The database

This is an ongoing collaborative project, between Border Criminologies, Mobile Info Team and the Border Violence Monitoring Network. It seeks to develop and maintain an interactive, open access database of human rights violations inside immigration detention facilities, with an initial focus on Greece, with the aim of expanding to other countries. Detention has become a worrying fixture of asylum and removal procedures across Europe, subjecting individuals to reprehensible conditions and systematised violence that takes place within closed structures that are increasingly restricted from the public. This results in a vacuum whereby detainees find it virtually impossible to claim their rights. By pooling knowledge and making it freely available, this project documents the conditions and behaviour of law enforcement personnel inside detention centres, serving as an evidence base to support further research, legal action and advocate for justice and accountability. The database also hopes to facilitate trans-regional learning and maximise opportunities for advocates and lawyers in other parts of the world to access information that could strengthen their work.

Navigating the platform

You can access these versions using the language options in the top-right hand.

You can access the data in two ways:

Via the map

Each pin on the map represents a verified location of a facility where third country nationals may be detained. If there is a cluster of facilities either zoom in or click on the cluster to see the individual pins. They will appear both on the map and on the right-hand side as links. Click on a pin or link to display a preview of the facility on the right-hand side of the page. Click on view to read the available information on full screen.. Relationships to reports, online sources, testimonies, incidents and other facilities appear on the right-hand side. Click on them to display them and review them.

Via the library

The library shows all the available material, including detention site profiles, testimonies, incidents, contracts, reports, online sources, photos and videos. You can choose to display them as cards or in table view. They also appear on the right-hand side and you can filter through what you want to display on the page. On table view you can sort by the information you are interested in and choose which columns you want to display.

At any point CSV files can be exported.

The Collaboration

Based at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford, Border Criminologies is an international network of researchers, practitioners, and those who have experienced border control. Established in 2013, the network showcases cutting-edge original research from a range of perspectives to better understand the effect and harms of border control and to explore alternatives. Through a range of methods, including visual resources and first-hand accounts, Border Criminologies contributes to a greater understanding of law and policy.

Mobile Info Team (MIT) is an organisation based in Greece that provides comprehensive information and assistance to people throughout all stages of the asylum procedure. MIT provides vital information to more than 5,000 individuals per year in 6 languages through online communication platforms and in-person sessions. The legal team offers in-depth support in a wide range of legal matters, including issues related to integration and the Dublin Regulation. In line with MIT’s expertise on access to asylum procedures, they carry out research grounded in their own casework register, and use reports to advocate for an inclusive and rights-based approach to international protection and the related procedures. In relation to this project, MIT carries out research regarding access to procedures and the general conditions in detention centres on mainland Greece.

The Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) is an independent network of NGOs, associations and collectives that monitors human rights violations at the borders of Europe and advocates to stop violence against people on the move. The Network began monitoring illegal pushbacks and police violence along Europe’s external borders in 2017, however the scope has since increased to encompass the Western Balkans, Greece and Turkey with a growing focus on pushbacks from central European states such as Italy and Slovenia, and the systematic use of detention. In relation to this project, BVMN carries out research into reports of police violence in various European states as well as Turkey.

Join our community!

While this is a collaborative effort that draws on extensive research and brings together a wide range of resources, we acknowledge that this is a non-exhaustive and evolutional tool. For this reason, the database seeks to generate a community of users and contributors to make the platform sustainable in the long-run.

We encourage activists, volunteers, people with experience of detention and their families and friends, researchers, practitioners, and the wider public to document hidden facilities and practices through our submission form. The information provided will be rigorously reviewed by senior researchers. People can make submissions anonymously if they wish. Additionally, individuals who have relevant information about human rights violations inside immigration detention facilities in Greece, including through first hand experience, are welcome to contact us and discuss how this information can be included in the platform. Contributors will be able to share their experience in any format, written, audio, or video.