Along with Patras and Igoumenitsa, Athens airport acts as one of the main exit points from Greece to the rest of Europe. In this, it diverges sharply from other airports around the world, which act as the main entry points. In reality, in Europe ‘a large proportion of asylum applications were filed by passengers using forged documents on intra-Schengen flights arrived from Greek airports.’ According to Fili, Greek border control authorities estimated in 2012 that around 200 people attempt to fly to a European destination every day, yet only a maximum of 10 are apprehended. The problem is not just one of inefficiency or effective human smuggling. ‘We could catch them all if we wanted to’ one official claimed, ‘but we have nowhere to put them’. Greek border officers are also increasingly critical of the task being demanded of Greece: ‘It’s a European problem, we want to let them go because we don’t want them in the country; let others decide what’s going to happen to them’.

Therefore, arrests at the airport do not follow a consistent pattern and can seem arbitrary. Those who are arrested are transferred to the Athens airport special holding facility. This centre was designed to provide short-term housing prior to transfer to another detention facility in Athens. The facility itself is divided into two parts: one for those detained on a ‘criminal’ basis, that is men who attempted to leave Greece with fake documents, and another for women, minors and the small number of people who arrive in Greece by plane without proper documents; therefore, remain in transit.

Family and women’s area

Women, minors and arrivals are allowed relative freedom of movement in that section. However, in 2009 Amnesty International reported having seen a number of children, held together with their families and a woman who was clearly in an advanced stage of pregnancy. As NGO workers observed, in 2012, there was a case of a woman held there with her three underage children for more than three months, with no access to outdoor space or any other activities (personal experience). When the Border Criminologies research group visited the facility in 2018, five women and one child were held in the area across three rooms. There were two reasonably clean bathrooms. The rooms had bunk beds and the doors were left open to allow some freedom of movement. There was graffiti in this area, although the majority of it looked like children’s drawings and was colourful and inoffensive. Women reported concerns about their lack of legal support and uncertainty about what was happening with their cases.

Transit zone

Men held in this area had been arrested trying to enter Greece without valid authorisation. They were not subject to any current criminal charges; however, some may have had a criminal charge in Greece previously, which prevented them from entering the country.

As the Border Criminologies research groups noticed in 2018, the rooms in this section were more spacious than in the main men’s corridor. They had bunk beds and space to move around, but were featureless and in some places dirty. There were six bunkbeds in one room which, at the time of the visit, held two men. The doors to the rooms were open, allowing some limited free movement in the small detention area. Both men were unhappy about the conditions they were in.

As documented elsewhere, a regime of de facto detention applies in the case of persons held there. These people receive an entry ban to the Greek territory and are then arrested and held in order to be returned on the next available flight. Those who are temporarily held while awaiting departure are not systematically recorded in a register. However, those who express intention to apply for asylum are detained for up to 28 days after full registration of their application according to the Border Procedure, with no detention decision issued; thus remaining de facto detained. Where no decision is taken within 28 days, the person is released for the application to be examined according to the Regular Procedure. According to the police authorities the persons held there are considered under ‘supervision’ and not detention.

Main section

The men housed in the main section are huddled together in spaces designed as single-occupancy cells (each 9 square metres) behind iron doors with very little natural light and no access to an exercise yard. International human rights organizations have repeatedly expressed their concerns over severe overcrowding and unhygienic conditions at this part of the airport facility. So, too, the European Court of Human Rights has found in the judgment in M.S.S. that the conditions of detention of third country nationals in the Athens airport detention centre violated the prohibition on inhuman or degrading treatment in Article 3. As early as in 2005, the CPT had reported that treatment was unacceptable; men had had no shower in 7 days and another man held for more than 40 days had not been able to change his clothes or have access to fresh air. A delegation by Amnesty International visited the facility both in 2009 and 2010. During both visits overcrowding was so high that at times reached 145 people. These men had to sleep on mattresses or blankets placed directly on the floor. When it was crowded like this, the men could all can lie down and sleep at the same time. The cramped nature of the cells was documented in 2012 too. During summer the heat in the cells and the stench was unbearable.

