written order to leave the country within thirty days.155 On August 1, 2008, Greek authorities were holding a total of 269 children in administrative detention throughout the country.156 The authorities, however, told Human Rights Watch that they have no means of deporting certain foreign nationals, such as Afghans and Somalis, because their embassies do not cooperate.157 Where it is not possible to enforce deportation for these groups, there appears to be no legal ground that would permit administrative detention. That notwithstanding, children who enter Greece from Turkey through the Evros border region, as well as those who are sent to detention centers in the same area, are regularly detained for the full three months. Children may face additional risks in the detention centers in which they are placed by the authorities. In some centers, children are held together with adults, contrary to international standards, and some children interviewed by Human Rights Watch were subject to ill-treatment at the hands of fellow adult detainees. Furthermore, detention conditions in some facilities where unaccompanied children are held amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.158 Children in administrative detention are not entitled to legal aid free of charge and rarely have access to pro bono lawyers. Public prosecutors entrusted to act as their temporary guardians believe that they cannot challenge children’s detention.159 Recently adopted legislation does specify that the detention and confinement of children who seek asylum should be avoided.160 However, as has been described in the previous chapter, this is a minority of migrant children. 155 Law 3386/2005 Article 76, para. 4. 156 Reply by the Deputy Minister of Interior to a Member of Parliament, August 11, 2008. Human Rights Watch has a copy of the reply on file. It is not clear how many of these children are unaccompanied. Thirty-two were kept in the Amygdaleza detention center for unaccompanied children, 64 in Mitilini, Lesvos Island, 35 on Samos Island, 24 on Rhodos Island, 12 in the Evros region, 79 in Attika region (among those 33 in Petrou Ralli detention center), and 55 children were detained in the rest of Greece. 157 Human Rights Watch interview with Anastasios Festas, general manager, Aliens’ Division of Attica, Athens, June 4, 2008. See also Human Rights Watch, Greece – Stuck in a Revolving Door, p. 35. 158 For a full discussion of detention conditions in Greece see: Human Rights Watch, Greece – Stuck in a Revolving Door, pp. 68-85. 159 For a discussion about the guardianship system, see chapter II. 160 Presidential Decree 90/2008, art. 13.4 (b). Left to Survive 54