them, or jackets that would be better suited for the chilling winter conditions characteristic of Evros. The employee would do his best to facilitate their needs with what he could find in the RIC’s warehouse (if available, usually a smaller pair of shoes), never forgetting to ask them about their day and how they felt. A question, to which the minors would unanimously, each on their turn, reply: “I am not well, Mr. X….how can I be? I am not free.” And indeed, despite the RIC’s unquestionable –at least compared to similar facilities on the islands– provision of some standards, the overgeneralized used of detention in Evros ever serves to detrimentally affect the psychology of all its inhabitants, creating new vulnerabilities (e.g. depressions), and re-opening “old wounds” in the process (retraumatization). Especially in the case of minors, who are the primary victims of this policy, and whom, as we were informed,121 were by order of the local prosecutor not even allowed to exit the RIC for even a daily excursion at a local museum and/or other site. The result: a gradual yet ongoing loss of their identity, and ultimately the very spark of life. As one METADRASI122 employee aptly put it: “Most children just tell you they want to go to school…they want to move forward…do something better with their life…why do you keep me here? [they ask]...I haven’t done anything bad…[And] you see a disappointment in their face, an anxiety…[ultimately they become] accustomed with the whole situation...an indefinite wait…You see children…fourteen, fifteen, sixteen year olds from Syria being surrounded by futility…a constant agony…[waiting] to leave…[to be] transferred to a hosting facility…go to school…[waiting] to recover that lost childhood they [once] had” 123 94 Article 17(2), Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and Council of 26 June 2013 laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast). 95 Indicatively, see H., Smith, H., '“Welcome to prison”: winter hits in one of Greece's worst refugee camps’, The Guardian, 22 December 2017, <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/22/thisisnt-europe-life-greece-worst-refugee-camps>, last accessed 30 March 2018, and Chardalia, N., ‘Human Rights Watch: Η Μόρια είναι σαν στρατόπεδο συγκέντρωσης’ [Human Rights Watch: Moria is like a concentration camp], SKAI, 5 October 2017, <http://www.skai.gr/news/greece/article/356821/human-rights-watch-i-moria-einai-san-stratopedo-sugedrosis/>, last accessed 30 March 2018. 96 As of January 2018, the RIC’s capacity has been increased to 3,000 places. 97 Moria RIC sub-Director. Brief meeting held on 15 December 2017. 98 Interview with HIAS, in Lesvos, on 14 December 2017. 99 Interview with representative of Bashira, in Lesvos, on 14 December 2017. 100 And a third section where the asylum service was found, which was enclosed in tall, barbed-wired fences. 101 Indicatively, during both our visit at the Moria RIC, no one ever asked us who we were, and if not for a personal initiative to declare ourselves at the entry gate, after mistakenly strolling by it and entering the RIC’s inhabited section, probably no one would have known up to this day. 102 Interview with UNHCR representatives in Lesvos, on 15 December 2017. 103 Information acquired via Interviews with representative of Bashira (14 December 2017), in Lesvos, and RIS employees at the single women and UAM sections (both 15 December 2017) in Moria, Lesvos. 104 Representative of PIKPA, Lesvos. Interview held on 13 December 2017. 105 Interview with representatives of UNHCR in Lesvos on 15 December 2017. Also see UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Refugee women and children face heightened risk of sexual vio- 37