Author
Article 59(1) of the Asylum Code provides that material reception conditions must provide asylum applicants with an adequate standard of living that guarantees their subsistence and protects their physical and mental health, based on respect for human dignity.
On 27 September 2023, after many years, the launch of a complaints mechanism operating under the responsibility of the fundamental rights officer (FRO) of the MoMA was announced.[1] As per the relevant announcement and guidance published by the MoMA, the mechanism is accessible to any third-country national who considers they have been “directly affected by state actions or omissions and […] that one or more of his/her fundamental rights have been violated due to those actions or omissions, during access to territory and/or reception and/or asylum procedures in Greece”.[2] Complaints need to be submitted in writing and by name, and can either be filled online, in a relevant section established on the MoMA’s website, or sent by email or post to the MoMA’s FRO.
Though in principle a positive development, the requirement for complainants to submit a complaint in writing, which can currently only be done either in Greek or English,[3] and by name, seems to a priori hinder applicant’s potential for accessing this mechanism on their own, either on account of language barriers or due to potential fear of disclosing their name in a document that may attribute fundamental rights violations to actions or omissions of the Greek administration while their asylum applications are still pending. Therefore, the effectiveness of this mechanism remains to be seen.
As far as GCR is aware, during 2025 and up to September, the complaints mechanism under the MoMA FRO received a total of 84 new complaints, 75% of which (total of 63) were deemed inadmissible on account of lacking essential formal elements or not meeting the admissibility requirements, particularly related to the FRO’s mandate. The remainder (21) were referred to services of the Ministry or the National Transparency Authority (NTA) or were pending at the end of September. The majority of admissible complaints concerned substandard and/or lack of special reception conditions, including the prolonged de facto detention of a minor applicant pending registration of their asylum claim.[4]
A total of 58 doctors were deployed throughout the RIS camps, compared to 54 at the end of 2024. Doctors and other medical staff profiles are deployed in camps under the EU-funded “Hippocrates” programme. This number corresponds to one doctor per 390 people, given the total number of 22,622 residents. The rate of doctors to residents is significantly lower in the largest RIS camps that hosted over 1,000 people. At least five camps had no doctor at all at the end of 2025. This includes Leros, Filippiada, Veria, Kyllini and Pyrgos. 168 interpreters were deployed in RIS camps at the end of 2025, exclusively through emergency provision of staff by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA)[5]
Conditions in RICs and temporary accommodation facilities on the mainland
Living conditions in the mainland camps vary depending on the facilities, as different types of accommodation and services are offered at each site. Therefore, although camps are never suitable for long-term accommodation, compliance with the standards of the recast Reception Conditions Directive should be assessed against the situation prevailing in each camp.
Nevertheless, living conditions continued to be cause for concern throughout 2025, characterised by critical gaps in essential provisions and services, such as interpretation, and isolation. An August 2025 parliamentary response by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, referring to data up to 30 June 2025, revealed that out of 12,863 camp residents, 11,959 were active asylum seekers entitled to reception conditions. None, however, were receiving the monthly financial allowance foreseen in the context of material reception provisions following the programme’s complete halt in March 2025,[6] resulting in most asylum seekers being unable to cover basic living expenses, including medicine and transportation.[7] This is despite the programme being covered under Greece’s AMIF programme in the current (2021-2027) funding cycle.
The lack of financial support is compounded by acute material deprivation, as there is no systematic provision of essential non-food items (NFIs) across the camps, such as winter clothing, adequate footwear, or feminine hygiene products. Food provided in the facilities is frequently reported as inedible or unsafe. Furthermore, individuals who are granted international protection are immediately cut off from food and water provision. However, because integration programmes such as Helios+ are not fully operational, they are effectively forced to remain in the camps to avoid homelessness, residing in a state of complete destitution.
Furthermore, staffing shortages persist in medical and psychosocial services on the mainland, with the ratio standing at one doctor per 242 residents at the end of June 2025. Despite a relative improvement compared to 2024, this highlights ongoing deficiencies, with specific mainland camps, such as Filippiada, Veria, Kyllini, and Pyrgos, having no doctor at all.[8] The Greek Ombudsperson, in his 2024 Report,[9] reiterated concerns about the remote location of most mainland facilities, which hinders access to goods, services, and fosters a strong sense of isolation from local communities.
