Earlier this week, Amnesty International published a damning report that reveals serious human-rights violations at a refugee centre on Samos, a Greek island close to the Turkish coast. The site is meant to be a flagship project of the European Commission, built up ahead of the Pact on Migration and Asylum coming into force in June.
In the wake of Amnesty's report, The Parliament spoke to Adriana Tidona, a migration researcher with the group's Europe regional office, which spearheaded the investigation.
What sparked this investigation?
As Amnesty International, we have been working on the conditions in the Aegean islands for a very long time. After the fires that destroyed Moria, we saw a promise from the Commission that things will change, that there will be new centres in line with European standards. That sparked our interest. We wanted to observe how this was done in practice.
In early 2021, the Samos centre already started to present the issues because some groups of asylum seekers were being prevented from leaving the centre. At the time, this was done on an unclear legal basis, and we denounced it as a situation of unlawful detention.
Since then, we have been keeping an eye on how things developed. In 2023, we were alerted when an increase of arrivals to the summer led to overcrowding and the disruption of services, in combination with problematic legislation implemented by Greece in 2022, which essentially formalised the possibility to prevent people's exit from the centre for up to 25 days.
So this was really a recipe for disaster, which prompted us to go and have a look for ourselves. That's why we requested access in December 2023.
What did you find there?
The centre is on a site that has replaced what was mainly a tent-based camp. It is a very big infrastructure around 6.5km from the main city centre, on an elevated spot, completely isolated. It's a fenced-in, gated centre.
By describing it as a place where people are de facto detained, there may be a misconception that these people are in deportation procedures or other procedures justifying their detention. This is not the case. All people present in the centre are asylum seekers.
As is the case for all of the Aegean islands, people tend to come by sea from Turkey. At the time when we went there, the main nationalities were Syrians, Palestinians, Sudanese, Somalis, and people from Sierra Leone. But the composition changes.
Amnesty has called it a ‘dystopian nightmare.’ Can you elaborate?
This is a centre that is a pilot project for the European Commission. The Commission even called the facility future-proof. So you would expect a place that is up to standards. In many ways, on its face, it may look like a modern and very polished site. But at the same time, if you stop and look closely, you will see that it resembles a detention centre more than anything else.
Similar findings have been made by the European ombudsman, for instance, and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture. They all criticised the heavy use of barbed wire and the prison-like aspect. The centre is surrounded by double fencing of barbed wire. CCTV is present throughout.
There is police patrolling constantly, as well as a private security company that is hired to also provide constant patrolling. Then there are digital surveillance security systems that just in April were sanctioned because they were found to violate the GDPR.
At the same time, internally, people are facing obstacles to accessing very basic rights. The centre has a long-standing issue with procuring running water, for instance. Sometimes people only had water for two or four hours a day. Since 2021 it doesn't have a doctor. There have been at times almost 5,000 people, and there is only an intermittent presence of an army doctor or volunteers.
It's quite striking to see so many millions being poured into the construction, but then operation-wise they are lacking in the most basic of facilities. And the Commission also funds the operation of these centres. We want to make sure, with this report, that there is once again an alarm sounded, to Europe and to the member states, that this cannot happen again. This is a centre that cost millions of euros to European taxpayers.
"It resembles a detention centre more than anything else", says Amnesty's Adriana Tidona who spearheaded the investigation.
It doesn't sound like it's a money issue. Is it rather an issue of political will?
Migration in general is very often an issue of political will. It's also an issue of a lack of serious scrutiny and a lack of serious accountability measures. The European Commission has established a migration management taskforce, which has a permanent presence in the centre. The Commission was aware of all the issues and yet it has failed to take prompt action.
We have a glimmer of hope, because in January 2023 the Commission started infringement proceedings targeting the Greek law that allows to de facto detain people. But it is now unclear if the Commission will advance them.
How does this centre and its practices relate to the Pact on Migration and Asylum?
NGOs and academics have highlighted the direct correlation between what's happening in Greece and what is happening in Europe. Europe seems to be using Greece as a testing ground in many respects. So we are trying to emphasise that this should not become the blueprint for the EU migration pact.
We see an increased reliance on detention-adjacent tools. The pact makes clear that people need to remain available to the authorities, and that people have to reside in areas closer to the border.
This is where the connection with Samos is most glaring. It shows exactly how the residence requirements being introduced by the EU migration pact can be abused. The authorities are not talking about detention — they're talking about the restriction of freedom during impending registration procedures.
Detention does not need to be called detention to be detention.
We have seen time and time again that without scrutiny, without clear guidelines and safeguards — which is what we are calling for in the implementation of the pact — these mechanisms can be easily abused.
If I'm a refugee at the centre and I want to leave, I can't?
When you arrive at the centre, you start your registration procedures. From that moment, you are not to leave the centre for five days. If your registration procedure is not completed within five days, there can be an extension for another 20 days. Knowing the delays, the resource constraints and the staff shortage, 25 days are a very likely occurrence. Sometimes asylum seekers are detained for over two months without any basis or written decision.
When you finally have your asylum card, you can go in and out of the centre but you are still residing there. And you are under curfew because these are closed, controlled access centres. People cannot go in and out freely. And if they want to go to the town, they will need to use a shuttle bus that is organised by the authorities, and that [asylum seekers] have to pay for.
They made sure that the refugees are out of sight. This was particularly striking for me. In Lesbos it was quite common to see refugees and asylum seekers around the island. Now with these new facilities that have restrictions on entry and exit and are quite remote, it is less common to see locals and refugees and migrants integrated in the same place.
The extent of the deep detachment of refugees and migrants from the public life of citizens and locals is, in a sense, a sign — a clear message.
What is the legal situation when it comes to all this?
The combination of overcrowding, lack of water and lack of healthcare professionals indicate a quite clear-cut violation of reception conditions. It’s a case-by-case assessment. But it's important to note that the European Court of Human Rights has granted interim measures, emergency measures, in cases in Samos, because the conditions were not up to standard. These cases are now pending before the court.
But the detention is a definite violation. It is unlawful and arbitrary detention violating a number of standards, like the presumption of liberty. It doesn't even offer less invasive alternatives.
What are your demands in the light of Amnesty's findings?
The Commission we are asking to step up their scrutiny and use an accountability mechanism. We are asking them to advance the infringement proceedings they have started.
Member states and European institutions need to take note of the shortcomings and violations in Samos and incorporate the lessons into the implementation of the EU migration pact. We are asking the Commission to provide specific safeguards and guidelines to that end.
We are asking Greece to repeal the law that allows people to be de facto detained. It should simply be abolished because it's not in-line with European and international standards.
It needs to implement plans and procedures to ensure European standards and also contingency plans in case of new increased arrivals on the island. This starts with ensuring that there is continuity in the provision of medical services and there is a sustainable system in place to fulfil the basic needs of people including enough running water.
Plus, the centres are not fit for children, according to a recommendation by the Committee on the Prevention of Torture. We are aligned with them on this. The standards on the detention of children have increased in recent times. Keeping children in a de facto detention condition is simply not acceptable.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.