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 law clinic supporting asylum seekers and refugees on Samos, have presented an additional submission to the Committee of the Rights of the Child to comment on Greece’s compliance with the Convention. The session will start today and will be held until the 3rd of June. 

The two organisations operating in Samos raised their concerns about the treatment of unaccompanied minors (UAMs) on the hotspot island. They particularly focused on UAMs treatment in the Closed and Controlled Access Centre of Samos (CCAC) which was opened in September 2021. The evidence gathered in this submission proves Greece’s violations of the right of the child. 

Still I Rise and I HAVE RIGHTS. denounce the de facto detention of UAMs in the CCAC on Samos. They show UAMs are detained in inhuman living conditions and experience “mental violence” on a daily basis. In addition, they demonstrate that age and vulnerability assessment procedures inside the CCAC are inefficient, and often are not in accordance with the best interest of the child. The submitting organisations also express additional concern about the lack of children’s services that are present on the island which deprive UAMs of their right to an education and social development.

To know more about Greece’s violations of the rights of the child, you can read the FINAL UNCRC SIR and IHR Additional Submission. 

Still I Rise & I HAVE RIGHTS.

Still I Rise: media@stillirisengo.com

I HAVE RIGHTS.: info@ihaverights.eu