Working Paper 44/2014 Detention as Punishment: Can indefinite detention be Greece's main policy tool to manage its irregular migrant population? by Anna Triandafyllidou, Angeliki Dimitriadi, Danai Angeli The problem of detention The challenges that Europe faces with regard to controlling irregular migration and providing protection to people in need are complex. An effective policy for irregular migration control includes arrest and return (through voluntary, semi-voluntary or indeed forced return) and it may seem to be best served by regular detention of apprehended undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers whose case is pending. At the same time, if this policy is to be in line with international obligations and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights it must provide for adequate services and safeguards so that those apprehended are informed of their rights including the possibility to apply for asylum, and are not routinely detained. Detention should be an extreme measure used only when there is a fear that the person will abscond and in view of an imminent expulsion, or when there is a well-founded fear that the person will commit a crime. However, detention is currently used in Greece (and in many other European countries) as a punishment for having crossed a border illegally or even for having filed an asylum application; without due examination of the specific personal and family circumstances of the irregular migrant or asylum seeker, their probability to commit crimes, neither the harm that detention will do to them and to the minors often accompanying them. Detention has been a hotly debated issue in Greece. The country was heavily criticized for its detention facilities on the islands 1, particularly in Lesvos. It has also been criticized for detaining asylum seekers 2, a practice which in 2012 not only continued but also was strengthened, through the modification of the Presidential Decree 114/2010 that enables the detention of asylum seekers for 12 months (rather than 3 and under special circumstances 6 months in place until then). Greece imposes by law the maximum time for detention, which is 18 months (prescribed in the Return Directive, under exceptional circumstances only) for both irregular migrants and asylum seekers. The policy of detention was conceived however not only as a punitive measure and/or as deterrence to future arrivals; it was originally conceived as an effective 1 For the situation at Greek detention centres see ProAsyl (2007), Human Rights Watch (2008), Frontex (September 2011). 2 See UNHCR (18 October 2012) ‘Η η η ω α ω π π α απ μ ηπ α α α μ ’ (‘Detention of asίlum seekers should not be the norm but the eήception’), URL: http://www.unhcr.gr/nea/artikel/b007e6faf3f8f128db0b7075b5aafe33/ypati-armosteia-ik.html, 9/2/2013 in Greek. 5