44 so is a de facto violation of a detainee's physical threshold matter, EODY has no permanent and psychological integrity protected by Article presence in the quarantine on Chios. It’s im- 8 ECHR. Article 8 ECHR grants every person portant to note that medical attention is partic- the right to have his or her family and private ularly important immediately. upon arrival due life respected. The ECtHR has emphasized that to the dangerous way in which asylum seekers respect for private life includes a person’s arrive to the East Aegean islands, characterized “physical, psychological and moral integrity.” by capsized boats and near-drownings at sea. Further, the Court has expressly clarified that On Chios, asylum seekers only see a doctor “suffering which flows from naturally occurring when the NGO SMH visits the quarantine to illness, physical or mental, may be covered by conduct simple health screenings consisting of Article 3, where it is, or risks being, exacerbated temperature checks and verbal check-ins. In by treatment, whether flowing from conditions other words, the only possibility to receive basic of detention, expulsion or other measures, for medical care is provided by an NGO, without the which the authorities can be held responsi- authorities responsible for the quarantine en- ble.” State acts and omissions in the area of suring at least a basic level of medical treatment. health care can, thus, trigger state responsi- Even in cases where people tested positive for bility to effectively prevent a violation of Ar- COVID-19 there was a shocking lack of medical ticle 3 ECHR, and the ECtHR has repeatedly care. Khaled who was quarantined on Chios in found a violation where there was a short- February 2022 described a lack of medical care coming of medical care or follow up treat- for those who tested positive for COVID-19 ment in detention facilities177. while in quarantine: Lastly, the WHO mandates the provision of “One of the four people who I arrived with tested medical treatment to persons quarantined for positive. He had a severe fever on the mountain [be- COVID-19 prevention purposes.178 fore we arrived at quarantine] and was coughing Application and sneezing a lot. When the medical team tested 174 175 176 Equal Rights researchers discovered systematic neglect in the provision of essential medical services and treatment to asylum seekers quarantined on Chios, although the purpose of the quarantine is to protect public health. As a him, they said he was positive, and the police isolated him. He was sent alone to a room, and he spent 14 days there. He never moved out of the room; they threw his food to him. He never got medicine, even though he was still sick. “ This is especially the case if an individual’s state of health deteriorates in state care or if an illness first arises because of living conditions. See, for example, ECtHR, Judgment of 24 September 2007, 5410/03, Tysiąc v Poland, para. 107; Judgment of 09 March 2004, 61827/00, Glass v the United Kingdom, para. 74 et seq. Note that the right to “physical integrity” is known from Art. 3 (1) CFR. 175 See, for example, ECtHR, Judgment of 24 September 2007, 5410/03, Tysiąc, para. 107; Judgment of 09 March 2004, 61827/00, Glass, para. 74 et seq. 176 ECtHR, Judgment of 29 April 2002, 2346/02, Pretty, para. 52. 177 ECtHR, Judgment of 15 June 2010, 3433/04, Harutyunyan, paras. 115-116 178 World Health Organization, Considerations for quarantine of contacts of COVID-19 cases, Interim Guidance, 25 June 2021, 3, available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/342004 (amending the previous guidelines, under WHO, Considerations for quarantine of individuals in the context of containment for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Interim guidance 19 March 2020). 174 ‘Quarantine of Asylum Seeker’ – A legal classification of the quarantine practice on Chios