COUNCIL OF EUROPE

 

Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee publishes report on Greece
On Monday 30 June 2009, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published a report on its ad hoc visit to Greece, which took place in September 2008. In addition, the response of the Greek Government was also published and the documents have been made public at the request of the Greek authorities. During the visit, the CPT reviewed the treatment of persons detained by law enforcement officials and examined the conditions of detention in police and border guard stations as well as in special facilities such as for irregular migrants, in order to evaluate progress made since the CPT’s last visit to Greece in 2007. The findings of the 2008 visit to Greece confirm that persons apprehended by Greek law enforcement agencies continue to run a considerable risk of ill treatment. Furthermore, the CPT reiterates that the conditions of detention of the vast majority of irregular migrants remain unacceptable. Even for periods of detention of a few days the material conditions, hygiene and access to medical care are unacceptable and call for radical improvement.
Source: Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee

 

---

 

“Belgium should improve detention conditions and strengthen migrants’ rights” says Commissioner Hammarberg in a report.
“Belgium has a good system of human rights protection, but more efforts are needed in certain areas, in particular on prison conditions, asylum procedures and the protection of the rights of migrants”, said the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, when presenting his report.
The Commissioner welcomes the new policy not to detain most of the irregular migrant families and considers the new housing system a substantial improvement. However, he regrets that in certain cases children and their parents continue to be detained and calls for an appropriate solution. “Living conditions and access to health care should be improved in the closed centres for aliens.”

 

 

Contact    |   Crédits    |   Rss