FRONTIER EUROPE Human rights abuses on Greece’s border with Turkey 59 37 Telephone interview with Mr Anastopoulos of KEELPNO on 14 June 2013. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), CRC General Comment No. 6 (2005): Treatment of Unaccompanied and Separated Children Outside their Country of Origin, 1 September 2005, CRC/GC/2005/6, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/42dd174b4.html. 60 61 Directive 2008/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals, Article 17, available at: http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:348:0098:0107:EN:pdf. UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, p. 3, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b38f0.html; UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR's Revised Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum seekers, 26 February 1999, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3c2b3f844.html; and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Alternatives to Detention of Asylum Seekers and Refugees, April 2006, POLAS/2006/03, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4472e8b84.html. 62 63 See for example, Council of Europe, Report by Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights following his visit to Greece, from 28 January to 1 February 2013, 16 April 2013, Paragraphs 147 and 153, available at: https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=2053611&Site=COE. 64 UNHCR Greece, February 2013, available at: http://www.unhcr.gr/genikesplirofories/ellada/artikel/5d423ae78de5eed1405b3c26f08218a4/kentra-ypodochiskai.html?L=oehdbfqkb. 65 Law 3907/2011 on the establishment of an Asylum Service and a Initial Reception Service, transposition into Greek legislation of the provisions of Directive 2008/115/EC, published in the Greek Government Gazette on 26 January 2011. 66 Correspondence with Mr P. Nikas, Director of the Initial Reception Service, 11 June 2013. 67 The Separated Children in Europe Program (SCEP) reports that most age assessment techniques “generate a margin of error that makes them too inaccurate to use” and recommends that states use age assessments as a last resort. If age assessments have to be carried out, SCEP recommends that they “balance physical, developmental, psychological, environmental and cultural factors.” For a detailed review of standards that should apply when determining age, see SCEP, Position Paper on Age Assessment in the Context of Separated Children in Europe, 2012, available at: http://umf.asyl.at/files/DOK45Age_Assessment_PP.pdf. 68 In a public intervention on 21 May 2013, the Greek Ombudsman requested the authorities to limit the administrative detention of unaccompanied minors and enhance measures of hospitality and care. According to the press release, the Ombudsman was informed that the funding from the European Refugee Fund for the shelters for unaccompanied minors had ended at the end of March 2013 and had not been renewed. See press release of 21 May 2013 available at: http://www.synigoros.gr/resources/docs/375134.pdf. Index: 25/008/2013 Amnesty International July 2013