II. Recommendations To the Government of Greece • • • • • • • Make a public commitment to ensure that migrants apprehended in Greek territory or at the border—whether on land or at sea—are treated in a humane and dignified manner, are given the opportunity to seek asylum if they so choose, and are not subjected to refoulement. Prosecute police and coast guard officials who abuse their authority by beating, robbing, and summarily expelling migrants. Immediately stop the routine and systematic police practice of gathering migrants in police stations in the Evros region, trucking them to the Evros River, and sending them across the border secretly in small boats. Levy appropriate punishments against those officials involved directly and through command responsibility for illegal acts involving summary expulsions. Investigate allegations in this and other reports that Hellenic Coast Guard personnel are involved in the practice of puncturing inflatable boats and setting them adrift, as well as other acts of abuse that put the lives and safety of migrants at risk. Prosecute any guardsmen engaged in such illegal acts, as well as their commanding officers. Establish a system for adjudicating asylum claims that is independent of the police (the Secretariat General for Public Order within the Ministry of Interior) and that meets international procedural standards for determining refugee status. Provide access to asylum procedures at the border, in the border region, and on the islands; make the asylum booklet widely available in police stations and detention centers; allow independent lawyers and nongovernmental social service providers access to detained migrants; provide resources for interpreters to assist in identifying asylum seekers in these outlying areas and in conducting asylum interviews; and allow asylum seekers to remain in these areas, if they so choose, for the duration of the asylum process, including appeals. Reserve the accelerated procedure for cases that do, in fact, appear clearly to be manifestly unfounded, such as those that would fit the criteria for “manifestly unfounded” set out in UNHCR Executive Committee Conclusion 30. Greek asylum practices should be changed so that people who apply for asylum at borders, transit zones or ports, and airports are not automatically placed in the Stuck in a Revolving Door 8