31st January 2024 - Today, civil society organisations unite their voices to denounce the inhumane and degrading living conditions in the Samos Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) and the continued failure to uphold human rights standards. We, the undersigned organisations, once again call for the closure of the Samos CCAC and for adequate [...]
Following a joint complaint made by Avocats Sans Frontieres France, I Have Rights and Human Rights Legal Project, the Greek Ombudsman has found that the Reception and Identification Service (RIS) of the Samos Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) unlawfully restricts lawyers’ access to the site. In the complaint, [...]
Samos, 18 January 2024 – Today, in the case of T.K. v. Greece (Application No. 16112/20), the European Court of Human Rights delivered a decisive verdict, condemning the treatment of an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child on the Greek island of Samos. The Court found that the wrong registration of the applicant as an adult [...]
Last year was a defining chapter in I Have Rights’ work and we want to thank you for your support throughout 2023. While the challenges faced were high, our shared commitment to upholding the rights of people on the move only strengthened. In 2023, Samos saw a 300% increase in the number of [...]
November, 30th 2023 - The European Commission’s Proposal for the Screening Regulation in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum introduces a screening procedure for Third Country Nationals (TCNs) arriving at external European borders in what the Commission announced as a “more efficient, seamless and harmonised migration management system”. The Regulation lays out [...]
The European Court of Human Rights again condemns the living conditions of asylum seekers in the Greek “hotspot” on Samos as inhumane and degrading treatment. Press ReleaseSamos, 24th November 2023 - Yesterday, in the cases of M.L. v. Greece (Application No. 8386/20) and M.B. v. Greece (Application No. 8389/20), the European Court of Human Rights [...]
Evidence jointly presented by I Have Rights and the Human Rights Legal Project has been included in the latest GREVIO (Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence) report on Greece. These testimonies included extremely alarming experiences of violence against women including: Violations of women’s rights under Article 3 [...]
In this article, I Have Rights team member Ellen Allde demonstrates that the Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) on Samos is a site of unlawful de facto detention of people on the move. Allde develops Gayatri Spivak’s concept of ‘sanctioned ignorance’ to consider how the constant changes and prolonged waiting in the CCAC contribute [...]
November, 6th 2023 - The European Commission, Parliament and Council are meeting to discuss the Screening Regulation of the European New Pact on Migration and Asylum. This briefing, written along with the Border Violence Monitoring Network, aims to provide evidence from research conducted in Greece and Italy that can be used to support [...]
In a deeply concerning development, asylum seekers on the Aegean islands of Samos and Lesvos are being placed en mass into unlawful detention in appalling conditions in the EU-funded Closed Controlled Access Centers (CCACs) while awaiting registration of their asylum requests. Following a sharp increase in arriving asylum seekers from Türkiye since July 2023, [...]
