I. Background The detention of unaccompanied children due to a shortage of shelter space is a long standing problem in Greece, but it has grown particularly acute in the context of Europe’s ongoing migrant and refugee crisis.1 In 2015, an unprecedented number of asylum seekers and migrants traveled by sea to Greece, many of whom continued their journey overland through Western Balkans countries that, at the time, largely allowed asylum seekers and migrants to transit freely towards other EU countries. In late 2015/early 2016, borders to the north of Greece closed, effectively trapping asylum seekers and migrants in Greece and further reducing the availability of places in shelters for unaccompanied children. In the first seven months of 2016, over 160,500 people reached Greek shores and Greek authorities registered over 3,300 unaccompanied asylum-seeking and migrant children.2 The EU’s emergency relocation plan, adopted in September 2015 and intended to move 66,400 asylum seekers from Greece to other EU countries, has provided little relief. As of September 2, only 49 unaccompanied children had been relocated from Greece to other EU countries.3 EU member states rejected a plea from Greece to make all unaccompanied children eligible for relocation, regardless of nationality. In July 2016, the EU Commission urged states to swiftly boost efforts to make available relocation places for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Senior police officers interviewed by Human Rights Watch acknowledged the undesirability of protective detention of unaccompanied children. The Head of the Aliens Police Division in Thessaloniki, Brigadier Georgios Pantelakos told Human Rights Watch, “This is not what 1 Human Rights Watch has documented the detention of children on the Greek islands and in the mainland for years. For more, see Human Rights Watch, EU: Abuses Fuel Migration, June 22, 2015, https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/06/22/euabuses-against-children-fuel-migration-0; and Human Rights Watch, Left to Survive: Systemic Failure to Protect Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Greece, December 2008, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/greece1208web_0.pdf. 2 UNHCR, “Refugees/Migrants Emergency Response – Mediterranean,” Information as of August 2, 2016, http://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/country.php?id=83 (accessed August 5, 2016); letter to Human Rights Watch from Maria Dimitropoulou, director, Office of Secretary General for Reception Odysseas Voudouris, Migration Ministry, undated, received August 9, 2016. 3 Email to Human Rights Watch from Besim Ajeti, Greece Head of Operations, International Organization for Migration, to Human Rights Watch, September 2, 2016. 9 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2016