the general camp population, leaving them without special support. 131 MIT’s 2023 findings show
that people with special support needs remain subjected to the same lengthy waiting times for
appointments and are not provided with transportation to access the RICs. 132 In one case
reported by an NGO social worker, a single father with a child suffering from cancer was unable
to travel for registration to a RIC due to the child’s medical condition. 133 In another case, a man
from Sudan who is a survivor of torture was apprehended by the Hellenic Police and
subsequently detained, after he presented at the Malakasa RIC facility for registration without an
appointment receipt. 134 At the time of his arrival in Greece, there was no possibility to request an
appointment for registration at a mainland RIC due to the upgrade of the Asylum Service
computer. 135
In practice, the lack of effective and timely identification of vulnerable persons, leads to
deprivation of suitable accommodation for their special needs. A respondent with a mental health
condition reported to MIT/RLS that the authorities placed him in a container at Malakasa RIC with
people with whom he could not communicate and consequently felt lonely and isolated, and that
they refused to carry out his request to be moved to another container. 136 A vulnerable
respondent from Afghanistan reported:
The weather was really cold at the beginning, and they told us that we had to stay up to
25 days in Malakasa. [...] It was a very insecure place for me, I never felt safe. If I stayed
there without any support or my lawyer, I would have suffered every day. My mental
health issues would have worsened, and I would have thought: ‘This is the end of it’. 137
According to research in 2023, all respondents with children who were detained at a RIC for
screening and registration reported being held in inadequate facilities for accommodating families,
particularly with regard to a lack of safe and age-appropriate spaces for their children to play. 138
In 2023 and 2024, the European Court of Human Rights granted interim measures in two cases
represented by ELA, concerning the inhuman and degrading treatment of vulnerable applicants
due to the lack of adequate reception conditions in mainland Greece. 139 In the case of A.A.H. and
Others v. Greece, the applicants, a family of asylum-seekers, including eight minor children, with
multiple vulnerabilities and specific health needs, were left without assistance to meet their basic
needs (food and medical care) while facing imminent expulsion from the Controlled Temporary
Accommodation Centre of Alexandreia. In the case of S.S. v. Greece, the vulnerable applicant
was evicted from the Filippiada Controlled Temporary Accommodation Centre and left destitute
and homeless, without access to food and medical care, while suffering from serious health
problems with the risk of irreversible and potentially life-threatening consequences for his health.
5. CONDITIONS OF DETENTION
According to statistics requested by RSA, at the end of 2023 there were 2,303 people
administratively detained in Greece - and a total of 49 staff deployed across six Pre-Removal
Detention Centres (PRDCs) throughout the territory, including both administrative staff and
______
________________________________
131. Mobile Info Team and Refugee Legal Support. 2024. Voices from the Camps: Living Conditions and Access to Services in
Refugee Camps on the Greek Mainland: https://www.mobileinfoteam.org/voices-from-the-camps
132. Mobile Info Team. 2023. Protection Unavailable: Dysfunctional Practices and Restrictions on the Right to Asylum. Available at:
https://www.mobileinfoteam.org/ric
133. Ibid.
134. Mobile Info Team. 2023. Protection Unavailable: Dysfunctional Practices and Restrictions on the Right to Asylum. Available at:
https://www.mobileinfoteam.org/ric
135. Ibid. See also above under section “Lack of interpretation services in asylum procedures”.
136. Ibid.
137. Ibid.
138. Ibid.
139. App No. 38776/23 granted 31.10.2023 and App No. 15612/24 granted 20.06.2024.
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