CAT/OP/CYP/1 47. The Subcommittee recommends the State party ensure that women in detention are provided with gender-specific health services that are at least the equivalent of those available in the community, in accordance with the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules). D. 1. Undocumented migrants in detention General issues 48. The Subcommittee reminds the State party that migrants should be detained only as a measure of last resort. The State policy of criminalizing undocumented migration, and the functioning of the migration detention facilities in Cyprus in general, undermines the basic rights of migrants and weakens their protection against torture and ill-treatment. The Subcommittee is particularly concerned by the extended periods for which undocumented migrants can be detained and that they are treated as if they had been convicted of a criminal offence. 49. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party detain undocumented migrants only as a measure of last resort. When it is strictly necessary to do so, such migrants should not be detained in a prison-like environment but in facilities equipped to provide adequate recreational, physical and cultural opportunities, to which the migrants have effective access. 50. It is clear to the Subcommittee that undocumented migrants in detention lack information concerning their personal and legal situation, which causes them stress and anxiety, exacerbating their feelings of hopelessness and negatively affecting their mental health. Given their particularly vulnerable situation, which many migrants experience as being “limbo”, particular care should be taken to ensure that all relevant information is swiftly and effectively communicated to them, in an appropriate manner and in a language they understand. At all stages of processing, migrants interviewed by the Subcommittee during its visit expressed incomprehension as to why they were in a particular detention facility, or in detention at all, and, especially, appeared not to understand what was happening to them or what would happen to them next. Migrants appeared to be unaware of their rights, the services available to them or the legal procedures they were involved in. They were distressed at being separated from family and friends, or from others with whom they had travelled, and at not being informed of why they were supposedly being treated differently from others. There was a significant lack of communication between the authorities and the migrants, both generally and as regards the particulars of each case. 51. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party establish procedures to ensure that migrants are provided with information concerning their personal situation and changes to their personal legal situation, promptly, in an appropriate manner and in a language they understand. They should also be effectively informed about support and other services available to them, how to access them, their rights and obligations during the relevant legal processes and procedures, the possible consequences of non-compliance or non-cooperation and any remedies available to them. 2. Korfinou centre for migrants 52. The Subcommittee visited the open reception centre for migrants at Korfinou. The Subcommittee was concerned at the lack of hot water, particularly as it was winter when the visit took place, and at the fact that over one third of the centre’s population was made up of young children. It noted that some migrants were being accommodated in very cramped conditions and was particularly concerned by the appalling state of some of the communal toilets and shower blocks, apparently due to the centre’s management not being responsible for their maintenance. 9