On 1 June 2018, the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published preliminary observations after its visit to immigration detention and psychiatric establishments in Greece. While the CPT’s delegation acknowledged the "difficult context" and "significant challenges" faced by Greek authorities in dealing with on-going high numbers of foreign nationals arriving in the country, the delegation also found that unaccompanied children were still held under so-called “protective custody” for up to several weeks until their transfer to a dedicated open shelter facility. The delegation recalled the CPT’s position that unaccompanied children should not, in principle, be deprived of their liberty and called on the Greek authorities to increase efforts to end their detention in police establishments. The vast majority of persons interviewed by the delegation spoke well of police staff, but allegations of physical ill-treatment and excessive use of force by police officers in some pre-departure centres visited were reported, including slaps, punches and kicks to the head or other parts of the body as well as baton blows. Material conditions varied to a great extent; in particular, the centres for foreign nationals and one police station in the Evros region were overcrowded. One of the worst situations was found in Fylakio Pre-departure Centre, where material conditions were described by the delegation as “unacceptable”. In a single cell, the delegation saw 95 foreign nationals – including families with young children, unaccompanied minors, pregnant women and single adult men – detained in about 1m² of living-space per person. The full visit report will be adopted by the Committee and forwarded to the Greek authorities in due course.

During its periodic visit (from 28 May to 5 June 2018) to Norway, the CPT visited the Trandum Detention Centre for Foreigners to look into safeguards against ill-treatment and detention conditions of persons held there. The aim was to assess progress made in the implementation of the recommendations made by the CPT following the previous visit in 2011.