Currently, asylum applications are still registered and examined by the police authorities. A new law adopted in 2011 established a new Asylum Service (an autonomous civil service in the Ministry of Citizens Protection) responsible for examining asylum claims, however it is still not fully 14 operational. The operation of the new Asylum Service was initially postponed until March 2013, by 15 16 law , but it is still not expected to be fully functioning before the second half of the year. Until the Asylum Service is operational, and as a transitional measure, the police remains responsible for 17 examining asylum applications at first instance. The police is under the responsibility of the Ministry for Citizens’ protection. The police staff in charge of examining asylum applications has been criticised. In a recent report, the NGO AITIMA claimed that “the Police are inadequate to handle asylum cases. They are a mechanism dealing with the deportation of illegal aliens and they don’t have the background to deal with or protect asylum seekers. Moreover, most of the Greek Policemen lack necessary knowledge concerning aliens and many harbour negative feelings toward them. Therefore, Police often act in a discriminatory manner against migrants. Arbitrariness is very common and there have also been cases of Police brutality 18 against asylum seekers.” According to Presidential Decree 114/10, a first instance decision on the asylum application must be taken by the Ministry of Citizen Protection, within six months when the regular procedure is followed. When the examination cannot be concluded within this maximum period, which is often the case in practice, asylum seekers have the right to receive, upon their request, information from the authorities competent to examine their asylum application on the time-frame within which the decision on their application is to be expected. Such information shall not constitute an obligation for those authorities vis-à-vis the asylum seeker concerned to take a decision within a specific time-frame. Indeed, delays of more than 1 year in the issuing of first instance decisions have been reported lately due to understaffing and heavy workload. The General Secretary of the Ministry of Public Order decides at first instance under the regular procedure. The territorially Competent Police Director or the Police Directors of the Aliens Directorate of Athens and Thessaloniki or the Police Director of the Athens International Airport decides under the accelerated procedure or for manifestly unfounded applications. When an application may reasonably be considered to be well-founded or when the applicant belongs to a vulnerable group, as provided in Article 17 of P.D. 220/2007 (O.G. A’ 251), the asylum application shall be examined by priority, in accordance with the basic principles and guarantees described in this Article. The following categories of asylum seekers are considered to be vulnerable according to Article 17 of P.D. 220/2007: unaccompanied children, disabled people, elderly people, pregnant women, single parents with minor children, as well as persons who have been subjected to tortures, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence. According to Article 12 P.D. 114/10 asylum applications lodged by unaccompanied children shall always be examined by priority and according to the regular procedure. The officials conducting interviews with unaccompanied children and making recommendations on their application for international protection shall have the necessary knowledge of the special needs of children and conduct the interview in such a way as to make it fully understandable, taking account, in particular, of the child's age. In practice, this is not always applied; for example, at sea and land entry points there is no experienced staff available to 14 15 16 17 18 Law 3907/2011 on the establishment of an Asylum Service and a First Reception Service. Law 4038/2012. As mentioned above (see registration of the asylum procedure) the first ‘First Reception Centre’ in the Evros Region received its first “guests” in March 2013. NGOs were informed in June that only the Regional office of the Attica region would become operational in June as well as one mobile unit in the Evros region However, at the time of writing, it was not clear whether this materialised in practice. The transitional phase is regulated by P.D. 114/10. European Network for Technical Cooperation on the application of the Dublin II Regulation, National Report on Greece p. 13. 16