This isolation was further compounded by persisting challenges in transportation and interpretation services in 2025, directly impacting applicants’ ability to access healthcare. The April 2025 follow-up report “People continue to suffer in Greece’s mainland refugee camps“, published by Mobile Info Team and Refugee Legal Support,[10] found a worsening situation compared to the previous year and lack of suitable reception conditions for vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities. The report highlights that the MoMA still does not organise regular transportation from the camps to urban centers. Consequently, residents remain unable to reach essential services, including critical hospital appointments or necessary interviews at the Asylum Service, as they must find their own way despite having limited or no financial means. Furthermore, the absence of interpretation continues to be a severe issue; for instance, the Hippocrates programme lacks its own interpreters, forcing reliance on camp interpreters who are often absent or overstretched. The suspension of interpretation services nationwide by METAdrasi in July 2025, due to unpaid state debts, further exacerbated these communication issues, leaving many asylum seekers entirely unable to navigate bureaucratic processes, access vital information, or adequately communicate medical needs.
Following peaceful sit-in protests by camp residents in Kavala and Koutsochero in November 2024, protests on account of unsuitable conditions were held by residents of Malakasa and Oinofyta in January 2025 and February 2026 respectively.[11] Residents have inter alia complained of unusable facilities, including broken toilets, lack of hot water, and cockroach infestations that they are left to manage on their own, with parents flaging that unhygienic conditions poses a serious and immediate risk to the health of their children.
Conditions prevailing in Malakasa RIC have also remained an issue of concern, with residents reportedly living in containers mired with serious and dangerous damage, water leaks, insects and rodents, without mattresses, blankets or cleaning and hygiene kits. Of particular concern is the prolonged de facto detention of unaccompanied children in highly unsuitable and overcrowded conditions in so-called “safe areas” in the RIC. In April 2025, the Athens Administrative Court of First Instance ruled that the prolonged detention of two minors in the Malakasa Camp constituted an unlawful and arbitrary detention.[12]
As noted in an open letter by 32 Refugee Education Coordinators (RECs) working in the camps in May 2023:
‘[W]here either the model of “Closed Controlled Centers” (CAACs), such as in Samos, Leros and Kos, or the “Reception and Identification Centres” (RICs), such as in Diavata, Malakasa or Fylakio, Evros, is already applied, or even where the so-called ‘controlled’ living model is promoted, such as in the various ‘Controlled Facilities for Temporary Accommodation of Asylum Applicants’ (particularly) in the mainland, extremely damaging conditions are created for the well-being of both the refugee children themselves and their families in general. These conditions create, first of all, anxiety for the psychosocial and learning development of the children we support and, secondly, discomfort, giving us the feeling that we are now working in an ‘open prison’ environment.’[13]
As further noted in their letter,[14] this model of reception, which as stressed by the RECs inter alia amounts to applicants’ accommodation “in particularly remote areas and their enclosure by three-meter-high concrete walls […]; the creation of more and more internal, separate, clusters-cages for the different functions, which are shielded with double fencing and scaled wire mesh and guarded by private security companies; [and] the rapid understaffing of social and health services in terms of scientific staff, interpreters/translators, etc. and the parallel increase in security staff”, also inter alia:
- Creates insurmountable practical obstacles in children’s and young persons’ access to formal education, due to the distance between their place of residence from urban centers where public schools operate,
- Drastically limits possibilities to maintain communication with schoolmates and more broadly people of a similar age, given social integration activities that take place in the context of education become impossible, due to their isolation and the parallel inability of non-residents to access [the camps],
- prevents refugee parents and guardians from communicating with their children’s teachers and with the parents and guardians of children in the local communities, thus nullifying one of the fundamental functions of the educational community,
- creates a suffocating living environment for children and their families, as well as for all those living in spatial isolation, which creates a series of intense psychopathological consequences and reproduces social stigma.
