government officials: two from the police (including the chairman) and two from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with one from the Athens Bar Association and one from UNHCR.278 At the end of 2007, Greece had a serious backlog of 19,015 cases awaiting hearings before the Appeals Committee.279 UNHCR’s study of Greece’s compliance with the EC’s Qualification Directive included an analysis of recommendations from the majority of the Appeals Committee, and found that most majority recommendations were repetitive boilerplate with the same language as first-instance decisions (“It is obvious that s/he abandoned his country in order to find a job and improve his living conditions.”) and that “generally, there was no further information relating to the facts or legal reasoning, and there were no recorded minutes of the hearing.”280 These findings call into question whether Greece has met the requirement of Article 39 of the EC’s Procedures Directive that asylum applicants should have “an effective remedy” before a court or tribunal against a negative decision on their first-instance asylum claim.281 “Tricks” to Knock Applicants Out of the Asylum Procedure Many people told Human Rights that they had tried to apply for asylum in Greece, but had been tricked into abandoning their asylum claims by their failure to comply with procedural requirements that were not adequately explained and which they did not understand or because of being physically prevented from lodging appeals within specified time limits. One problem is physical access to the Petrou Ralli police station. Just as most of the hundreds of people who line up on the street outside Petrou Ralli are not able to lodge applications for asylum in the first place, asylum seekers also experience obstacles in physically being able to submit their appeals to the police station within the prescribed deadline. “The police stop you from going, even if you carry a reference letter from GCR,” said a red card holder who also works for one of the service providers. “I had many documents to support my claim. The young guy opened my file; it was full of documents, 278 Presidential Decree90/2008, Article 26. 279 UNHCR, “Position on the Return of Asylum-seekers to Greece,” p. 5. 280 UNHCR, “Implementation of the Qualification Directive,” p. 33. 281 Article 39.1 Council Directive 2005/85/EC of December 1, 2005 on the minimum standards on procedures in member states for granting and withdrawing refugee status. Stuck in a Revolving Door 102