Electronic monitoring is being increasingly promoted as an "alternative" non-custodial measure to immigration detention across the EU. It consists in the monitoring of the person's whereabouts by means of digital surveillance technologies and digital reporting tools. In practice, different tools can be used, from special mobile phone applications to electronic surveillance devices (e.g. ankle bracelets, fingerprint scanners).
Lithuania is an example of a EU country which is already using electronic monitoring as an alternative to detention, even if on a relatively small scale (28 reported cases between 2015-2020). In Lithuania, the frequency and form of monitoring (including special mobile phone applications; electronic surveillance devices; and an email with the possibility to identify the sender) are decided by a court order. If the person does not comply, detention can be ordered. Similar practices are also common in the UK, where they are used by the Home Office to monitor a person's location 24/7.
According to a 2024 guide by the European Union Agency for Asylum, these practices are still limited in EU+ countries as a result of the implementation of the EU Pact on Migration (see Reception Conditions Directive, Article 10(5)) and especially of the new EU Deportation ("Return") Regulation, which explictly defines electronic monitoring as an "alternative" to detention.
These technologies have been criticised as they can replicate the harms of detention in a closed centre in the digital environment, with potential consequences for people's health, mental health, their right to family life and privacy. According to existing studies, these could amount to alternative forms of detention, rather than alternatives to detention.
EU Pact on Migration (see Reception Conditions Directive, Article 10(5)); EU Deportation ("Return") Regulation