As underlined by the Greek Ombudsperson’s in his 2024 report,[15] “most of these facilities are located outside urban areas, often in remote locations […]. This creates clear challenges in terms of access to goods and services, and foster a strong sense of isolation of residents from local communities”. The Ombudsperson further noted that:
- ‘Several facilities, including Schisto, Serres, Lagadikia, and Malakasa, are surrounded by high concrete fences, while in places like Diavata RIC and Lagadikia, the barriers are topped with barbed wire. Additionally, CCTV systems have been installed at the gates and around the perimeters of these facilities. In the Diavata RIC, cameras are also installed in public areas. Facilities such as Fylakio RIC, Malakasa, Chios, and the Samos CCAC centre are encircled by double fencing, ending in NATO-type barbed wire. In some facilities, barbed wire fences are used to separate accommodation cells from administrative and technical support buildings, as seen in Lagadikia and Serres.’
- ‘All temporary accommodation structures, including the two RICs in mainland, are surrounded by high concrete fences.’
- ‘Lastly, all facilities, whether already operational or still under construction, have large turnstile doors for the entry and exit of residents and employees. These are accompanied by magnetic gates, x-ray machines, and a two-factor access control system (ID and fingerprint) for personal belongings, residents, and employees. The Ombudsman staff found that at the Samos CCAC and Schisto centre, residents and workers pass through a magnetic gate, their personal belongings are scanned by x-ray, and they then pass through turnstile gates. They are further checked by electronic reading of a special card they carry (a blue card for workers, a red card for residents). This check is mandatory for all individuals upon entry and exit.’
- ‘The appearance, particularly of the RIC and CCAC is more akin to a detention centre than to a reception and accommodation area for newly arrived residents’, reflecting similar concerns previously expressed by the EU Ombudsperson.[16]
As mentioned in Save the Children & GCR’s report on children’s life in mainland camps, “many of these camps fall short of the reception standards defined by the European Union Agency for Asylum, which indicate that facilities should be within a reasonable walking distance of relevant services, ideally no more than 3 km to public services and 2 km to healthcare facilities and schools, with safe walking infrastructure (Indicator 1.2(b)).”[17]
The “persisting challenges, particularly concerning the remote location [of camps] which hampers accessibility of vital services, such as health care and psychological support, as well as access to employment opportunities and interaction with local communities – essential for integration” were also flagged in February 2024 by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, during a two-day visit to Greece.[18]
Conditions on the Eastern Aegean islands
The situation on the islands has been widely documented and has remained alarming throughout the years, with increased arrivals in the second half of 2023 marking a return to conditions of overcrowding observed in previous years and an accentuation of ongoing challenges.
Between January and December 2025, a total of 15,822 persons were transferred to the mainland from the CCACs of Lesvos (1,227), Samos (4,632), Chios (3,092), Kos (2,930), Leros (3,548) or from other islands (393).[19] As a result of these efforts, by year’s end none of the island facilities displayed conditions of overcrowding, with the CCAC of Lesvos operating at close to 30% of its nominal capacity, the CCAC of Samos at 49%, the CCAC of Kos at 39%, the CCAC of Leros at 82%, and the CCAC of Chios at 70%.[20] Yet, despite a seemingly manageable situation on the ground, prevalent conditions in the island CCACs remained alarming, particularly for UAMs.
Beyond physical shelter shortages during periods of increased arrivals, which forced people, including vulnerable cases, such as single mothers, to sleep on the floor in communal areas with unknown adults, the CCACs continued to operate as highly securitised, prison-like environments, defined by conditions of confinement, excessive surveillance, and significant recurring shortages of basic necessities.
As in previous years,[21] these substandard conditions led to a number of interventions by the ECtHR in 2025, building upon a continuum of communicated cases from previous years that highlight systemic violations in the island facilities.[22] Among these:
- In February 2025, the ECtHR granted interim measures to four unaccompanied children facing a four-month-long de facto detention and degrading conditions in the Samos CCAC in the case of A. and others v. Greece (Application Application no 2570/25). The court “acknowledge[ed]”, as noted by Human Rights Legal Support (HRLP), the organisation supporting them, “that the 4 minors are at imminent risk of irreparable harm, and ordered the Greek government to provide them with adequate food, water, clothing and medical care, to ensure their protection from ill-treatment and ensure their speedy relocation to a shelter for minors”.[23]
- In May 2025, the ECtHR granted interim measures in cases concerning 46 UAMs who remained in conditions of de facto detention in the “safe zone” of the Samos CCAC, for an average period of 142 days, in deplorable hygiene conditions and without appropriate clothing, bedding and sleeping accommodation.[24]
- Similarly, in June 2025, the ECtHR granted interim measures for 13 UAMs detained in the “safe zone” of the CCAC of Leros, ordering the authorities to urgently provide clothing, hygiene items, medical care, and to relocate the children to safe and appropriate accommodation.[25]
- In July 2025, interim measures were granted for 9 UAMs remaining detained in the Kos CCAC “safe area”, some of them having remained in de facto detention for almost 5 months.[26]
Following these interventions, by 31 December 2025, the number of UAMs remaining in unsuitable island CCACs and mainland RICs was significantly decreased, with a total of 143 UAMs reported as still residing in said facilities by year’s end, as reported by the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons & Institutional Protection.[27] It is, however, crucial to note that the number reported refers to UAMs already registered by the authorities and not to those whose registration is still pending[28] or who might have been registered as adults.
