• • • • • • • • accelerated procedure and likewise that people who do not file an application for asylum as soon as possible are not also deemed to be manifestly unfounded, and, therefore also placed in the accelerated procedure. Reform the appeals committee so that it operates transparently through published decisions and is not housed in the Secretariat General for Public Order. Ensure that it maintains sufficient staffing and resources to fairly consider new cases before it, as well as the existing backlog of cases. Provide an efficient and dignified way for asylum seekers to lodge asylum claims in Athens. Allow any asylum seekers who appear at a port of entry, transit zone, or police station anywhere in the country at any time to submit an asylum application and in doing so to receive a receipt with an appointment date for a first-instance asylum hearing and papers that entitle them to stay in Greece until they are issued a red card (the standard document for asylum seekers). Provide asylum seekers access to legal representation, funded through public funds. As a matter or priority, train asylum interviewers and decision-makers on subsidiary protection for people fleeing indiscriminate violence arising from armed conflict or from torture or inhuman and degrading treatment (introduced into Greek law in July 2008). Take note of UNHCR’s recommendation that all states consider asylum seekers from central and southern Iraq as refugees based on the 1951 Refugee Convention, and that those who are not so recognized should be afforded subsidiary protection. Provide an efficient and dignified way for asylum seekers holding a red card to renew their cards in six-month intervals. Avoid the detention of asylum seekers and, consistent with international standards, resort to detention only when necessary and on grounds prescribed by law; when detaining asylum seekers, comply with Presidential decree 90/2008 Article 13.2 that “the time period of confinement [for an asylum seeker] shall in no case exceed sixty (60) days.” Provide a means for detainees to challenge their detention and to seek provisional release. Close the Mitilini, Peplos, and Venna detention facilities and open new facilities, as needed, modeled on the new detention facility on Samos. Ensure the adequate space, privacy, cleanliness, recreation, access to health care and legal and family visitation necessary for humane conditions of detention. 9 Human Rights Watch November 2008