THE DUBLIN II TRAP TRANSFERS OF ASYLUM-SEEKERS TO GREECE 51 47 UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Consideration of Reports Submitted by State Parties under Article 9 of the Convention. Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, CERD/C/GRC/CO/19, 28 August 2009. 48 Detained asylum-seekers are given back their luggage only when they are released from detention. 49 Detained asylum-seekers told Amnesty International that this number was in fact close to 130. 50 Stelios Vradelis, “El Venizelos is a warehouse of 240 souls!”, Ta nea, 16 September 2009 www.tanea.gr/default.asp?pid=2&ct=1&artId=4536441http://www.tvxs.gr/v20894 51 Ibid. 52 Athens, 15 July 2009, Prot No. 800/6/7, letter from the Panhellenic Federation of Police Officers to the Minister of Interior. In October 2009, the Minister of Citizens’ Protection decided to examine the possibility of releasing 1,200 irregular migrants who were not charged with criminal offences and who were detained in various police stations in Greece pending expulsion. In his speech he acknowledged amongst others that the irregular migrants detained pending their expulsion but whose expulsion could not take place, faced prolonged detention in inhumane conditions. 53 In a small number of cases, asylum applications were presented at Thessaloniki airport. 54 Amnesty International delegates have seen a number of written notices handed over by police at the Athens airport to Dublin II returnees, requiring them to present their asylum application in Petrou Ralli within the three-day deadline. In one case an asylum-seeker was given a two-day deadline. 55 UNHCR, Observations on Greece as a country of asylum, December 2009 56 Human Rights Watch, Stuck in a Revolving Door. 57 Re-integration Center for Returning Migrants-KSPM, 13 February 2009, www.proasyl.de/fileadmin/proasyl/fm_redakteure/STARTSEITE/Griechenland/Ecumenical_Refugee_Programme.pdf 58 See section 4.6. on Administrative barriers to accessing the asylum system due to homelessness. 59 Ekathimerini, 27 October 2008, www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_Articles_politics_100008_27/10/2008_101628 and Eleftherotypia, 27 October 2008. At a press conference held on 10 November 2008 by UNHCR, GCR, Praxis, Ecumenical Program for Refugees and the Group of Lawyers for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants, these organizations asked for an independent and unbiased investigation by the ministerial and judicial authorities into the incidents and the guarantee of fast, fair and effective asylum procedures. 60 UNHCR, Observations on Greece as a country of asylum, December 2009. Amnesty International considers that applicants should be allowed to have a full asylum determination, including a substantive appeal. Although states may set deadlines for appeals, these must take into account the reasons why an asylum-seeker may not be able to present an appeal against a first instance decision. 61 Articles 2, 4 and 10 as amended under PD 81/2009. 62 See UNHCR press release, 32/09, 17 July 2009. 63 National Human Rights Commission, Decision of the 3rd Department on the draft of the PD for the Amendment of the PD 90/2008 “Adjustment of the Greek legislation to the Directive 2005/85/EC, on minimum standards on procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status”. 64 UNHCR, Position on the Return of Asylum-Seekers to Greece Under the “Dublin Regulation”, 15 April 2008. 65 Greek Ombudsman, Press release, The serving of rejection decisions to asylum applicants, 15 October 2009. 66 UNHCR, Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, HCR/IP/4/Eng/REV.1, 1992.