Note

For the year 2011, the Migreurop network calculated 31,790 detention places in 255 camps, out of a total of 420 camps identified within the EU and at its borders. The absence of information on the “reception” capacity of the remaining 165 camps suggests that the total number of places is significantly greater than 31,790.

The legal duration of migrant detention continues to steadily increase. For example, in Italy it went from two months in 2008 to 18 months in 2011, while in France it increased from 32 to 45 days in 2011. Within the EU, in 2012, four countries – the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Lithuania – still had not adopted a maximum period for detention of migrants. This means that a migrant can be detained for several years on the basis of administrative reasons, as in the majority of countries to the south of the Mediterranean (Cyprus, Lebanon, Egypt).