A family of seven beneficiaries of international protection was recently evicted from the Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) of Kos, Greece, and found themselves homeless, in precarious conditions, pending the completion of certain administrative procedures.

The family includes an infant less than 30 days old, whose extreme vulnerability was not taken into account by the authorities when they decided to evict the family from the CCAC.

The family had been homeless for two weeks, exposed to extreme temperatures, bacteria and viruses, without access to food, facilities or medical care, when they contacted Equal Rights Beyond Borders (Equal Rights).

Following a Rule 39 request for interim measures submitted by Equal Rights, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decided on 23-07-2024 to indicate to the Government of Greece “to ensure the accommodation of the applicants in living conditions that respect human dignity and that take into consideration their vulnerability, and to provide the applicants with medical care appropriate to their state of health, until 6 August 2024”.

The family was readmitted to the CCAC in the evening of July 24. They did not receive food, but bread and some water. The container in which they were put was destroyed, without doors, windows or electricity, and extremely dirty. The family was placed there even though the CCAC has plenty of capacity with functioning containers. While electricity and doors were reinstalled in the course of the day, the family has not yet received food or water on July 25 and is currently de facto detained inside a fenced area of the CCAC.