ATHENS: A Greek refugee aid group on Wednesday lashed out at the country’s authorities for allowing unaccompanied underage migrants to live in “inhumane” conditions and hampering their asylum requests.

Minors are being held in detention centres in violation of international laws banning such practice, said the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), which cooperates with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

“At Amygdaleza (a centre near Athens), about 30 children are being held, a number that changes every day,” a GCR official told AFP.

Most children come from Pakistan and others from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Algeria, Syria, Sierra Leone and Mali, she said.

The minors are being held in the company of young adults who claim to be underage, a reason why the exact number of children being held is not known. “As a result the youngest are exposed to the violence exerted by other detainees,” the non-governmental organisation said in a report.

“A minor was recently beaten up... three others were transferred to unventilated cells that were far too small and without sufficient light, and were not allowed into the courtyard.”