Beyond overcrowding, testimonies refer to conditions of confinement and excessive surveillance. At the same time, there are significant recurring shortages, particularly of medical and psychosocial staff, interpretation services, and of basic necessities (food, bedding, hot water, milk intended for children, medication) and decent accommodation. Indicatively, in the same report, RSA highlights how during 2023 new arrivals in the Samos CCAC were forced to sleep on the floor, without mattresses, in a room originally intended to serve as a restaurant, due to the lack of actual accommodation places. Additionally, those residing in the public areas are subjects of constant surveillance, as the CCTV System inside the restaurant operates unceasingly on a 24/7 basis, violating the individual’s privacy.[29]
As inter alia noted by the CPT in 2024[30]:
- ‘The […] centres are usually located away from the main urban areas on the islands and are characterised by their imposing security measures. The CCACs, as observed in Kos and Samos, are surrounded by a double security fence topped with rolls of barbed wire, and feature control systems such as turnstiles, magnetic gates, x-ray scanners and two-factor access control (identity and fingerprint) at the entrance. Each accommodation section of the CCAC is also surrounded by a security fence topped with barbed wire and a turnstile identity control system. Private security companies control access to the centre and are responsible for carrying out checks and body searches on all persons wishing to enter or leave the centres. In addition, a CCTV monitoring system has been installed throughout the CCACs, using “smart” software to ensure early warning about any incidents, with images streamed to the Hellenic Police and the Control Centre at the Ministry for Migration and Asylum in Athens.’
- ‘The CPT considers that the use of barbed wire on the multiple perimeter security fences surrounding each section of the CCACs, including those accommodating families, women, children and persons with special needs and vulnerabilities, is excessive and unnecessary, and should be removed.’
- ‘The CCACs have the potential to offer better living conditions for migrants and asylum seekers for periods of up to a few months. However, they face significant shortcomings in legal assistance, healthcare provision, vulnerability assessment and interpretation services, and the basic reception and protection needs of applicants for international protection are often not met. Further, the excessive security and barbed wire fencing make the CCACs unsuitable for accommodating children and persons in a vulnerable situation.’
The Greek National Commission for Ηuman Rights (GNCHR), following a field visit in February 2024 in Samos CCAC, noted the incompatibility of prevailing conditions with the standards foreseen by EU law. Issues identified included overcrowding, single women and single parent families with minor children sleeping on the floor in mixed accommodation with unrelated men; limited access to water and the lack of doctors in the CCAC.[31]
Meanwhile, as in previous years, during 2024 infrastructure-related problems continued to persist in the Samos CCAC. As reported by RSA in December 2024, there is still a ‘severe shortage of running and drinking water, despite the systems reported by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum regarding water supply and conservation. […] Since there is no connection to a central water system, water is collected and distributed via tanker trucks connected to the facility’s main supply points.’ Moreover, according to the same report: ‘[t]he conditions of the containers was particularly concerning. Many were filthy, infested with bedbugs and cockroaches, while most beds lacked mattresses. Blankets were seemingly shared among residents, while there were broken plumbing fixtures overflowing with sewage, and blackened, dirty sanitary facilities (toilets, sinks, and showers). This situation was evident even in sectors housing families and vulnerable populations, who reportedly live in better conditions’.[32]
As regards Lesvos, per a 2024 report by the NGO Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid: “[…] more and more people are being housed in exposed areas of the camp, and in so-called Refugee Housing Units (RHUs), effectively plastic houses, which provide little relief from weather conditions. […] people living in the camp do not have adequate blankets to be sheltered from the cold. The Greek authorities have run out of blankets and stopped providing them, meaning that people who newly arrive receive either no blankets at all or just a flimsy summer blanket.”[33]
