hotspots, border crossing points, or even vessels at sea. These informal places of detention lack all necessary safeguards. It is important to stress that National Preventive Mechanisms have the mandate to visit all places where individuals are or may be deprived of liberty. However, not being registered, these places remain more difficult to access and NPMs and civil society have to find other means to gather information to assess the situation of migrants held in those places of detention. In focus: arbitrary detention In Italy, NPM reports identified that in some hotspots, migrants were not allowed to leave even after being identified. A prosecutor and the Italian NPM visited the Dicotti vessel, where migrants were forced to remain on board for nine days with no possibility to disembark and without the required legal grounds for detention, and noted a violation of article 5 of ECHR and article 15 of the Italian Constitution and, therefore, the arbitrariness of such detention.11 Furthermore, the poor conditions on board led the NPM to consider a violation of article 3 of ECHR for inhuman and degrading treatment. 3. Duration of detention It was discussed that in the OSCE region, including within the European Union, there are no common standards on the length of immigration detention, which ranges from a few days to several months. Participants repeated that any prolonged immigration detention with no prospect of release can amount to ill-treatment. Participants also mentioned that the longer immigration detention is extended, the more it carries risks of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees. In addition, particular concerns were shared by NPM and CSO representatives that cases have been observed where the prolongation of detention is used as a deterrent or to “break” migrants’ will and coerce them into “voluntary” returns. The cycle of alternate criminal and administrative detention for a prolonged period has been observed in some countries. More generally, indefinite detention in the migration context is, in principle, not permissible under international law and may constitute a form of arbitrary detention. If a detention is being extended, it must follow the same procedures as the initial detention. The maximum length of time for which a detention can be extended must be clearly stated in law. 4. Detention regime As per regional standards developed by the CPT, the administrative detention of migrants should involve limited restrictions and a varied regime of activities12 and generally reflect the difference in relation to the detention of suspects of crimes or convicted criminals within the criminal justice system. However, participants agreed that the environment of immigration detention is often prisonlike in the OSCE countries represented. In the context of their monitoring work they have observed that people, including children, may be detained in former prisons or police cells. Their contacts with the outside world - including via the use of cell phones - is often limited, for no valid reason. The lack of common spaces or activities is sometimes due to the structure of the facility, or a consequence See Garante Nationale, report of 24 August 2018, http://www.garantenazionaleprivatiliberta.it/gnpl/it/rapporti.page?frame4_item=1. 12 https://rm.coe.int/16806fbf12. 11 9