GREECE IRREGULAR MIGRANTS AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS ROUTINELY DETAINED IN SUBSTANDARD CONDITIONS 17 Interviews with people who have been detained, and reports from other NGOs, indicate that many individuals in need of international protection are discouraged from applying for asylum out of fear of being detained for longer. In other cases individuals withdraw their asylum applications having suffered prolonged detention in poor conditions.50 Lawyers working at the country’s points of entry also told Amnesty International that the lack of reception centres in these areas further discouraged people from applying for asylum in that location, and many prefered to lodge an application in Athens where other members of their communities lived. Other asylum-seekers said they preferred not to apply for asylum in Greece, and decided to move on following their release, in order to apply for asylum in another European country. In his 2009 Annual Report, the Greek Ombudsman concluded on the basis of on-site investigations that almost no foreign national applied for asylum at the country’s points of entry without being already in detention.51 Furthermore, the Ombudsman noted that in cases where deportation could not be effected, it was observed that asylum-seekers were being detained for a longer time (up to the maximum permitted time). On the other hand, individuals who did not apply for asylum were released in a short period of time. Asylum-seekers in Mersinidiou detention centre on the island of Chios told Amnesty International delegates during their visit in September 2009 of their despair at the prolonged time they had spent in detention. They believed that their asylum applications had increased the length of their detention. Individuals, who had not applied for asylum, told the delegates that one of their reasons for not filing an application was that they did not wish to stay for a longer period in detention at the centre. Detained asylum-seekers said that the detention period varied from two to three months.52 Amnesty International also received reports from the Ecumenical Refugee Programme (ECRP), a local NGO, that, between August and the end of September 2009, 19 asylum-seekers who were detained in Pagani detention facility on the island of Lesvos decided to withdraw their asylum applications, having been discouraged by the severe overcrowding, poor detention conditions and the possibility of lengthy detention at the centre.53 The detention of asylum-seekers in the centre during that period was reported to have been prolonged as a result of the changes in the asylum determination procedure introduced in June 2009. The consideration of claims was delayed pending the establishment of the new Advisory Refugee Committees to examine their applications. Other factors prolonging detention periods were the extension of the maximum period of administrative detention and the reported lack of interpreters for the interviews before the Advisory Refugee Committee.54 One of the few asylum-seekers who decided not to withdraw his application was reportedly detained for more than three months in the centre as well as a further nine days following his interview with the competent Advisory Refugee Committee. The ECRP also informed Amnesty International of the case of K., an asylum-seeker from Côte d’Ivoire, who was reportedly arrested on 19 June 2009 and lodged his asylum application a few days later. K. was released two days after the three-month period required by the previous legal regime, despite the fact that the authorities had not issued a detention order to justify his detention for the three months.55 Amnesty International is opposed to the detention of refugees and asylum-seekers and has regularly reiterated its position that the Greek authorities should only ever detain asylum- Index: EUR 25/002/2010 Amnesty International July 2010