As further reported by RSA in December 2024, in Lesvos, living conditions inside the CCAC are characterised, among others, by a lack of hot water, shortages of clothing and blankets, poor-quality food and shortages in medical and psychological support. Regarding the latter, the report refers to the response of the Reception and Identification Service of 11 November 2024, according to which for 3,333 residents “there is only one general practitioner, one gynaecologist, two midwives, six nurses, one laboratory technician, two psychologists, and one social worker in the CCAC. Newly arrived individuals undergo a basic medical check-up, while no psychosocial evaluation is conducted.”[34]
Dire conditions were also reported in the Kos CCAC by RSA in December 2024, a primary concern being the severe degradation of the facility’s infrastructure, characterised by significant structural defects, inadequate maintenance, and critical failures in sewage and biological treatment systems, often resulting in instances of raw sewage inundation. Further, the provision of food and potable water was reported as insufficient in both quality and quantity, with residents reporting adverse health effects, including dermatological issues, attributable to unsanitary living conditions and a critical lack of essential hygiene products.[35]
Ongoing challenges with regards to medical services were also reported. Based on GCR’s presence in the field in Kos, there is a total and chronic lack of adequate medical services, which also impacts locals. There is no capacity to actually screen vulnerabilities or provide them with the health care they need. Unaccompanied and separated children face additional barriers when they reach the CCAC. Until a guardian is appointed, these children have no one to provide them with clothes, shoes or a cell phone to call home and talk to their family. Unaccompanied children also have to spend about two to three weeks in a fenced area called a ‘safe area’ until they are transferred to a shelter for unaccompanied children. There is nothing to do in the safe area, no activities, recreational or otherwise. It is a container surrounded by barbed wire[36].[37]
During 2024, similar dire conditions were also reported in the Leros CCAC and the facility’s “safe area.” Shortages of medical personnel and deficiencies in necessities persisted, mirroring the situation at the CCAC. Persistence of water shortages were also reported due to “the island’s acute water scarcity and maintenance issues with the desalination plant that supplies the facility”[38] and inadequate medical personnel, which “[…] comprises only six nurses, one midwife, one psychologist, and one social worker. Medical screening is carried out by the RIS medical unit, involving nurses and periodic visits by doctors to the island. This arrangement means that medical assessments for newly arrived individuals are essentially unavailable, making it impossible to identify potential vulnerabilities. Furthermore, due to the lack of personnel, accessing medical assistance for residents is extremely challenging”, as noted by RSA.[39]
Similar dire conditions were also reported in the Chios CCAC during 2024. There has not been a permanent doctor at the CCAC since 2021. According to the Reception and Identification Service’s response to RSA (as of November 11, 2024), “the facility employs six nurses, two midwives, three social workers, and two psychologists. Nurses handle medical documentation and forward it to a doctor who signs the medical records. Primary healthcare services are unavailable in the afternoons and on weekends, so even minor emergencies must be referred to the understaffed Chios hospital by police or emergency medical services. Psychosocial evaluations are nearly impossible due to the severe shortage of interpreters, who must focus on urgent needs (e.g. interpretation for the custody of minors).”[40]
No significant developments addressing the above mentioned issues have been reported during 2025.
Additionally, over the last year, there has been a significant increase of arrivals in South-western Greece (i.e., Crete island, Gavdos island, etc), where no Reception and Identification Centers or any other form of migration/accommodation infrastructure exist. The authorities have proven unable to effectively manage the situation, leaving people for days or even weeks in miserable conditions and bypassing the reception and identification procedures provided by law or even arbitrarily submitting people to automatic detention.[41]
In July 2025, following the Greek government’s decision to suspend access to asylum for those arriving to Greece from Northern Africa, in blatant disregard for international, EU and national law,[42] newly arrived applicants to (primarily) Crete and Gavdos started being transferred to PRDCs, with no access to reception. As per GCR’s observations in Amygdaleza PRDC on 24 July 2025, newcomers subject to this measure had not received any information on the procedures to be followed, nor on the reasons for their detention. Since the decisions to suspend access to asylum as mentioned in the relevant chapter had a limited duration, no other incedents as such was reported.
