5. Mixed-gender accommodation Based on our interviews and everyday conversations with our clients, we have established that accommodation in the PRDC is usually separated by gender. Most participants in this report confirmed that they were housed only with members of their gender. However, we have also found that this practice of separating accommodation by gender is not consistently applied. Five participants in this report mentioned being placed within mixed-gender accommodation at some stage during their detention in the PRDC. Louis told us that both women and men were housed in the first section in which he was housed. He described a container in the section that housed three women, one of the women’s children, and three unrelated men, and another that housed single women in one room and single men in another. Accommodation in the PRDC is therefore not always separated by gender. Mixed-gender accommodation can cause various complications, particularly for women, and for SGBV survivors. In our report, three women who reported being SGBV survivors mentioned being placed in mixedgender accommodation. During her 14 days of quarantine, Florence reported that she was housed with both women and men in a particular section of the PRDC. She explained that she had her own room, that the other woman in her section also had her own room, and that the two shared a toilet and shower. However, Florence’s room did not have a lock on the door, and she estimated there were approximately eight men sharing the wider section with the two women. She told us she did not feel “easy” being around the men given her experiences of SGBV. Similarly, Jeanne explained that she was housed in a section with both women and men, and experienced similar fears due to her history of SGBV, explaining: “…I’m not comfortable with it. It’s not easy to live with men, because of what I experienced in Cameroon. I am frightened of the men”. Mixed-gender accommodation can thus be particularly distressing to SGBV survivors, which includes 4 of the 5 women who participated in this report. For both women and men, mixed-gender accommodation can have additional implications. Faiza, who was placed in mixed-gender containers for the duration of her time in the PRDC, explained that it was difficult for her to live with unrelated men as she wears a hijab, stating: “…yes I had an issue with living with, being with men in the same container. Because I’m a Muslim and I wear a hijab…I wasn’t feeling free, and I had to be careful of everything I do and wear my hijab every time”. Meanwhile, Haroun told us that he found it challenging to live with women, stating: “It was hard for me to stay with another gender. Also because I am Christian and the other two girls were Muslim and wearing hijab. So I had to knock before I came in so they knew when I came in. Also the same for the bathroom. So it was not comfortable for me”. Mixed-gender accommodation can therefore cause various forms of discomfort for women, and compound existing feelings of fear and anxiety regarding their surroundings, and may also be uncomfortable for men 6. Overcrowding All nine participants interviewed on the subject reported that the spaces they were allocated in the PRDC were small and shared among many people. Participants reported living in sections that hosted anywhere between 17 to 100 people at any given time. Containers were generally shared between three to four people. Very small containers, that were about half the size of the others, were usually shared between two. Ismail reported that while he usually lived in a container of four, when there were more arrivals, 7 or 8 people would share the container. Participants also disclosed that bathrooms were sometimes shared between containers: Boubacar reported that his neighbours shared the bathrooms in his container, while Ismail told us that many containers in his section – he approximates ten – didn’t have toilets, and the toilet in his container was therefore shared among several additional people. Meanwhile, as the bathroom in his container didn’t have warm water, Boubacar would also visit other containers to use their showers. Similarly, Faiza told us 50 DETENTION OF MIGRANTS ON THE ISLAND OF KOS