Joint Statement: Call for Upholding Human Rights in Samos CCAC
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 [...]
Greek Ombudsman finds that CCAC is unlawfully restricting access to lawyers
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 [...]
European Court of Human Rights Condemns Greece’s Treatment of an Unaccompanied Child on Samos
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 [...]
Newsletter #8 – Janurary 2024
*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|* View this email in your browser Our 2023 Annual Report is Out! 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 [...]
Our 2023 Annual Report
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% [...]
Joint Policy Paper: The EU Screening Regulation
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 [...]
The European Court of Human Rights again condemns the living conditions of asylum seekers on Samos
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 [...]
IHR joint contribution to latest report on violence against women in Greece by GREVIO
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. Our submission These testimonies included extremely alarming experiences of violence against women including: [...]
‘Sanctioned Ignorance’ and the detention of people seeking asylum in the EU-funded CCAC on Samos
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 [...]
Briefing for November 6 Trilogue on the Screening Regulation
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 [...]
Joint Statement – Unlawful Detention and Worsening Conditions: Over 4000 Asylum Seekers Unlawfully Detained on Samos and Lesvos
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 [...]
Unidentified, unrecognised and denied support: survivors of human trafficking in the Samos Closed Controlled Access Centre
Report from Samos demonstrates that Greek and EU-authorities routinely violate the rights of survivors of human trafficking. 6th September 2023, Vathy, Samos: Through analysing the cases of 53 survivors of human trafficking, I Have Rights (IHR), a non-profit legal organisation based on Samos, presents evidence that at every [...]