What can border guards do upon your detention?
Border guards may carry out the following activities upon your detention:
- clarify your identity
- take your fingerprints
- photograph you (for procedural documents)
- call medical aid if necessary
- prepare a detention protocol
- inspect your belongings in your presence, or in exceptional cases without your presence, but in the presence of two other witnesses
- ask questions, or if necessary, carry out an expert assessment of your documents, belongings and/or you, in order to clarify your identity and the country of your citizenship
- seize your documents and/or belongings for an expert assessment. A protocol must be prepared about such an activity and all of your belongings must be returned when sending you out of the country
- carry out a body search (this must be done by a person of the same sex as you)
Treatment
When carrying out these activities, the border guards must treat you with respect. For example, they must not physically or verbally harm you to make you provide information, and they must call a doctor if you are injured etc.
The border guards may need to use physical force to restrain you if you are resisting arrest. But, they cannot use more force than necessary to make you comply and this must be stopped when you have surrendered and calmed down.
important You also have a duty to tell the truth to the Estonian authorities and comply with their lawful requests during the asylum procedure, including detention.
What human rights violation may there be?
Inhumane or degrading treatment
Mistreatment during detention may result in a human rights violation such as inhumane or degrading treatment. When detained, you may feel particularly vulnerable because you are under the control of the authorities and cannot leave. If you are physically mistreated in such a situation, it may result in not only physical pain and suffering but may also cause tremendous psychological effects.
However, not every situation will result in a human rights violation. The effect such treatment leaves on your physical and mental condition has to reach a certain level of severity to violate your rights. When assessing whether you have been treated in an inhumane or degrading way, such things as the duration of the mistreatment, the physical and psychological effects, your age, gender and the condition of your health would be taken into account. For mistreatment to be considered torture, the actions have to be particularly serious and cruel and cause very severe suffering. Read more about how to evaluate whether your rights have been violated.
Right to life
If the border guards use excessive and unnecessary force, which results in the loss of life of the detainee, it may result in a violation of the right to life. Read more about how to evaluate whether the right to life has been violated.