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 [...]

Press Release Samos, Greece - I Have Rights (IHR) and The Human Rights Legal Project (HRLP) has submitted a joint report to the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) on the violations of the Istanbul Convention in [...]

Between 5th May and 7th June 2023, most of the operations of Greek asylum authorities under the umbrella of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (MoMA) were halted due to an upgrade of the Asylum Service’s database, Alkyoni. During this period, no operations involving the Alkyoni system could [...]

Following the video evidence published on May 19th by the New York Times,  I Have Rights (IHR) and the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) sent a joint briefing to Members of Parliament, sharing data and testimonies of survivors of pushbacks in the Aegean recorded over the last two years. [...]

The European Commission recently decided to review the EU Anti-Trafficking directive, and IHR has provided feedback on the proposed revisions. We believe that survivors of trafficking should be given the opportunity to disclose their experiences at all points of the asylum procedure. As the Northern Aegean islands are [...]

Joint submission from I Have Rights and Mobile Info Team, with the support of the Border Violence Monitoring Network. In this submission we present key challenges and recommendations relating to formal immigration detention and de facto detention in Greece. We identify systemic challenges, as well as contextual differences, in [...]

This letter was shared with us from people that are currently protesting in the Samos Closed Controlled Access Center (CCAC). With their permission, we are sharing it here. AGENDA OF THE PROTEST Greetings from the Concern Asylum Seekers of the Samos Camp. For quite too long, we have been [...]

As actors on the island who work to defend the rights of people on the move, we are deeply concerned about the Samos Closed Controlled Access Centre’s (CCAC) compliance with human rights standards and have, since its opening, called for its closure and for people to be accommodated within [...]

The lack of access to justice, medical care and dignified living circumstances: Fighting systematic human rights violations on the EU’s external border with legal means 🗓️ 24.10.2022, 7 - 8 pm CEST An online panel talk with: Ella Dodd, legal coordinator of I Have Right’s legal [...]

Press release GREECE: FRONTEX FAILS TO REPORT POTENTIAL VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS Seven civil society organizations from Samos island presented their allegation briefing to MEPs, ahead of LIBE Committee meeting on October 10th. VATHY, October 4th, 2022 - [...]

I HAVE RIGHTS’ Strategic Litigation Taskforce submitted feedback to the European Commission regarding the founding Regulation of Frontex (Regulation (EU) 2019/1896  on the European Border and Coast Guard/Frontex). In our submission, we focus on Article 46 of the Regulation, which obliges Frontex’s executive director to leave an operational [...]

Prison-like conditions in Closed Controlled Access Centres (CCAC) on Samos and other Greek islands have devastating impacts on asylum seekers. People living in the CCAC on Samos report of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts as results of detention, isolation and inadequate medical and psychological treatment. Together with 20 other [...]

Cet article peut être lu en français. يمكن قراءة هذه المقالة باللغة العربية. As an organisation based on Samos, I HAVE RIGHTS (IHR) has witnessed to the shift from open camps to Closed Control Access Centres (CCAC), which by design detain, control and dehumanise people seeking safety. An [...]

Human rights defenders on Samos are demanding the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex, terminate its operations on the Greek island of Samos. This comes after mounting evidence that Greek authorities and Frontex are violating international law by illegally pushing back to Turkey people seeking [...]

In its most recent evaluative report on Greece, released on June 9, 2022, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has demanded that Greece cease its detention of refugee youth and reform its policies towards refugee children, which violate their rights as per the UN [...]

20th of June 2022 Today marks WORLD REFUGEE DAY, but it's no reason to celebrate. It's a day to raise awareness of the fact that not all refugees are safe in Europe and there are many people who came to Europe to seek protection but are now locked inside [...]

The criminalisation of asylum seekers is a systematic practice in Greece and is part of a wider effort to prevent people seeking safety in Europe. For the majority of people seeking asylum, there are no direct or regular routes to reach Europe. Instead, people are forced to take irregular [...]

Additional Submission to the Committee of the Rights of the Child regarding Greece’s non-compliance with the Convention. 3rd of May 2022 Still I Rise, an international non-profit organisation providing education and safety to refugee children in their Mazi Centre on Samos, and I HAVE RIGHTS., a non-profit refugee [...]

A newsletter from the communities living in Samos “We are people from different communities living in the Closed Controlled Access Centre in Samos, Greece. In this newsletter, we are raising our voices to whoever is concerned against the difficulties we have in the camp of Samos.” "We realised [...]

A Samos Situation Report (March 2022) from the Samos Advocacy Collective and Europe Must Act. In the end of March, the Samos Advocacy Collective and Europe Must Act sent a report to Pietro Bartolo, a member of the European Parliament, to give an overview about the current situation in [...]

[Press release by Europe Must Act] A correspondence between the Samos Advocacy Collective and the European Commission regarding the current movement restrictions of asylum seekers in the Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) of Samos unveils the inhumanity of the complex asylum system and the worrying lack of accountability from the EU.

Six years ago, on the 18th of March 2016, the EU-Turkey Deal was adopted by the European Council and Turkey. The deal’s goal was clear: to prevent people from coming to Europe to ask for asylum by keeping them in Turkey while compensating Turkey with “development” aid.

18. December 2021 On International Migrants Day the Samos Advocacy Collective and Europe Must Act release a report on life in the Closed Controlled Access Centre of Samos. In September 2021, European and Greek authorities inaugurated the Closed Controlled Access Centre of Samos, the [...]

The real crime is the border regime - Justice for N. & Hasan After shipwreck, survivor faces more than 230 years for “boat driving” and father charged with the death of his 6-year-old child   On the Greek islands, the politics of criminalization and deterrence of [...]

Lessons learned and looking ahead. A joint NGO briefing paper. Since 2015, over 25,000 vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children, have been relocated from Greece to other European countries. These relocation programmes – the result of Decisions of the Council of the EU establishing an emergency mandatory [...]

The new Refugee Camp on Samos officially opened on the 18th of September 2021. Greek authorities and several high-ranking politicians such as Notis Mitarakis, Greek Minister of Migration & Asylum and Beate Gminder, Head of the "Task Force Migration Management" for the European Commission 'inaugurated' the new Closed [...]