A new complaint to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants was submitted yesterday by Equal Rights Beyond Borders, raising alarm about the shocking conditions children face in the “Safe Areas” of the Kos and Leros Closed/Controlled Access Centres (CCACs). This complaint alleges that Greece is violating unaccompanied children’s fundamental rights by detaining them in unsafe conditions and subjecting them to inhumane treatment in these facilities across Greece.
Safe Areas are special sections of CCACs and other reception facilities in Greece, where unaccompanied children are held for months on end. They are not meant for long-term accommodation, lack basic amenities, and force children to endure appallingly poor conditions all while separated from family, civil society, and legal actors. Thousands of children have been detained in Safe Areas across Greece. This complaint and the report published earlier this week demonstrate the Greek Government’s systemic failure to protect unaccompanied and separated children at its eastern borders.
The complaint’s allegations include:
- De facto detention
- Unsafe and overcrowded facilities:
- Inadequate food and water:
- Lack of access to health and medical care:
- Lack of access to counsel
By submitting this complaint to the UN Special Rapporteur, Equal Rights calls on the United Nations to investigate how Greek authorities have failed to implement effective child protection mechanisms or meet their obligations under Greek, EU, and international law, violating children’s rights and setting a dangerous precedent for the normalization of child detention.
Read the report we published to support this complaint here.
*** Contact: press@equal-rights.org