PRESS RELEASE

Inaction costs human lives: children should be immediately removed from the reception and identification Centers

Athens, August 28, 2019—The Greek Council for Refugees expresses its deep sorrow concerning the tragicl demise of the 15-year old boy, a refugee from Afghanistan, during the evening hours of Saturday at the Reception and Identification Centre of Moria, Lesvos, and would like to once again stress the pressing need for the Greek state to comply with the recent decision of the European Committee on Social Rights, in order to ensure the protection of underage refugees.

The death of the 15 year old and the injury of two more unaccompanied children at the Reception and Identification Centre of Lesvos, a so called “safe” place, destined for the temporary accommodation and protection of the accompanied children who arrive on the Greek islands, underlines in an emphatic way the impasses created by the entrapment of thousands of asylum seekers, including children and members of vulnerable social groups, on the Greek islands, due to the EU-Turkey Joint Statement’s implementation and the reception crisis that it creates.

It should be reminded that on May 2019 “ in order to avoid the serious and irreversible damage of the integrity of foreign children whose life and physical and moral integrity is in immediate danger”, the European Committee of Social Rights of the European Council, following a collective appeal submitted by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), with the support of the Greek Council for Refugees, had indicated to the Greek authorities the immediate taking of measures, that inter alia included the immediate transportation of unaccompanied children from the Reception and Identification Centers to facilities appropriate to their age[1]. The Greek authorities failed to comply with this decision, with tragic results.

The Greek Council for Refugees calls on the Greek authorities to remove, even now, all children from the completely inappropriate Reception and Identification Centers on the islands and at Evros, and to ensure their access to appropriate for their age hosting facilities, so as for tragedies like that of Saturday to not reoccur

[1] Decision of the European Committee on Social Rights, decision on admissibility and on the request for immediate measures, International Committee on Legal Affairs (ICJ) and European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) v Greece, action No. 173/2018, https://www.gcr.gr/el/ekdoseis-media/ypotheseis-edda/ypotheseis-apofaseis-edda/item/1168-amesa-metra-gia-tin-prostasia-ton-paidion-metanaston-kai-prosfygon-stin-ellada-ypodeiknyei-i-evropaiki-epitropi-koinonikon-dikaiomaton; https://www.gcr.gr/el/ekdoseis-media/ypotheseis-edda/ypotheseis-apofaseis-edda/item/1188-i-apofasi-tis-evropaikis-epitropis-koinonikon-dikaiomaton-gia-amesa-metra-yper-ton-paidion-metanaston-apaitei-epeigousa-drasi.