43
order after the reception and identification
has accounted for an individual’s specific
procedures were completed. In other
needs or vulnerabilities, such as the need
words, by the time RIS issued the
for medical care or access to legal services
restriction order, the sole legal basis for it
outside the CCAC. Finally, the conditions of
no longer existed. Even once RIS began
the CCAC may raise potential issues under Art.
issuing the decision before completing the
3 ECHR, particularly given that at the time of
reception and identification procedures,
reporting there was no permanent doctor or
the practice remained unlawful. To start,
psychologist working inside the CCAC.
Art. 40 states that “the decision to extend
the restriction of liberty for the purposes of
completing the reception and
However, such an assessment requires further
reporting on the conditions of the CCAC that is
outside the scope of this report.
identification procedures under the
conditions of this case shall contain factual
and legal justification and shall be in
writing.”117 Moreover, as the restriction of
liberty amounts to detention, both EU and
Greek law oblige the authorities to assess if
the detention is both necessary and
proportional.118 However, like the police do
D. The CCAC
Greece inaugurated the first EU-Funded CCAC
on Samos in September 2021.119 Just a few
months later in November 2021, two new
CCACs opened on Leros and Kos,120 although
the Kos CCAC has only been in use since
August 2022. The Greek government has hailed
for administrative detention in the PRDC,
the CCACs as part of a “new period for
RIS Kos issues asylum seekers template 25-
migration,”121 and promoted them as a
day orders that say little more than the
departure from the past conditions on the
applicant’s freedom is restricted to the
islands and as containing “all the modern
CCAC until reception and identification
technical and functional infrastructure that
procedures are complete and for a period
makes them safe […] with upgraded living
not exceeding 25 days. Indeed, Equal
conditions […] that aim to ensure decent living
Rights has never seen a 25-day order that
Art. 40(a) L. 4939/2022.
See Art. 50 L. 4939/2022; Art. 8 Directive
2013/33/EU.
119
Hellenic Republic Ministry of Migration &
Asylum, The Minister for Migration and Asylum,
Mr. Notis Mitarachi, inaugurated the new closed
controlled access center in Samos, Press Office (18
September 2021) available at:
https://bit.ly/3vT0wFD.
120
Hellenic Republic Ministry of Migration &
Asylum, N. Mitarachi: Today in Leros and Kos, as
a few days ago in Samos and in a few months in
Chios and Lesvos, we inaugurate the new Closed
Controlled Access Centers, with a view to the
future. Images we can all recall from the period
117
118
conditions for asylum seekers.”122 The Ministry
of Migration advertises that the Kos CCAC has
2015-2019 belong definitely to the past, Press
Office (27 November 2021), available at:
https://bit.ly/3WYzFTS.
121
Hellenic Republic Ministry of Migration &
Asylum, The Minister for Migration and Asylum,
Mr. Notis Mitarachi, inaugurated the new closed
controlled access center in Samos, Press Office (18
September 2021), available at:
https://bit.ly/3vT0wFD.
122
Hellenic Republic Ministry of Migration &
Asylum, The Minister for Migration and Asylum,
Mr. Notis Mitarachi, inaugurated the new closed
controlled access center in Samos, Press Office (18
September 2021), available at:
https://bit.ly/3vT0wFD.
‘Still detained and forgotten’ – Update on Detention Policies, Practices, and Conditions on Kos 2022/23