{"id":19827,"date":"2019-08-26T17:26:16","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T14:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arsis.gr\/?p=19827"},"modified":"2019-08-26T17:26:16","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T14:26:16","slug":"arsis-detention-of-a-large-number-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-the-amygdaleza-pre-removal-detention-centre-under-unacceptable-conditions-and-for-long-periods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/arsis-detention-of-a-large-number-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-the-amygdaleza-pre-removal-detention-centre-under-unacceptable-conditions-and-for-long-periods\/","title":{"rendered":"PRESS RELEASE &#8211; ARSIS: Detention of a large number of unaccompanied minors in the  Amygdaleza Pre-Removal Detention Centre, under unacceptable conditions  and for long periods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>Urgent measures are required to put an end to it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Monday, 26 August 2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sixty-three (63) unaccompanied minors, detained under unacceptable conditions, were recorded on Monday, 19 August, by a team of the Association for the Social Support of Youth \u2013 ARSIS (1 social worker, 1 lawyer, 1 psychologist and 1 interpreter). The recording was performed as part of the regular visits carried out by the team on a weekly basis, aiming, on the one hand to provide legal and psychosocial support to minors detained at the Amygdaleza Pre-Removal Detention Centre, and on the other hand for them to be informed by institutions and public authorities responsible for human rights and the protection of children in Greece.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The\nabove situation <strong>raises considerable concerns as regards both the process and\nthe unacceptable conditions of detention. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specifically,\nin the Minors Section of the Amygdaleza Pre-Removal Detention Centre, at the\ntime of our visit on 2 August 2019, 60 unaccompanied minors were being detained.\nOn 6 August, although 6 unaccompanied minors had been placed in accommodation\nstructures, 64 minors were still detained. At the time of our visit on 9 August\n2019, the number of unaccompanied minors had risen to 68: minors from Pakistan,\nAfghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Algeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Syria, Egypt,\nTurkey and Albania, despite the fact that another 5 unaccompanied minors had\nbeen placed in accommodation structures. Among the remaining detainees was one\n13-year-old Bangladeshi national &#8211; registered as a Pakistani national -, one\n16-year old minor from Algeria who had been held since 25.04.2019, two minors\nfrom Bangladesh and Pakistan who had been held for over 45 days and two minors\nfrom Afghanistan and Bangladesh who had been held for over 40 days. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Today,\n26.8.2019, the number of minors detained in Amygdaleza is 62, 3 of whom,\ndespite being minors, are detained, voluntarily, in the adult\u2019s section, and 59\nin the juvenile section despite the 11 placements in accommodation structures\nfor minors.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From\nour team\u2019s intervention at the Amygdaleza Pre-Removal Detention Centre <strong>it transpired\nthat<\/strong> <strong>there is now a steady and systematic increase in the number of\ndetained unaccompanied minors as well as an increase in their detention time, under\ndegrading detention conditions contrary to any concept of child protection<\/strong>.\n<strong>The high number of detainees, combined with the increasing length of\ndetention time under unacceptable conditions, aggravates the already compromised\npsychological state of the minors and leads to tension and acts of desperation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Most of the minors have still not received any information from the\n     authorities concerning the process of recording their asylum request, and\n     those who have already lodged a request for asylum have insufficient\n     access to the Autonomous Asylum Team of the Amygdaleza Pre-removal\n     Detention Centre. <\/li><li>No guardian has been appointed for the minors, nor does the\n     government provide any legal assistance or interpreter, and there is a deficiency\n     in the provision of psychosocial support and health care services.<\/li><li>Finally, there is a complete lack of recreational, sports and\n     educational activities.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Detention\nof the above minors is illegal, since those of them who have been submitted to\nreception and identification processes are then detained in line with the fixed\nconstant practice of the arrest authorities, that detain minors on the grounds\nof \u2018\u2019protective custody\u2019\u2019, instead of being accommodated in structures suitable\nfor their age, as required by law. Not only is the minors\u2019 detainment illegal, but\nalso their further administrative treatment: they were detained without documents\nand instead of being submitted to reception and identification processes &#8211; as prescribed\nby law &#8211; a return decision was issued against them (without taking into account\ntheir vulnerability as minors) and then they were placed in custody. Many of the\nabove minors were submitted to the so-called age assessment at the initiative\nof a non-competent agency, i.e. the Greek police, beyond any legal framework,\nguarantee or procedure. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This\ndetention of minors is clearly in breach of the international, EU and national\nlegal framework and constitutes a violation of their fundamental rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We call on the authorities of the Ministries of\nCivil Protection and Labour, Welfare and Social Solidarity to take immediate\nmeasures to put an end to the illegal and inhuman detention of the\nunaccompanied minors and for them to be accompanied to suitable accommodation\nstructures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The detention of the unaccompanied minors constitutes\ninhuman and degrading treatment and it violates the rule of law and our\ndemocracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:12px\">The Detention Sites Intervention Team of the ARSIS &#8211; Youth Support Centre is implemented by ARSIS &#8211; Association for the Social Support of Youth and financed by the UNHCR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Download the press release <a href=\"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Press-Release-ARSIS-Minors-Detention.doc\">here.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Urgent measures are required to put an end to it. Monday, 26 August 2019 Sixty-three (63) unaccompanied minors, detained under unacceptable conditions, were recorded on Monday, 19 August, by a team of the Association for the Social Support of Youth \u2013 ARSIS (1 social worker, 1 lawyer, 1 psychologist and 1 interpreter). The recording was &#8230; <a title=\"PRESS RELEASE &#8211; ARSIS: Detention of a large number of unaccompanied minors in the  Amygdaleza Pre-Removal Detention Centre, under unacceptable conditions  and for long periods\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/arsis-detention-of-a-large-number-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-the-amygdaleza-pre-removal-detention-centre-under-unacceptable-conditions-and-for-long-periods\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about PRESS RELEASE &#8211; ARSIS: Detention of a large number of unaccompanied minors in the  Amygdaleza Pre-Removal Detention Centre, under unacceptable conditions  and for long periods\">Read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19827\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}