EU, Greece, the grim containment policy: “Closed centers with controlled access are not suitable places for migrants and asylum seekers”

ROME – On the Greek island of Samos, for migrants and asylum seekers stranded in the Closed Access Control Center (CCAC) of Zervou, medical and legal asylum assistance remains a challenge. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) calls for migrants and asylum seekers to be guaranteed access to timely and quality medical care in the CCACs on the Greek islands as well as a safe and humane environment in which to stay and where to apply for asylum without the risk of further trauma .

The aggressive containment policy of the EU. The Zervou centre, as well as the other CCACs on Leros and Kos and two other centers due to open on Lesvos and Chios in 2023, are the result of an aggressive EU-funded containment policy and are places where people seeking of security are placed while their asylum request is processed. People arrive in Greece distressed, most having fled conflict and persecution in their home countries and many having experienced horrific violence on their journey, but are welcomed on the Greek islands with barbed wire, X-rays and biometric identification.

Sexual assaults and forced labour. “People in Zervou center tell us that they have survived trafficking, sexual assault, forced labor and ill-treatment,” says Nicholas Papachrysostomou, MSF head of mission in Greece. “Some have seen their family members die during forced repatriations or shipwrecks. The prison-like centers fail to provide them with basic needs and cause damage to their mental and physical health that could be prevented.” Only those with an identity card useful for asylum can enter or leave the center of Zervou, but obtaining it can take 25 days or even more. All newcomers are effectively detained, with no freedom of movement. The center’s management has allowed people without ID cards to go out for medical or legal appointments, but this could change at any time.

The absence of health care. “The first obvious gap is people’s lack of access to healthcare,” says Sonia Balleron, MSF project coordinator in Samos. “You have to consider that people go on long journeys without receiving medical treatment for a long time”. Yet, since February 2022, doctors have only visited the center occasionally and for a few hours. Healthcare within the centers continues to be problematic and doctors and supplies are lacking. To ensure a response to people’s primary medical needs, MSF has been running a mobile clinic since April 2022, which is present three times a week in the center of Zervou.

They wait months before entering the hospital. Until recently, those arriving in the CCAC of Samos were transferred to an isolated place for preventive quarantine from Covid-19, without having access to medical care and generating a deterioration in health conditions, as happened to an insulin-dependent patient with diabetes who nearly died after being placed in solitary confinement and only recovered after being rushed to the main hospital on Samos. A situation that can be prevented with prompt screening and treatment. In November, the preventive isolation in the center of Zervou was lifted by the authorities, despite having an impact for almost the whole year. Meanwhile, other people in urgent need of specialist medical care not available on Samos had to wait up to several months before being transferred to other hospitals in the country.

The impact on mental health. The mental health of many people who have already experienced trauma deteriorates due to prison-like living conditions, segregation and security measures. Between September 2021 and September 2022, 40% of MSF mental health patients in Samos had symptoms related to psychological trauma. Over the past year, MSF has recorded high levels of psychological suffering among people in the Zervou center and the demand for access to MSF’s mental health services has been high and constant. “Everyone is experiencing psychological distress right now,” says Elise Loyens, MSF medical coordinator in Greece. “They have the same recurring symptoms: body pains, dissociation, depression, sleep disturbances. People feel humiliated to live in these conditions.” An MSF patient describes Zervou’s center as a “mental punishment” and rarely leaves her room to avoid being faced with barbed wire and the intrusive police presence.

Expeditious procedures for asylum. Often on Samos and Lesbos people have their first interview immediately after the quarantine, with too little time to recover from the journey, no possibility to understand the asylum procedure and to seek legal assistance or prepare for the interview. “Another major factor of stress for our patients is the lack of clarity about the asylum process,” continues MSF’s Balleron. “The impact on their mental and physical health is undeniable and visible.” Some of MSF’s patients were survivors subjected to torture but the asylum authorities had not identified them as such. As a result, they were not provided with information on their right to medical and psychosocial support, nor were they referred to appropriate medical or psychological services. interviewed for asylum without having received any legal advice and their application was rejected twice.

A hostile place. “If we compare the center of Zervou with the previous camps, one could say that some progress has been made. People are staying in containers instead of tents and it is less overcrowded. However, the center of Zervou remains a hostile place and it fails to welcome people in humane and dignified conditions,” says MSF’s Balleron. Living conditions in the center are precarious due to infrastructure problems, with water outages and frequent failures of air conditioning and heating. In addition, the Remote location of Zervou center makes it difficult for people to interact with the rest of society.Buses to Vathy town run several times a day but have unaffordable prices for most asylum seekers.The planned center in Lesbos is still more isolated, 33 kilometers from the city of Mytilene, adding a further obstacle to access to services and underlining once again the logic of segregation and d the effective detention which is at the basis of these centres.