Author
Articles 50(2) and 50(3) Asylum Code require authorities to examine and apply alternatives to detention before resorting to detention of an asylum seeker. Article 22(3) L 3907/2011 provides a non-exhaustive list of alternatives to detention for both third-country nationals under removal procedures and asylum seekers. Regular reporting to the authorities and an obligation to reside at a specific area are included on this list. The possibility of a financial guarantee as an alternative to detention is also foreseen in the law, provided that a Joint Decision of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Public Order will be issued with regard to the determination of the amount of such financial guarantee.[1] However, based on GCR’s experience, such a Joint Ministerial Decision is still pending since 2011. In any event, alternatives to detention are systematically neither examined nor applied in practice by competent Police Authorities neither prior the issuance of the initial detention decision nor when issuing a decision prolonging the detention.
[1] Article 22(3) L 3907/2011.