32 GREECE IRREGULAR MIGRANTS AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS ROUTINELY DETAINED IN SUBSTANDARD CONDITIONS detained for more than 15 days in the Samos centre, in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions, and nine were detained for at least 55 days in such conditions because no arrangements had been made for them to be transferred along with other unaccompanied children who had left the centre in the first week of September. In March 2010, unaccompanied children reportedly continued to be detained in the centre for as long as a month without permanent guardians being appointed.112 4.2. UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN DETAINED WITH ADULTS There are many instances where unaccompanied children are detained among adults, either due to a lack of separate areas in the detention places where they are held, or because they have been registered as adults. During Amnesty International’s visit to the Ferres borderguard station in June 2009, the police officer in charge told delegates that there were no children among the adult male irregular migrants and asylum-seekers detained. However, during their visit to the cells, 10 of the individuals detained told delegates that they were minors. Furthermore, Amnesty International has also heard from lawyers who identified unaccompanied male children who were being held with adult males in some detention facilities at border stations, and who reported that their clients, who were unaccompanied children, were also being detained with adults.113 Police authorities in various areas of the country told Amnesty International that the determination of the age of an unaccompanied minor who does not carry identification papers is based on the minor’s own declaration as to how old they are.114 However, there are many examples of unaccompanied children being registered as adults and detained among adults despite their statements to the authorities that they were under the age of majority.115 According to the CRC, identification measures of unaccompanied or separated children such as age assessment “…should not only take into account the physical appearance of the individuals but also his or her psychological maturity. Moreover, the assessment must be conducted in a scientific, safe, child and gender-sensitive and fair manner, avoiding any risk of violation of the physical integrity of the child; giving due respect to human dignity; and, in the event of remaining uncertainty, should accord the individual the benefit of the doubt such that if there is a possibility that the individual is a child, she or he should be treated as such”.116 The following case illustrates the deficiencies in the practices followed by the Greek authorities in accurately identifying unaccompanied children, and their resultant detention among adults: S., a 16-year-old Afghan unaccompanied minor, arrived in Greece in November 2009. He was arrested by the police in Athens in mid-November and convicted for possession of a weapon after the police reported that they found him in possession of a small knife. He was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment and a fine, and was detained in Korydallos prison for the duration of the sentence. Following that, an administrative deportation order was issued against him and he was detained in the cells of the Attika Aliens’ Police Directorate (Petrou Ralli) until the beginning of January 2010, pending deportation. The police authorities had registered S. as an adult (aged 26) and so he was tried as an adult and detained with adults both in Korydallos and at the Attika Aliens’ Police Directorate. Amnesty International delegates visited him at the Police Directorate at the beginning of December 2009. S. told Amnesty International that he had told the authorities his real age from the start. Relatives of S. living abroad, who had contacted the organization, also said that he was a minor. S. Amnesty International July 2010 Index: EUR 25/002/2010