Destitution
Destitution and homelessness still remain matters of concern in 2025. As stated by UNHCR in February 2020, ‘[h]ousing options and services to cater for the present population are scarce countrywide’.[43] Though the population of concern has since been significantly reduced, following the termination of ESTIA in December 2022, this remained valid in 2022, 2023 and 2024, amidst the sharp increase in arrivals.
Following the challenges reported in 2023,[44] the situation of destitution persisted in Rhodes during 2024 and 2025 as well. As reported in October,[45] hundreds of refugees and migrants continued staying and sleeping in makeshift shelters and on the streets, waiting for their registration and transfer to suitable reception places. To the date of writing this report there is no adequate state-run infrastructure to support the occasional population.
Meanwhile, following increased arrivals to the Crete since 2023, severe material deprivation was further accentuated for newcomers during 2024 and 2025. Issues identified included the ad hoc use of improper facilities lacking even beds; limited provision of clothing and shoes and the use unwashed blankets, which often do not suffice to cover the actual needs.[46] A similar situation has developed in Gavdos, which likewise lacks any type of reception facility.[47]
Regarding the Greek mainland, challenges throughout 2025 in accessing asylum, on account of the shortcomings of the MoMA’s newly established online registration system, aside from exposing applicants to the risk of arbitrary detention, also significantly increased the risk of extreme material deprivation for those waiting for their asylum claims to be registered, during which time they lack access to reception conditions.[48]
Racist violence
From 2022 to 2025, the Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN), coordinated by UNHCR and the Greek National Commission for Human Rights, recorded hundreds of incidents of racist violence, a multitude of which concerned migrants, refugees and asylum applicants on account of their ethnic origin, religion or color.[49]
As noted by RVRN,[50] based on the Network’s findings, the main patterns that were identified in 2022 were “the existence of racism in everyday life, the occurrence of incidents of organised racist violence, albeit to a limited extent, and the targeting of human rights defenders within Greek territory, especially those operating at the borders”, while the Network also recorded incidents in which the perpetrators either wore uniforms or were civil servants. While noting a decrease, compared to previous years,[51] on the number of incidents of extreme racist violence perpetrated by organised groups, the RVRN also reported an ongoing pattern of under-reporting of racist violence incidents, flagging, in line with its findings of previous years, that “a significant number of victims do not report [such incidents] out of fear of secondary victimisation or re-victimisation”.[52] As noted by RVRN,[53] amongst the factors contributing to this pattern of under-reporting and fear from the victims’ side, while “fueling the feeling of impunity” on the side of perpetrators, was also the significant number of recorded incidents where the perpetrators were identified, by the victims, as “representatives of the state and indeed [from state bodies] with the competence to protect”.
With regards 2024 and 2025, the RVRN’s relevant report had not yet been issued by the time of writing.
In July 2025, the RVRN raised its concerns regarding the increasingly hostile discourse (political and public) regarding people on the move in Greece. These concerns included the use, by political leaders, political parties and public authorities, of derogatory terms including “invasion”, “clandestine” and “population replacement” in order to describe the incearse in arrivals, thereby portraying migrants and refugees as a societal threat, thereby contributing to a rise in racist violence.[54]
According to a recent RSA report on Kos, incidents of racist violence were reported by Kos CCAC’s residents. “The presence of police is particularly noticeable in Kos town, with frequent reports of arbitrary detainment and body searches of CCAC residents, even incidents of racist violence. Discriminatory treatment at the hospital has also been reported, along with an incident of hostile behaviour toward an organisation’s members, including damage to their vehicle.”[55]
Furthermore, on 26 June 2024, the first meeting of the National Council against Racism and Intolerance took place under the coordination of the Ministry of Social Cohesion; a positive development that coincides with the development of a new action plan against racism, given that the previous one, which started in 2020, ended in 2023.[56] Their last meeting was held on 20 February 2025.[57]
[1] MoMA, Launch of the Complaints Mechanism, 27 September 2023, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/8wyzzk2r.
[2] MoMA, Complaint Form, general guidance, available at: https://tinyurl.com/3nhnsumz, p.1.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Information received in the context of GCR’s participation in the Greek Monitoring Committee for Migration and Home Affair Funds.
[5] RSA, Asylum procedure and reception statistics in Greece in 2025, 26 March 2026 https://tinyurl.com/392ftj58
[6] RSA, Reception & refugee camps in Greece in the first half of 2025, 11 September 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yp6ar5fu.
