A/HRC/16/52/Add.4
an environment of powerlessness for victims of physical abuse and may perpetuate a
system of impunity for police violence.
In the police stations he visited, the Special Rapporteur found almost exclusively
foreign nationals and it seemed that the stations operate as facilities for detention awaiting
deportation, contrary to their normal function. In all but one facility under the authority of
the Ministry of Citizen’s Protection (police stations, border guard stations and migration
detention centres) he found foreign nationals detained in overcrowded, dirty cells, with
inadequate sanitary facilities, insufficient or no access to outdoor exercise and inadequate
medical attention. He found such conditions to amount to inhuman and degrading
treatment, in violation of articles 7 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.
He is particularly concerned about the situation of unaccompanied minors who are
often not properly registered and systematically detained, often together with adults.
Greek prisons are severely overcrowded, some having to host up to three times more
prisoners than their capacity. The pretrial rate is very high and pretrial detainees are not
separated from those convicted, in violation of article 10 of the Covenant.
The Special Rapporteur calls upon the European Union (EU) and United Nations
agencies to promptly assist the country with its migration burden. He also urges EU
member States to suspend all returns under the Dublin II Regulation and to design a fairer
system of burden sharing with respect to receiving irregular migrants and refugees, as well
as granting access to refugee determination procedures.
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