8 THE DUBLIN II TRAP TRANSFERS OF ASYLUM-SEEKERS TO GREECE 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Between September 2008 and October 2009, Amnesty International representatives carried out fact-finding visits and conducted interviews in Athens, Patras, Lavrio, Thessaloniki, Crete, Igoumenitsa, Konitsa and the Evros area. They spoke to: refugees, asylum-seekers and irregular migrants as well as government authorities, intergovernmental agencies, NGOs and lawyers working with asylum-seekers; and representatives of embassies of EU member states. Amnesty International was given access to the detention facilities in Athens airport where Dublin II returnees are often detained upon their return to Greece. Amnesty International also visited detention facilities in Evros, Igoumenitsa and Patras, where asylum-seekers as well as irregular migrants are detained; shelters for child asylum-seekers in Crete and Konitsa; and residential centres for asylum-seekers in Lavrio and Thessaloniki. In the course of these visits, although the organization focussed particularly on the plight of Dublin II returnees, it also collected information about the asylum system in Greece as a whole. Amnesty International continued to collect information until February 2010. Amnesty International wishes to thank all the individuals and organizations that assisted in the research and provided information, particularly the asylum-seekers who agreed to be interviewed. Amnesty International interviewed 51 asylum-seekers – 44 men and seven women – who had been transferred to Greece from other states (Germany, Iceland, UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland and Cyprus). Their countries of origin included Afghanistan, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan. Three of the male asylumseekers said they were minors, in spite of their asylum application cards recording them as adults. Four of the asylum-seekers had been transferred with children aged between five months and 17 years. The first transfer documented took place in 2002, the last in January 2010. Care has been taken to avoid the inclusion of information that could reveal the identity of the asylum-seekers interviewed in order to respect confidentiality, and to ensure that any information provided does not prejudice their ongoing asylum proceedings. Amnesty International March 2010 Index: EUR 25/001/2010