This July, Equal Rights Beyond Borders and Chair of International Public Law and International Human Rights at the University of Münster submitted a Third-Party Intervention to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of K.A. and Others v. Greece. The case concerns a Syrian family that was detained when they arrived on Lesvos in March 2020.

The intervention looks at whether the applicants’ detention in three separate locations—the port of Mitilini in Lesbos, a naval ship, and the Malakasa refugee camp—constituted a “continuing situation.” Drawing on the Court’s case law and case law from other jurisdictions, we argue that the Court must consider the unique challenges asylum seekers face in accessing justice and accountability systems.

The intervention argues that:

1. A continuing situation can occur across multiple detention facilities
2. Immigration detention is distinct from criminal detention and should be treated as such
3. The Court must consider asylum seekers’ unique vulnerabilities in the context of detention

The case of K.A. and Others highlights how modern-day detention regimes can undermine asylum seekers’ access to justice and allow states to evade responsibility. Equal Rights Beyond Borders is committed to ensuring that people on the move in Europe have fair and equal access to justice systems,, upholding the rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.. By intervening in this case, we are working to ensure that Europe’s highest human rights court remains accessible to everyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, or nationality.

We are grateful to the students from Columbia Law School’s Immigrants' Rights Clinic and the Refugee Law Clinic at the University of Hamburg for their significant contributions to this intervention. The full text of the submission can be accessed here.