18 December 2019
"UN experts on arbitrary detention have urged the Greek government to make urgent changes to the detention of migrants, stressing that the country was in continuing violation of various international standards.
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See: UN experts decry rise in migrant detentions in Greece (InfoMigrants, link):
"The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) presented its preliminary findings after visiting 20 detention-related facilities in Greece during the first two weeks of this month.
In the report, the delegation highlighted multiple areas of concern ranging from lacking access of detained asylum seekers to interpreters and legal help to inflationary use of detention to prison overcrowding and various other issues involving both the criminal justice system and migration."
See: Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Preliminary Findings from its visit to Greece (2 - 13 December 2019) (UN, link)
Contents of the Working Group report:
I. Introduction
II. Good practices and positive developments
Ratification of international human rights instruments
Alternatives to detention
Provisions for early release
Cooperation by the authorities
III. Deprivation of liberty in the context of the criminal justice system
Presentation before a judicial authority
Pre-trial detention
Presumption of innocence
Right to legal counsel
Provision of information in other languages
Short trials
Overcrowding of detention facilities
Conditions of detention
Monitoring of places of detention
IV. Detention of persons in the context of migration
Right to seek asylum
Protective custody
Age assessment
Vulnerability assessment
Opportunity to challenge detention and removal decision
Support to lawyers and human rights defenders
Pushbacks at the Greece-Turkey borde
Legislative amendments and the announced policy on migration
V. Deprivation of liberty in the context of psychosocial disability and social care
Conclusion
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