The Greek Ombudsman called upon the government in 2005 to refrain from deporting children and to carry out safe repatriations that respect their rights.329 The national commission for human rights in a 2007 observation equally urged the government to stop “the measure of deportation for alien minors.”330 When we asked authorities whether unaccompanied children are deported from Greece, we received a range of answers. The general manager of the Aliens Division of Attica told us that they only deported children with passports, which suggests that the obstacle in deporting children is not of a legal nature but rather due to a lack of documents and cooperation from embassies.331 During our visit to Amygdaleza detention center for unaccompanied boys, we were told: “Albanian children are kept for 10 days and then deported to their families.”332 Returns to Greece under the Dublin II Regulation The 2003 Dublin II regulation was designed to determine which EU member state is responsible for examining a person’s asylum application.333 It was meant to determine the country in charge of assessing an asylum seeker’s application and to prevent asylum seekers from submitting applications in more than one country. While there are a number of criteria that may be used to determine in what country a person’s asylum claim should be processed, in practice the criteria most often applied is the country in which the asylum seeker first set foot.334 On the basis of this criterion, an asylum seeker may thus be transferred by one member state to another 329 Greek Ombudsman, “Special Report: Administrative Detention and Deportation of Alien Minors,” Athens, October 2005, http://www.synigoros.gr/reports/SR-detention-expulsionOCTOBER-2005.pdf (accessed August 12, 2008), pp. 25-35. 330 National Commission for Human Rights, “Observations regarding the issue of Unaccompanied Minors,” February 15, 2007, in National Commission for Human Rights, Report 2006: Summary in English, March 2007. 331 Human Rights Watch interview with Anastasios G. Festas, general manager, Aliens’ Division of Attica, Athens, June 4, 2008. 332 Human Rights Watch interview with Yiorgos Paliouras, police director, Aliens’ Division of Attica, Amygdaleza detention center, Athens, June 3, 2008. 333 Council Regulation (EC) No. 343/2003 of 18 February 2003, establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national, Official Journal L 050 , 25/02/2003 P. 0001 – 0010, http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003R0343:EN:HTML (accessed October 23, 2008); for a full discussion of the Dublin II regulation, see Human Rights Watch, Greece – Stuck in a Revolving Door, pp. 22-26. 334 For a summary of applicable criteria to determine the member state responsible for assessing a person’s asylum application, see European Council on Refugees and Exiles, “Report on the Application of the Dublin II Regulation in Europe,” AD3/3/2006/EXT/MH, March 2006, http://www.ecre.org/files/ECRE%20Dublin%20Report%2007.03.06%20-%20final.pdf (accessed October 23, 2008), p. 11. Left to Survive 96