Access to information in detention For those detained and due to the critically insufficient interpretation services provided in detention facilities, access to information is even more limited. According to the CPT’s report to the Greek Government, foreign nationals detained in facilities across the country are deprived of their right to be informed about their rights in a language they could understand. According to the delegation, “a two-page information leaflet (Δ-33 form) detailing the rights of detained persons was generally available and pinned to the wall in various languages in most police stations visited, none of the persons interviewed by the CPT’s delegation had obtained a copy of it". Furthermore, the detainees complained that “they had signed documents in the Greek language without knowing their content and without having been provided with the assistance of an interpreter”.882 These findings remain valid in 2024 and 2025. The same issue was raised in all subsequent CPT reports.883 Similar observations were made by the Council of the European Union after the 2021 evaluation and its recommendations to the Greek Government that followed in 2024,884 and were reported once again by GCR in its Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee in 2024.885 A delegation of the Council of Europe's CPT held talks with the Minister and Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection and senior officials responsible for prison matters in Athens on 23 and 24 October 2023 in light of the Committee’s decision of March 2022 to open the procedure which may lead to the adoption of a Public Statement under Article 10, paragraph 2, of the Convention regulating the CPT. A delegation of the CPT also carried out an ad hoc visit to Greece from 21 November to 1 December 2023. The relevant report was published on July 2024 stating “As was the case in 2018 and 2020, the Committee must once again conclude that there remains an acute lack of interpretation services in all the establishments visited during the 2023 visit. Further, access to information in a language and form that detained foreign nationals understand also remains insufficient”.886 2. Access to NGOs and UNHCR Indicators: Access to NGOs and UNHCR 1. Do asylum seekers located at the border have effective access to NGOs and UNHCR if they wish so in practice? Yes With difficulty No 2. Do asylum seekers in detention centres have effective access to NGOs and UNHCR if they wish so in practice? Yes With difficulty No 3. Do asylum seekers accommodated in remote locations on the territory (excluding borders) have effective access to NGOs and UNHCR if they wish so in practice? Yes With difficulty No Access of NGOs to Reception and Identification Centres, camps on the mainland and pre-removal detention facilities is subject to prior permission by the competent authorities. Article 78 of the Asylum Code (Greek Law 4939/2022 ratifying the Code on reception, international protection of third-country nationals and stateless persons, and temporary protection in cases of mass influx of displaced persons) provides for the obligation of all Greek and International Organisations of Civil Society active in the field 882 883 884 885 886 CPT, Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 28 March to 9 April 2019, CPT/Inf (2020) 15, April 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3MDGG8Z, para. 100. CPT, Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 13 to 17 of March 2020, CPT/Inf (2020) 36, Strasbourg, 19 November 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3quLJ4r, paras 22 -23. Council of the European Union, Council Implementing Decision setting out a recommendation on addressing the deficiencies identified in the 2021 evaluation of Greece on the application of the Schengen acquis in the field of return, 9 November 2021, available here. GCR, GCR Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee, Greece’s State Party Report, 142nd Session, 14 October – 7 November 2024, September 2024, available here. CPT, Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece carried out by the CPT from 20 November to 1 December 2023. The Government of Greece has requested the publication of this report and of its response. The Government’s response is set out in document CPT/Inf (2024) 22. Strasbourg, 12 July 2024, para 32, available here. 189