to meet the people’s needs. In 2 out of 3 detention centers there are 2 toilets and in the third one
3, and there is a shower and two sinks in all of them. The Police Station building is especially old
and that results in other problems inside the detention center with regard to plumbing, as the
toilets are often clogged or not working. As a result, the money to be set aside for maintenance
had not been renewed for 2-3 months, and the consequences of this were clear, as there was a
pervasive and stifling stench while unclean water was scattered everywhere.
The responsibility of maintaining the building clean is out of necessity the Police’s, who do not
seem to have a presence inside the building and in fact present the detainees with cleaning
materials so that they themselves maintain the building. The responsibility to provide detainees
with sustenance is the Police’s, which distribute three meals daily. In the case a detainee has
health problems, the Police takes responsibility to transport them to the General Hospital-Health
Center in Kos, which either way faces many problems and shortages, both in staff and in
equipment. On a general level in relation to the medical care for newcomers, a substantial
shortage in staff is noted in Kos, especially form the moment that Doctors without Borders
withdrew from the island, and the Agreement came into force, while this significant shortage was
noted until the psychosocial team of Praksis, in collaboration with the Reception and
Identification Services, arrived.
2.2.3 Temporary Housing for Vulnerable Cases
A. Zikas Hotel – Unaccompanied Minors
The UNHCR funds and manages the Zikas Hotel in collaboration with ARSIS, where
unaccompanied minors that have just arrived in the island and have been identified during their
registration are currently hosted. During the time of our visit, identification took place during
their registration by the police and was done by ARSIS and UNHCR staff. The staff that was
working in the Hotel during the time of our visit consisted of psychologists, social workers, and
educators, as well as two volunteers from Spain. Save the Children also participated, as well as
Metadrasi, which had translators and conducted the supervised visits from the hotel to the
temporary housing of Praksis in the island. Unaccompanied minors are not subject to
administrative detention and in fact, according to the new law, unaccompanied minors are
excluded from the procedures at the border and are not subject to readmission procedures.
As such, unaccompanied minors are required to remain on the island until finding appropriate
housing for reasons relating to their “protection”, as we were informed by the Police and
UNHCR. During the time of our stay, unaccompanied minors that were staying in the hotel were
almost exclusively Pakistani citizens and one of them was a Syrian. They were all adolescent
boys. The exact number of those staying at the hotel could not be calculated with certainty and
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