Asylum seekers, amongst them many children, who entered Greece with the aim of seeking protection are being detained for the purposes of return, as a result of a Greek Emergency Legislative Decree issued on 1 March 2020.
This is happening without ensuring minimum standards of hygiene or protection, even during the current public health emergency. They are deprived of the right to apply for asylum and are detained under the threat of deportation.
EuroMed Rights and 120 other organisations throughout Europe reiterate the dangers stemming from maintaining current arrangements on the management of the reception of asylum seekers and the respect for their right to seek asylum in Greece
Apart from violating national, EU and international laws, amid the pandemic, these arrangements also pose a major public health danger, arising from overcrowding in Greece’s Reception and Identification Centers (RICs) and in the country’s detention centers.
You can read the full open letter signed by EuroMed Rights and 120 other organisations on this link.