CAT/OP/PAN/1 amount of time minors spend in their cells be reduced. In particular, the Subcommittee recommends that the State party provide additional opportunities to attend school or participate in educational programmes in the juvenile facilities; do away with the system of solitary confinement in maximum-security cells, including for “reflection” periods; set up the transitional facility for young people who are turning 18; and improve conditions in the Tocumen centre, especially the cells for new arrivals and the maximum-security cells. 119. The Subcommittee also recommends the establishment of a system where the youngest minors and new arrivals are accommodated in such a way as to facilitate their educational development and enable them to establish good interpersonal relations. Given that many of the young people have grown up without stable relationships or role models or have not been adequately socialized, high priority should be given to such a system of reintegrating them into society. C. Migrants 120. The administrative detention of migrants should never be punitive in nature. Alternatives to detention should be pursued before a decision to detain a person is taken. The State party should establish by law a series of measures as alternatives to or substitutes for the deprivation of liberty, duly taking into account international human rights standards. 121. The Subcommittee reiterates that the detention of migrants in holding centres should be an exceptional measure that is taken only when necessary, reasonable and proportionate in a specific case and that it should be applied only for the shortest period possible and for a legitimate purpose. To enable them to defend their rights, moreover, migrants should be provided with procedural safeguards. 122. The Subcommittee finds it troubling that some of the migrants held in the facilities of the National Migration Service cannot exercise their right to inform a person of their choice that they have been detained, to make telephone calls and receive visits or to keep their mobile telephones with them during the period of deprivation of liberty or at least to have access to them. Non-Spanish-speaking migrants held in the facilities were not informed of their legal status in a language they understood, and indicated that they had had to sign papers in Spanish without understanding them. 123. The facilities of the centre for men in Panama City (the Curundú men’s centre), including the sanitation and washing facilities, are in very poor shape. These conditions, combined with a number of infestations, have led to outbreaks of rashes and fungal infections. The migrants, in an appallingly dirty, cockroach-infested environment, have to sit on their beds or the floor to eat. Some also mentioned that medical care was lacking and that they were allowed to go out to the courtyard only two hours a week. 124. The Subcommittee also found that the facility had a punishment cell and had no standard operating procedures or protocols for recording incidents. 125. The Subcommittee reiterates that States assume obligations and duties under international law to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. These obligations and duties are applicable in respect of all persons, regardless of nationality and administrative status. 126. The Subcommittee was informed both by the migrants and by the staff of the men’s holding centre that, when officials from the National Office of Refugee Affairs visit the centre, they do not enter the cell where migrants are detained; instead, the staff provide them with information on the persons who have stated that they intend to seek asylum. 127. The Subcommittee recommends that officials from the National Office of Refugee Affairs enter the cell where migrants are held in order to receive any asylum applications from them directly, so as to eliminate any possibility that the transmission of the information may be dependent on the discretion of the holding facility’s staff. 16 GE.18-12640