158 Jutta Lauth Bacas the urban centres of Greece, unauthorized migrants and asylum seekers arriving from Turkey were usually apprehended. Clearly, the boat people found this procedure difficult to understand and they were left seriously disappointed after their high expectations for a better life. “Freedom, freedom!” was their outcry from behind the bars when an international delegation visited the detention camp in September 2008.31 One of the most striking violations of rights was experienced by children and unaccompanied minors in the Pagani detention centre. In the year 2008, 3 649 out of the 13 242 boat people detained on Lesbos were younger than 18 years. Some of them were accompanied by family or kin, but a large number of the 2 648 migrants were unaccompanied children without any protection or support during their dangerous journey from conflict-driven home countries.32 The constantly growing number of children among the boat migrants – and between them a growing number of unaccompanied children, mainly boys from Afghanistan – has to be seen as a phenomenon of particular concern. Regardless of their age, the foreign children experience a human drama after their arrival on Lesbos since they are arrested and kept in detention together with family members (or without, in case of unaccompanied minors) for weeks and months.33 “When can we leave this place?” and “When can we finally go to Athens?”, these where the main concerns of refugee women from Afghanistan, who where obliged to share their beds and blankets with their children, as they complained to me about the difficult conditions they face in the camp.34 Other eye-witnesses were shocked by the conditions caused by the severe overcrowding and characterized the situation in Pagani centre as “unacceptable”.35 In August 2009, UNHCR staff found more than 150 women and 50 babies confined together, many suffering from illnesses related to the cramped and unsanitary conditions of the centre. UNHCR ends its report on the detention of unaccompanied children in Lesbos with the laconic conclusion: “Greece has no process for assessing the individual needs and best interests of these children.” 31 32 33 34 35 Asyl 2009. For an analysis of underlying problems in Greek asylum law (P. D. 61/1999), see Skordas/Sitaropoulos (2004). See 11th European Conference on Asylum. Figures of 2008 provided by the Lesbos Police Department. UNHCR reports that some of the children had been staying in the Pagani holding centre for four months under insufficient hygiene and sanitation conditions. See UNHCR News Stories, 19 Jan. 2009. A description of the living conditions for apprehended women, babies and children of various nationalities in Pagani Detention Centre in September 2008 is provided by Lauth Bacas (2008b). UNHCR Briefing Note of 28 August 2009 titled “UNHCR alarmed by detention of unaccompanied children in Lesvos, Greece”.