Recommendations To the Government of Greece • End any practice of automatic detention of unaccompanied children, and make individual assessments of the needs of each child based on their best interest. • Amend legislation to shorten significantly the maximum amount of time unaccompanied children may be detained in protective custody in exceptional, emergency circumstances, and ensure that children are never detained in excess of the time permitted under law. • Stop using police stations as detention centers for children, urgently improve detention conditions in police-run facilities and ensure that children in detention have access to interpretation services, information about the purpose of their detention, counseling, legal aid, and educational and recreational materials. • While ensuring adequate conditions, prioritize efforts to create short-term alternatives to detention, including safe spaces in refugee camps, and accelerate transfers of children from police custody to such transitional spaces. • While ensuring adequate conditions, increase the number of spaces in existing long-term care facilities for unaccompanied children, create new facilities to the level required to ensure placements for all unaccompanied children in the country, and establish a national, government-run foster family system. • Ensure that all unaccompanied children are immediately appointed a guardian who has the capacity and expertise necessary to secure representation of the child’s best interest, including addressing concerns related to conditions, treatment, and length of detention in police custody. • Ensure guidelines and training prepare law enforcement officers to screen children to correctly identify those with particular vulnerabilities, such as trafficking victims, and to refer them to specialized services and accommodation. • Ensure police practices comply with the Greek Presidential Decree limiting the use of handcuffs on minors and ensure that unaccompanied children are never placed in handcuffs unless absolutely necessary, for the shortest possible period of time, and never as a punishment. “WHY ARE YOU KEEPING ME HERE?” 4