45 structure to whoever is authorized.”128 2. Right to Leave during the daytime (for now) The right to leave the CCAC depends on having an asylum seeker’s card. Asylum seekers who have not received an asylum seeker’s card cannot leave the CCAC, regardless of whether 4. Confinement in Sections of the CCAC Even within the CCAC, asylum seekers’ movement is restricted—for example, people need permission to enter the area of the old RIC, which includes the medical and psychosocial units. they are still under the 25-day restriction or 5. Surveillance and Privacy not. However, once they receive their cards, Finally, the Ministry of Migration & Asylum they are able to exit the camp during daylight touts that the CCAC is under constant hours. People who don’t return in time for the surveillance: curfew risk losing their right to stay in the CCAC, unless they can show that the circumstances were beyond their control. Those who have not received their asylum seeker’s cards though cannot leave the facility at all and were historically placed in the old RIC in deplorable conditions. 3. The Safe Zone for Unaccompanied Minors Equal Rights was also granted access to the new Safe Zone for UAMs in January 2023 and observed that UAMs are housed in a separate “Closed Surveillance System (CCTV) is provided throughout the Closed Controlled Access Center, with the use of “smart” software, in order to alert in time of any emergencies, while it is capable of giving notifications and images to the Local Event Center, to the Control Center in Athens and to the Control Centers of other involved bodies (for instance the Hellenic Police).”129 However, Equal Rights has not been able to confirm whether these surveillance systems are working and in use. section in the CCAC that is surrounded by 6. Sterile Environment barbed wire. Security personnel guard the The sterile environment inside the residential entrance and are also stationed inside the safe areas, exacerbates the carceral environment of zone to monitor the UAMs’ activity. For the the CCAC. Inside the barbed wire are metal duration of their stay, UAMs are not allowed to containers of the same dull cream colour leave the Safe Zone, and there is no procedure intended to house asylum seekers. Each room to request an exit. During this time, they also inside the general population areas has four have no access to any recreational activities or beds cramped inside a narrow space that is programming, resulting in a highly restrictive intended to house four asylum seekers in total. environment for the youth. The identical looking nature of the containers contributes to the impression that the CCAC is a detention centre, an impression that is confirmed by the lack of sounds of life within 128 Hellenic Republic Ministry of Migration & Asylum, New Controlled Access Center of Kos, Press Office (27 November 2021), available at: https://bit.ly/3D9NmI9. 129 Hellenic Republic Ministry of Migration & Asylum, New Controlled Access Center of Kos, Press Office (27 November 2021), available at: https://bit.ly/3D9NmI9. ‘Still detained and forgotten’ – Update on Detention Policies, Practices, and Conditions on Kos 2022/23