[7] As per information inter alia received during the 9 July 2025 National Protection Working Group.
[8] RSA, Reception & refugee camps in Greece in the first half of 2025, 11 September 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yp6ar5fu.
[9] Greek Ombudsperson, “The Challenge of Migratory Flows and Refugee Protection – Reception Conditions and Procedures”, 26 April 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/3s9yfxue.
[10] MIT & RLS, Follow Up Report: People continue to suffer in Greece’s mainland refugee camps, 3 April 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/5f9rmcyx.
[11] Ibid., p.9 and News24/7, “We Need Help”: Refugees Denounce Appaling Conditions In The Oinofyt Facility”, 21 February 2026, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/4mz4xvww.
[12] GCR, COMMUNICATION of the GREEK COUNCIL FOR REFUGEES to the COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS of the COUNCIL OF EUROPE (Rule 9.2.) with regard to the execution of M.S.S. (Application No. 30696/09) and H.A. and others (Application No. 4892/18) GROUP of cases, April 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yzdmexdk, paras. 52-58.
[13] The letter was inter alia published by EfSyn. See EfSyn, RECs: Educational integration of refugee children does not fit in closed centres, 11 May 2023, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/4mes767c.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Greek Ombudsperson, “The Challenge of Migratory Flows and Refugee Protection – Reception Conditions and Procedures”, 26 April 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/3s9yfxue, 25 and 41.
[16] EU Ombudsperson, Decision in strategic inquiry OI/3/2022/MHZ on how the European Commission ensures respect for fundamental rights in EU-funded migration management facilities in Greece, 7 June 2023, available here.
[17] GCR and SCI, “It Does Not Feel Like Real Life”: Children’s Everyday Life in Greek Refugee Camps, December 2024, p. 17, available here.
[18] UNHCR, UN High Commissioner for Refugees wraps up visit to Greece: welcomes progress on integration and urges continued efforts, 22 February 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/bdepjsbh.
[19] MoMA, Statistics: Consolidated Reports – Overview, December 2025 – International Protection | Appendix A, available at: https://migration.gov.gr/statistika/, Table 2.
[20] National Coordination Centre for border Control, Immigration and Asylum, National Situational Picture regarding the Islands at Eastern Aegean Sea (31/12/2025), 1 January 2026, available at: https://migration.gov.gr/en/statistika/.
[21] See previous AIDA reports on Greece, available at: https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/greece/.
[22] See, inter alia, M.K. and Others against Greece (Application no. 42416/23) communicated on 25 February 2025 regarding Kos CCAC, Z.H. and S.T.H. against Greece (Application no. 34712/23) communicated on 21 March 2025 and W.B. and Others against Greece (Application no. 36142/23) communicated on 21 March 2025 regardng Samos CCAC, M.A. against Greece (Application no. 38043/21) communicated on 2 June 2025 regarding Lesvos CCAC.
[23] HRLP, “Samos CCAC “Safe” Zone : ECtHR Grants Interim Measures”, 5 February 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/457uuf6y.
[24] HLRP, “Interim measures granted for 46 unaccompanied children”, 21 May 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/6kjyjjzm.
[25] Equal Rights Beyond Borders, “European Court of Human Rights orders Greece to urgently provide essential aid and transfer 13 unaccompanied children to safe accommodation”, 25 June 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/ykd6czvw.
[26] Equal Rights Beyond Borders, “European Court of Human Rights Issues New Decision to Ensure the Urgent Protection of De Facto Detained Unaccompanied Minors”, 4 July 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4y67u3tp.
[27] General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons & Institutional Protection, Situation Update: Unaccompanied Minors (UAM) in Greece, 1 December 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4ddcbk46.
[28] Inter alia, see AIRE Centre and GCR, Communication from NGOs (AIRE Centre and Greek Council for Refugees) (24/11/2025) concerning the cases of O.R., A.I. and Others, T.S. and M.S., T.A. and Others, N.N. and Others and W.S. v. Greece (Applications No. 24650/19, 11588/20, 15008/19, 15293/20, 59319/19, 65275/19) (Rahimi group) and reply from the authorities (26/11/2025), 26 November 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4rywhr6f, para. 34.
