right to lodge complaints. Cyprus calls for the implementation of the complaint tools available to returnees by the national Ombudsman. It is worth recalling that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the “Twenty guidelines on forced return” in 2005, which state that all foreigners subjected to limitation of personal liberty, and therefore also returnees, must be guaranteed the right to lodge a complaint. 15 3.6 Choice of flights to monitor. Factors taken into consideration In general, the European bodies responsible for monitoring forced return operations mainly intervene on charter flights organized and carried out by national authorities. The priority is in all cases given to those operations that involve vulnerable subjects such as families with children, women, elderly people, people with health problems, etc. (Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom) with criteria based on the mission’s “risk assessment” which include, in addition to vulnerable people and people in need of treatment, people who present a high risk of violent resistance or who require the use of coercive measures (the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Greece). The Finnish Ombudsman reports that it prioritizes monitoring of flights involving vulnerable subjects (unaccompanied migrant minors, people with physical or mental health problems, victims of trafficking, families with children), but also returns to critical countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. The British Independent Monitoring Board declares that it gives priority to monitoring flights from the United Kingdom to Nigeria, Ghana, Pakistan, Albania and joint return The Italian National Guarantor refers that it flights with departure from France, prioritizes monitoring of charter flights over Bulgaria and Austria. commercial flights: the latter generally involve The Greek Ombudsman prioritizes the one person or at most 3-4 people to be returned monitoring of domestic or joint flights to and monitoring would therefore take place on a Pakistan, Georgia, Armenia, as well as air very small sample. A charter flight, on the other or sea operations from the island of Lesvos hand, can transfer up to 40 people, so the to Turkey. presence of risk factors is higher; also, while on Furthermore, all European monitors commercial flights there is also the "external declare they participate in international gaze" of passengers, charter flights bring missions organized by their country in together people in the same condition who are collaboration with Frontex. therefore less controllable in the event of Slovakia, Cyprus, Malta – given the limited tensions with escorts. In particular, the national number of monitored flights – declare that staff states that the main operations monitored their intention is to monitor as many are those carried out with charter flights to flights as possible, especially those Nigeria, Tunisia and Egypt. involving the most vulnerable people, but “Detainees shall have the right to file complaints for alleged instances of ill treatment or for failure to protect them from violence by other detainees. Complaints and witnesses shall be protected against any ill treatment or intimidation arising as a result of their complaint or for the evidence given to support it.” 15

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