In line with widely documented incidents of ill-treatment by the police, many asylum-seekers interviewed told Amnesty International they were verbally abused while in detention, including two asylum-seekers who claimed that they had been ill-treated by police officers while held at the Athens airport detention facility. These men reported that one police officer in particular had violently pushed and verbally abused the detainees. Another Afghan asylum-seeker told Amnesty International that he had been verbally abused, stripped and punched by police officers while in detention at the airport in late 2009.

As there are no in-cell toilets, a consistent criticism over the years has been that there are severe difficulties in gaining access to the toilets (see here, here and here). Detainees have to knock on the door to be let out to use the toilet. With no outdoor space provided, their only physical movement is limited to going to the toilet for a few minutes in the morning and the evening. At all other times they are locked inside their cells with nothing to do. Often this ‘trip’ to the toilet is not allowed due to severe overcrowding or staff inaction. As detention officers put it: ‘We are not their servants here. They cannot go to the toilet whenever they want. They are too many, so we will take them only when we can’. Amnesty International delegates observed that some people who were allowed to go to the toilet were holding a plastic water bottle half or almost completely full of urine. The police authorities admitted to them that in every cell detainees used plastic bottles for their toilet needs which they emptied when they were allowed to go to the toilet. Other rules restrained them back in 2012: they were not allowed to smoke more than three cigarettes; they were not given cutlery for ‘security’ reasons and conditions of hygiene were never properly observed leading to the transmission of contagious diseases. In fact, apart from a limited period of time, from 2012-2013, where a local NGO offered daily medical and psychosocial services, all other times medical care was provided only externally and for emergencies. Legal aid is offered by NGOs Aitima and the Greek Council for Refugees, whose representatives visit the facility on a monthly basis.

Behind the cells there is an extremely dirty corridor visible through the cell bars. On the other side of it, the windows are frosted so there is some natural light but no view of the outside. There is a waste bin below each cell window. The outside space beyond the frosted glass is inaccessible to detainees because there is no fence to keep them secured.

The cells today are dirty and cramped. There are one or two, or in one cell three, concrete plinths with mattresses, blankets and pillows, either on the plinths or on the floor. In some cells there is no room to move around because the mattresses take up all the floor space. There were four men in four of the cells and three in most of the others. One cell held a single man who the police considered to be a more serious risk – this was because he was thought to be a people trafficker.

The CPT visit in 2016 had concluded that conditions in the airport facility were largely adequate, but also noted the following:

‘.. once again, the delegation heard many complaints that detainees were not let out of the cells when they requested to go to the toilet. Local staff said that the average length of detention would not exceed a few days; however, consultation of the custody register revealed that four Syrians had been held in the centre for periods of two to four months, another foreign national had been held for more than six months and many others had been detained for more than one month. Further, at times, between seven and 11 persons were held in these cells for prolonged periods, as was the case in December 2012, January 2013 and at the beginning of April 2013; such a gross level of overcrowding leading to 1 m² or less of living space per person constitutes in itself inhuman treatment. A cell of 9 m² should not accommodate more than two persons. It is also essential that an outdoor exercise yard be brought into service.’

There was no evidence of this level of overcrowding during the visit of the Border Criminologies research group in 2018. There was graffiti in every cell, some of it offensive. For example, in one cell there was a large drawing of a woman with spread legs. In another, there was a prominent swastika on the cell door. There were many country names written on the walls by detainees, with Syria, Afghanistan and Kurdistan particularly prominent. The light switch for the cells was outside the door meaning that detainees could not independently control the lighting. We were told the police gave detainees around half an hour in the canteen area by way of relief if the numbers were high. The canteen area had two vending machines with snacks, drinks and sandwiches. Detainees were allowed to carry 100 euros on them. Cash in excess of this and other valuables were kept in a safe. We noted that information about legal help on the noticeboards was all in Greek and very few detainees could understand it. Three men in one cell said they were unable to use the telephone because they had no money on their phone cards. They said that they could not get legal help. Medicines were not allowed in detainees’ possession as the police were concerned about detainees overdosing. Another man said he had problems with his heart and had not seen a doctor, and claimed his prescribed medication had been confiscated, in line with previous reports.