[29] RSA, What is happening today in the refugee structures on the Aegean islands, May 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/40ZUNus.
[30] CPT, Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 20 November to 1 December 2023, 12 July 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/e265xv58, paras. 104-106. Also see GCR, Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee, Greece’s State Party Report, 142nd Session, 14 October-7 November 2024, September 2024, pp. 10-14, available at: https://tinyurl.com/js28d9s8.
[31] GNCHR, Επιτόπια επίσκεψη ΕΕΔΑ στη Σάμο: Μη σύμφωνες με τα βασικά πρότυπα οι συνθήκες υποδοχής στην ΚΕΔ Σάμου, 9 April 2024, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/mtuuhcar.
[32] RSA, Samos, 10 December 2024, available at https://rsaegean.org/el/samos-2024/.
[33] FENIX, A Blanket Violation of Rights: The Lack of Winterisation of the Mavrovouni C.C.A.C, 27 November 2024, available here.
[34] RSA, Lesvos, 10 December 2024, available at: https://rsaegean.org/el/lesvos-2024/.
[35] RSA, Kos, 10 December 2024, available at: https://rsaegean.org/el/kos-2024/.
[36] GCR, Refugee and migrant children arrivals in Greece quadruple this year, press release, 17 July 2024, available here.
[37] In the context of their right of reply, submitted on 10 September 2025, the Greek General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons and Institutional Protection noted that clothes, shoes and communication are provided by the child protection actor operating in the safe area, complementing any distributions made by RIS, and that activities are provided by the staff of the child protection actor as well.
[38] RSA, Leros, 10 December 2024, available at: https://rsaegean.org/en/leros-2024/.
[39] RSA, Leros, 10 December 2024, available at: https://rsaegean.org/en/leros-2024/.
[40] RSA, Chios, 10 December 2024, available here.
[41] GCR Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee, Greece’s State Party Report, 142nd Session, 14 October 7 November 2024, September 2024.
[42] See Joint NGO statement, The unlawful suspension of access to asylum in Greece must be immediately withdrawn, 16 July 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/2v83d4zk.
[43] UNHCR, Factsheet, Greece: 1-29 February 2020, 29 February 2020, available at: https://tinyurl.com/h7xz7584.
[44] See previous AIDA report on Greece, available at: https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/greece/.
[45] NEWS 24/7, Ρόδος: Εκατοντάδες πρόσφυγες και μετανάστες κοιμούνται σε δρόμους και πάρκα, 24 October 2024, available here.
[46] NeaKriti, Chania: the migrant accommodation points at full – 187 persons in an open parking of the Port Authority, 10 March 2024, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/39x8dfk9. For the facility in Chania see here; For the facility in Heraklion see here.
[47] The Guardian, ‘Pushed to the limit’: the tiny Greek island in people smugglers’ sights, 27 March 2024, available here; see also H Naftemporiki, Μεταναστευτικό: Συναγερμός για τις εντεινόμενες ροές σε Γαύδο και νότια Κρήτη – Κυβέρνηση: Θα κάνουμε ό,τι απαιτείται, 14 March 2024, available here.
[48] Also see MIT & RLS, Protection Unavailable: Dysfunctional Practices and Restrictions on the Right to Asylum, November 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/53xzvpes, particularly pp. 26 et seq; Joint CSO Statement, Shutdown of the Greek Asylum Service: Database Leaves People Unable To Claim Asylum And in Limbo, 21 June 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/338z4d59.
[49] RVRN, Annual Report 2022, April 2023, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/27bdrxje, p.5; RVRN, Annual Report 2023, April 2024, available in Greek here, p.5-9.
[51] On the reported situation in previous years, inter alia, see AIDA, Country Report Greece: 2022 Update, op.cit., pp. 181-183 and previous relevant reports, available at: https://bit.ly/3OFfA4i.
[52] Ibid. p.6.
[53] Ibid. p.25.
[54] RVRN, ‘Concern over the worsening climate against refugees and migrants in political and public discourse’, 14 July 2025, available here.
[55] RSA, Kos, 10 December 2024, available here.
[56] Ministry for Social Cohesion & Family, 26 June 2024, available in Greek here.
[57] Press Release, The National Council against Racism and Intolerance 20/02/2025. (available in greek ) https://tinyurl.com/4zr5c6z2