30 GREECE IRREGULAR MIGRANTS AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS ROUTINELY DETAINED IN SUBSTANDARD CONDITIONS authorities, inter alia, reduce as far as possible the period of detention of asylum-seekers, especially children.98 The Working Group on screening centres has proposed that, immediately after the screening process, unaccompanied migrant and asylum-seeking children should be referred to special reception centres for unaccompanied children.99 4.1. PROLONGED DETENTION Unaccompanied asylum-seeking and migrant children who are apprehended at the country’s points of entry are usually detained following their arrest for irregular entry. Where a deportation order is issued, detention continues until a legal guardian is appointed and a place found in a special reception centre for unaccompanied children.100 Police authorities interviewed by Amnesty International shared a perception that placing unaccompanied children under administrative detention was the only way to keep them safe from trafficking and exploitation and fulfil the authorities’ legal obligations until a place could be found in a special reception centre. The limited number of centres for unaccompanied children, and of places available in these centres, is an important factor contributing to the prolonged periods of detention of unaccompanied children in borderguard stations and immigration detention centres.101 Although the Greek authorities have made some effort to create more accommodation for unaccompanied children, the number of existing centres does not match current needs. The lack of available places in Ayiassos special reception centre for unaccompanied children on Lesvos and in other similar centres around Greece was reported to be one of the main grounds for the prolonged detention in poor conditions of a large number of unaccompanied children at the Pagani immigration detention centre in the summer of 2009. In August 2009, about 150 of the children went on hunger strike to protest about the length and poor conditions of detention. More than 850 people, including 200 unaccompanied children, 150 women and 50 small children, were kept in overcrowded and insanitary conditions. Following a visit from UNHCR and the Ombudsman for the Rights of the Child, the authorities are reported to have released 570 individuals, mainly families with children and unaccompanied children.102 The scope, detail and implementation of the relevant domestic legislation regarding the guardianship of migrant and asylum-seeking unaccompanied children has also contributed to delays in transferring unaccompanied children to special centres.103 The regulations on guardianship of unaccompanied children who are asylum-seekers are included in PD 220/2007 transposing the EU Reception Conditions Directive into national legislation.104 Article 19 (1) of the PD 220/2007 provides that “the competent authorities shall take the appropriate measures to ensure the minor’s necessary representation. To this purpose, they shall inform the Public Prosecutor for Minors or in the absence of the latter, the territorially competent First Instance Public Prosecutor should inform the Prosecutor for Children or, in areas where such an authority does not exist, the Prosecutor of First Instance Courts, who shall act as a provisional guardian and shall take the necessary steps in view of the appointment of a guardian for the minor.” While the above provision refers only to unaccompanied children who are asylum-seekers, a Ministry of Interior Circular of 23 Amnesty International July 2010 Index: EUR 25/002/2010