old boy from Pakistan, said, “The blankets are full of dust and it’s causing problems. I have
allergies and my body is getting spots.”29
Children said that the drinking water smelled bad, and that the only way to get clean
drinking water was to purchase it from the police. The police commander at the station told
Human Rights Watch that recently, as many as 23 children were detained in a cell with a
capacity of ten. He said, “We do everything it’s possible to do, but the place is not suitable
for children.”30
Children described other police stations as extremely unhygienic and overcrowded. Babrak
K., 16, said that prior to being transferred to the police station in Filiates where Human
Rights Watch spoke to him, he spent five days detained in a nearby police station in a
windowless, vermin-infested basement cell.31 He said that four people shared three
mattresses on the floor, and that the toilet in the cell had no door. Babrak said that there
was very little food, and that the food provided was thrown into the cell through a small
slot in the door. He said that because detainees were not provided with cups, he resorted
to drinking water from a discarded food container.
Children also described appalling conditions and a lack of access to mattresses and
hygiene at the Igoumenitsa Coast Guard facility. In 2014, the European Committee for the
Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment said that conditions at the
facility “could be described as amounting to cruel and degrading treatment,” and that the
facility was “totally unsuitable for holding unaccompanied minors.”32
At the Filiates police station, Human Rights Watch interviewed five children who said they
had been detained at the facility, three of whom said they were detained in the same cell as
adults. Javed S., a 16-year-old boy from Afghanistan, said of his time at the same facility:
29
Human Rights Watch interview with Saif D., Mygdonia Border Guard Station, Thessaloniki, June 30, 2016.
30 Human Rights Watch interview with Iordanis Chatzilazaridis, police commander, Mygdonia Border Guard Station,
Thessaloniki, June 27, 2016.
31 Human Rights Watch interview with Babrak K., Filiates Police Station, Filiates, July 1, 2016.
32
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, “Report to the Greek Government
on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 4 to 16 April 2013,” CPF/Inf (2014) 26, Strasbourg, October 16, 2014,
http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/grc/2014-26-inf-eng.pdf, p. 32 (accessed August 4, 2016).
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2016