Turkey would not fulfil the criteria to be considered safe for refugees.3 The EU-Turkey
deal ultimately diverted the migration flow to Italy and in 2016 arrivals to Greece
decreased to 170,000.4
To implement the EU agreement with Turkey, Greece converted reception centres on
five Aegean Islands into closed (or “secure”) facilities and adopted a policy of
“geographical restriction.” Pursuant to this measure, migrants and asylum seekers are
today no longer transferred to the Greek mainland. Rather, they are obliged to remain on
the island on which they are initially registered and undergo a fast-track border
procedure to determine whether Turkey is a “safe country” for them. However, due to
administrative delays, many migrants and asylum seekers find themselves stranded on
the Aegean islands for months.5 Numerous reports have denounced appalling conditions
in the centres, including severe overcrowding, insufficient food supply and medical care,
and a lack of protection from violence.6
Greece’s immigration detention practices more generally raise several concerns,
including: the country’s resistance to using alternatives to detention;; its systematic
detention of children;; the issuing of detention orders that lack individual assessments;;
inadequate conditions of detention;; and the use of police stations for immigration
detention purposes. For these reasons, Greece’s detention system has attracted broad
international condemnation—including from four UN Special Procedures7 and four UN
human rights treaty bodies8—and have prompted more than 20 rulings by the European
3
Amnesty International, “The EU-Turkey deal: Europe’s year of shame,” March 2017,
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/03/the-eu-turkey-deal-europes-year-of-shame/;; I. Majcher, “Border
Securitization and Containment vs. Fundamental Rights: The European Union’s ‘Refugee Crisis’.” Georgetown
Journal of International Affairs, March 2017, https://www.georgetownjournalofinternationalaffairs.org/online-
edition/border-securitization-and-containment-vs-fundamental-rights-the-european-unions-refugee-crisis.
4
UNHCR, “Refugees and Migrants Sea Arrivals in Europe,” December 2016,
https://data2.unhcr.org/ar/documents/download/53447.
5
Greek Council for Refugees, “Country report: Greece,” Asylum Information Database (AIDA), “European Council on
Refugees and Exiles (ECRE),” December 2016, http://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/greece.
6
Human Rights Watch, “Greece: Asylum Seekers in Abysmal Conditions on Islands,” October 2017,
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/23/greece-asylum-seekers-abysmal-conditions-islands;; UNHCR, “UNHCR urges
action to ease conditions on Greek islands (Briefing Note),” 8 September 2017,
http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2017/9/59b24a377/unhcr-urges-action-ease-conditions-greek-islands.html.
7
Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, “Report submitted by
the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak:
Mission to Greece,” A/HRC/16/52/Add.4, March 2011,
www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx;;
Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, “Report of the Special Rapporteur
on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Juan Miguel Petit: Addendum: MISSION TO
GREECE (8-15 November 2005),” E/CN.4/2006/67/Add.3, March 2006,
www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx;; Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, “Report of
the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Addendum: Mission to Greece,” A/HRC/27/48/Add.2, 30 June,
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx.
8
Human Rights Committee, “Concluding observations on the second periodic report of Greece,” CCPR/C/GRC/CO/2,
3 December 2015, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx;; Committee against
Torture, “Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention: Concluding
observations of the Committee against Torture: Greece,” CAT/C/GRC/CO/5-6, 27 June 2012,
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GRIndex.aspx;; Committee on the Rights of the Child,
“Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 44 of the Convention: Concluding observations:
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