A/HRC/16/52/Add.4
82.
The Special Rapporteur is concerned about the broad powers of the police to
hold persons in administrative detention. The police practices he observed resulted in
the systematic detention of irregular migrants and refugees without a sufficient legal
basis.
83.
The asylum procedure has collapsed and refugees are denied access to any
meaningful refugee-determination procedure. This puts them at a serious risk of
refoulement, aggravated by the Readmission Agreement with Turkey allowing for the
forcible return of aliens to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and the Syrian Arab
Republic.
84.
The dysfunctional migration and asylum system has had a direct and negative
impact on the criminal justice system, resulting in severe overcrowding, prolonged
detention and unsanitary conditions in police lock-ups, border guard stations,
migration detention centres and prisons.
85.
Addressing the problems will not only require political will but resources and it
is very uncertain that Greece has the financial means to effect the changes it wishes to
make. Although the Government maintains that addressing the problem of irregular
migration is a priority, there have been serious delays to enact new legislation.
86.
Greece should not carry the burden of receiving the vast majority of all
irregular migrants and refugees entering the European Union. This is a truly
European problem which needs a joint European solution, and not only a
reinforcement of the European borders through Frontex. This measure is effective
only if irregular migrants and refugees are properly identified in accordance with
fundamental rights and human dignity.
87.
The Special Rapporteur did not find widespread use of torture. However, he
found many cases of beatings by the police, upon arrest or detention or as a form of
punishment, some of which amounted to torture in the sense of the Convention
Against Torture definition. The lack of an effective independent complaints
mechanism gave rise to an atmosphere of impunity. His overwhelming concern,
however, is in regard to inhuman and degrading conditions of detention that do not
comply with international minimum standards for the humane treatment of detainees.
B.
Recommendations
88.
In a spirit of cooperation and partnership, the Special Rapporteur makes the
following recommendations to the Government of Greece, aimed at preventing torture
and ill-treatment and improving conditions of detention. He is assured that every
effort will be taken to implement his recommendations and stands ready to offer his
full cooperation and assistance in this regard. The Special Rapporteur recommends:
1.
To the Government of Greece:
Refugee and migration system
(a)
To promptly enact new legislation based on the Government’s adoption
of the “Greek Action Plan on Migration Management”;
(b)
To continue to work in close consultation with UNCHR so that its
asylum system is in line with international standards;
(c)
To undertake measures so that the police, currently under the Ministry
of Citizen’s Protection, shall no longer have responsibility for the refugee status
determination procedure;
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