C. Schmitz

Hot off the heels of being condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for systemic pushbacks, Greece is also violating the rights of asylum seekers in the digital arena.  [Δείτε παρακάτω για το δελτίο τύπου στα ελληνικά] 21 January 2025, Samos, Greece. Asylum seekers arriving in Samos report their mobile phones are [...]

2024 was a pivotal chapter at I Have Rights. In 2024, people in the Samos Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) continued to face dire conditions and violations of their basic human rights. Against this backdrop, our team worked to provide critical support to those seeking safety. In 2024 our casework team: Supported 297 [...]

Samos, 15 November 2024 - The UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Siobhán Mullally, has published a letter of allegation against the Greek Government due to its “failure to adequately identify possible victims of trafficking, especially women and children, and failure to protect identified victims of trafficking in persons in the island [...]

The events date back to 2020 at the Samos hotspot, where the minors — now all adults — were subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment as well as human rights violations. The Greek government will be required to compensate them for a total of 41.500 Euros; For the first time, the ECtHR recognized [...]

Samos 24th September 2024 – The Greek Ombudsman has found that the Reception and Identification Service (RIS) at the Samos Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) acted unlawfully. In 2023, asylum seekers were required by the RIS to waive their rights to reception conditions in order to be transferred to the mainland. The Ombudsman’s [...]

I Have Rights, Equal Legal Aid and Mobile Info Team jointly presented evidence to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the implementation of the M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece and Rahimi v. Greece cases.  Both cases highlighted important issues regarding the treatment of asylum seekers in the EU: In [...]

Press Release, Samos, 17th July  - On 11 July, the European Ombudsman opened an inquiry into how the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) addresses allegations of fundamental rights violations in its activities in Greece (case 229/2024/AML).  The inquiry is based on a joint complaint against the EUAA by I Have Rights and [...]

On 14th May the main provider of interpreters to the Greek asylum service, Metadrasi, announced the suspension of its services in both Reception and Identification Centres (RICs) and the Asylum Service, due to months of delay in payment by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (MoMA). As a result of this disruption, people [...]

In a recent communication to the Special Rapporteur, I Have Rights urgently called for an investigation into Greece's treatment of survivors of human trafficking on the island of Samos. This plea comes as a follow-up to an initial confidential complaint dated 23 October 2022, which highlighted systemic failures in identifying, protecting, and supporting [...]

15 May 2024 - On Tuesday 21 May 2024, the trial of 9 of the survivors (the ‘Pylos 9’) from the shipwreck of the fishing vessel “Adriana”, that occurred on 14 June 2023 in international waters near Pylos, is scheduled to take place before the Three Member Felony Court of Appeals of Kalamata. [...]