This is the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee for the 142nd session that will be held from 14 October to 8 November 2024. It focuses on Greece’s compliance with its human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), with particular emphasis on migration and asylum issues. GCR provides information on pushback practices, immigration detention, degrading living conditions, and lack of effective investigations into rights violations.  

1. Pushback Practices

• As widely documented by inter alia international and national human right bodies, independent authorities and organizations, a systemic practice of pushbacks persists at the Greek-Turkish borders.
• Pushback practices are not only a violation of the non-refoulement principle. They are also violent practices carrying out life-threatening risks, risk of ill-treatment and arbitrary detention
• The Greek authorities consistently deny these allegations, despite credible evidence.

3. Ineffective Investigation

• Despite numerous allegations regarding pushback practices, no case has been effectively investigated by the Greek criminal justice system. No criminal charges have been brought against police or coast – guard officers and all cases have been closed at pre-trial level or are still pending.

4. Asylum Procedure & Safe Third Country Concept

• By a ministerial Decision issued in 2021, Türkiye has been designated as a “safe third country” for asylum seekers originated from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• Despite the suspension of readmissions to Türkiye since 2020, Greece continues to apply the “safe third country” concept and rejects asylum applications on these grounds as inadmissible.
• In 2022 and 2023, more than 10,000 inadmissible decisions based on the “safe third country” concept have been issued at first and second instance. 
• Many asylum seekers face legal limbo as their applications are rejected on admissibility grounds without an in-merit examination. This leaves them without legal status, risking detention and destitution.

5. Detention Practices

• The number of third country nationals in administrative detention remains high.During 2023 a total number of 19,003 persons have been detained in Pre-Removal Detention Facilities (PRDFs) across the country. In December 2023, almost 1 out of 3 detainees in PRDFs has been in detention for a period exceeding six (6) months (33%).
• Detention conditions are described as degrading, and persons in PRDFs dace “prison-like conditions”, with reports of poor sanitation and lack of healthcare.
• No free legal aid scheme exists in order to challenge detention decisions before Courts and the vast majority of persons in immigration detention do not access to a remedy against detention.  

6. Living Conditions in Reception Centers

– Reception conditions in the new EU-funded closed camps on the Aegean Islands, resemble detention centers, with barbed wire and excessive security measures. Unsuitable accommodation, lack of basic services, water outages and inadequate healthcare are among the main concerns.

– Disproportionate security and high-tech surveillance systems used in the Aegean islands camps may entail a violation to the right to privacy of those residing in these camps. The Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum has been fined for violating data protection regulations.

– On the mainland the remote location of camps hampers accessibility to vital services and goods and fosters a strong sense of isolation. This is reinforced by the construction of high fences and walls, and the installation of surveillance systems in a number of mainland camps  

• Access to healthcare remains severely limited in both the islands and mainland camps, with significant staff shortages and lack of essential medical services. The isolation of many camps further exacerbates the difficulties in accessing care.

9. Unaccompanied Children

• While a number of welcome developments have been adopted with regards the protection of unaccompanied children, considerablegaps remain, especially in providing suitable reception conditions to newly arrived unaccompanied children.

Read the full Submission here

See here the GCR’s submission as published in the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights