to Turkey. In line with the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights, deprivation of liberty should only be a measure of last resort, after exhausting the possibility of less intrusive measures and after a careful and individual examination of each case. According to the Court, such detention upon arrival is acceptable only to enable States to identify newly arrived migrants, to register them and to take their fingerprints, and provided there are adequate safeguards. See, for instance, ECtHR, Mikolenko v. Estonia, application no. 10664/05, 8 October 2009; and J.R. and Others v. Greece, application no. 22696/16, 25 January 2018, paragraph 84. See Fundamental Rights Agency, Periodic data collection on the migration situation in the EU, May Highlights, 1 March – 30 April 2018, May 2018, p. 14.