Coping with a fundamental rights emergency – The situation of people crossing the Greek border in an irregular manner Attitudes Police commanders in the facilities visited seemed to be overwhelmed by the situation and felt abandoned. Police officers with whom the FRA spoke, stressed that the police should only be responsible for guarding the facilities. The management and running of the facilities should be done by other staff, such as social workers, who are appropriately trained for this work. Indeed, the FRA staff noted overall a tense atmosphere between the police officers and the migrants. In Feres, for example, police officers guard the facility by walking on the roof and looking through the iron bars covering the small yard. The police appeared particularly concerned about migrants absconding, as this would apparently be treated as an “escape of prisoners” and lead to serious disciplinary measures. As a result of this fear of disciplinary measures, the police is reluctant to take any risk, resulting in reducing access to fresh air or the yard. Fear of absconding appears excessive in light of the fact that a large number of migrants are released after a few days. Police guard the facility from the outside and are reluctant to enter the cells. Food, for example, is either provided through the bars or a few migrants are allowed to exit the cells to bring the food inside. Distribution is organised by the detainees themselves. Police officers do not seem to be trained on how to interact with migrants and appeared fearful of infectious diseases, partly also because of a misperception of existing risks. Given the presence of KEELPNO40 in the region, a training on infectious diseases as well as training on intercultural communication would be helpful in reducing such tensions. Responsibility for the operation of detention centres A second major difficulty that local police stations are facing is the absence of a dedicated budget for each centre managed by the local police commander to cover running costs, such as catering, cleaning, disinfecting blankets and mattresses or the provision of soap or sanitary items. Apparently, the absence of such a dedicated budget coupled with a slow application process for funding running costs and an unclear division of responsibility between the various authorities on who should cover which costs results in acute problems, particularly when such costs escalate due to an increase in the number of detainees. None of the official respondents provided the FRA with a clear answer regarding the authority that is responsible for the detention centres. However, this seems to have been a complex issue already in 2005, when the then Deputy Minister stated in a reply to a Parliamentary question: “[…] According to the plans developed for addressing irregular immigration the Interior Ministry is responsible for the oversight of the prefectural local authorities for the establishment and operation of Temporary Residential Centres and for providing the necessary funds for the provision of accommodation, food and medical care for the irregular immigrants. Our services are responsible for guarding the Centres, transporting detainees and generally supporting plans in this area. Also, according to Article 48 of Law 2910/2001, the responsibility for the 40 Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (www.keel.org.gr, website in Greek) has a small task force in Evros. 28