criteria to be considered a safe haven.3 The EU-Turkey deal eventually diverted flows to Italy and in 2016 arrivals to Greece dropped to 170,000.4 To implement the EU-Turkey agreement, Greece converted reception centres on five Aegean Islands into closed (or “secure”) facilities and adopted a policy of “geographical restriction.” Pursuant to this measure, authorities ceased transferring migrants and asylum seekers to the Greek mainland, forcing them to remain on the island on which they have been registered and undergo a fast-track border procedure. Administrative delays, however, have left thousands migrants and asylum seekers stranded on the Aegean islands for months or even years.5 Numerous reports have denounced appalling conditions in the centres, including severe overcrowding, insufficient food supply and medical care, and a lack of protection from violence.6 Greece’s immigration detention practices long spurred concerns and criticisms, including: its resistance to using non-custodial “alternatives to detention”; its systematic detention of children; the issuing of detention orders that lack individual assessments; inadequate conditions of detention; and the use of police stations for immigration detention purposes. Greece’s detention system has attracted broad international condemnation—including from four UN Special Procedures7 and four UN human rights treaty bodies.8 The European Amnesty International, “The EU-Turkey Deal: Europe’s Year of Shame,” March 2017, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/03/the-eu-turkey-deal-europes-year-of-shame/; I. Majcher, “Border Securitization and Containment vs. Fundamental Rights: The European Union’s ‘Refugee Crisis,’” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, March 2017, https://www.georgetownjournalofinternationalaffairs.org/onlineedition/border-securitization-and-containment-vs-fundamental-rights-the-european-unions-refugee-crisis 3 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “Refugees and Migrants Sea Arrivals in Europe,” December 2016, https://data2.unhcr.org/ar/documents/download/53447 4 Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), “Country Report: Greece,” Asylum Information Database (AIDA), “European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE),” December 2016, http://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/greece 5 Human Rights Watch (HRW), “Greece: Asylum Seekers in Abysmal Conditions on Islands,” October 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/23/greece-asylum-seekers-abysmal-conditions-islands; UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “UNHCR Urges Action to Ease Conditions on Greek Uslands (Briefing Note),” 8 September 2017, http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2017/9/59b24a377/unhcr-urges-action-easeconditions-greek-islands.html 6 Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, “Report Submitted by the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Manfred Nowak: Mission to Greece,” A/HRC/16/52/Add.4,” March 2011, www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx; Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Orostitution and Child Pornography, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Oornography, Juan Miguel Petit: Addendum: Mission to Greece (8-15 November 2005), “E/CN.4/2006/67/Add.3,” March 2006, www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx; Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, “Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Addendum: Mission to Greece,” A/HRC/27/48/Add.2,” 30 June, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx 7 UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), “Concluding Observations on the Second Periodic Report of Greece,” CCPR/C/GRC/CO/2,” 3 December 2015, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx; UN Committee against Torture (CAT), “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; UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), “Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 44 of the Convention: Concluding Observations: Greece,” CRC/C/GRC/CO/2-3,” 13 August 2012, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx; UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), “Concluding Observations on the Twentieth to Twenty-Second Periodic Reports of 8 Immigration Detention in Greece: Stranded in Aegean Limbo © Global Detention Project 2019 8