provided to migrants must meet basic standards of decency.26 Asylum seekers and migrants
should be provided with suitable means for sleeping, granted access to their luggage and to
suitably equipped sanitary and washing facilities, and allowed to exercise in the open air on a
daily basis. Reception conditions should not lead to the institutionalization and marginalization
of asylum seekers.27
Detention conditions for asylum seekers should normally be accommodated within the
shortest possible time in facilities specifically designated for that purpose, offering material
conditions and a regime appropriate to their legal and factual situation and staffed by suitably
qualified personnel.28 Detainees should be systematically provided with information that
explains the rules applied in the detention facility and the procedure applicable to them and sets
out their rights and obligations. Detainees shall have the right to file complaints for alleged
instances of ill-treatment or for failure of a state to protect them from violence by other
detainees.29
In 2013, The CoE passed Resolution 1918, surrounding the “mounting tensions in the
eastern Mediterranean.” The resolution stated its disappointment with Greece and Turkey.
Although, the CoE recognized Greece’s efforts to improve its detention conditions and policies,
the Council provided suggestions for Greece to follow.30 It stated that Greece should refrain from
automatic recourse to detention and exploring alternatives to detention, including through the
greater use of open reception facilities complying with the Council Directive 2003/9/EC.31
26
Id.
Id.
28
Id.
29
Id.
30
EUR. PARL. ASS., Migration and asylum: mounting tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, 7th sitting, Res. 1918
(2013).
31
Id.
27
12
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