Since early 2025, Crete and the nearby island of Gavdos have seen a sharp increase in the number of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants arriving from Libya. The islands have quickly become the newest frontline to Greece’s increasingly hardline approach to migration: in July, the government suspended all asylum claims for anyone arriving irregularly from North Africa for a three-month period. At the same time, a new legislative proposal is being considered which would tighten migration rules in line with the new, but not yet adopted, EU Return Regulation. This would introduce a slate of amendments, including the introduction of broader grounds for detention and an extension of the maximum length of detention. […]
Greece
Greece: Growing Pressure to End Pushbacks and Prevent Abuses in Migrant Detention Sites
Greek authorities continue to conduct illegal pushbacks at the country’s land and sea borders, according to a recent report from the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights. Noting ongoing allegations of systematic summary returns, despite the European Court of Human Rights’ condemnation of the practice in January this year, the Commissioner urges Greek authorities to “adopt a zero-tolerance approach” to summary returns and to ensure impartial investigations of allegations. […]
Imprisonment Rather Than Protection: Pylos Survivors Detained in Greece
On 14 June, hundreds of refugees and migrants lost their lives in the Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwreck in nearly a decade. As many as 750 individuals are believed to have been in the boat when it capsized, but just 104 were found alive. Taken ashore, survivors were met not with protection and sanctuary, but detention in […]
Greece: Covid-19 and Detention
On 18 September 2021, Greece opened the first of five new facilities to confine asylum seekers and migrants on the Island of Samos, close to the border with Turkey. Similar facilities are planned on the islands of Leros, Lesbos, Kos, and Chios. Fully funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union, […]
Submission to the Universal Periodic Review: Greece
Greece has faced enormous influxes of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. As arrivals have continued, authorities have taken steps to modify the country’s asylum law and restructure reception and detention facilities. During 2020, the country began relocating asylum seekers from island hotspots, banned the detention of children in police stations, and amended asylum detention laws. […]
Greece: Covid-19 and Detention
In mid-January, Greece’s Ministry of Migration and Asylum published their annual statistics from 2020, which show a 80 percent decrease in migrant arrivals and a 63 percent decrease in the populations of its reception centres on the islands. Combined with the closure of numerous detention facilities, the ministry proclaimed that 2020 was the year that […]
Immigration Detention in the European Union
This book offers a unique comparative assessment of the evolution of immigration detention systems in European Union member states since the onset of the “refugee crisis.” By applying an analytical framework premised on international human rights law in assessing domestic detention regimes, the book reveals the extent to which EU legislation has led to the adoption of laws and practices that may disregard fundamental rights and standards. […]
Greece Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
Greece Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from Greece, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Greece Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Greece Country Page Physical Fences and Digital Divides: Final Report of the Global Detention Project Special Investigation into the Uses of Electronic Media […]
Greece: Covid-19 and Detention
On 19 November 2020, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) published a report on its visit to Greece on 13-17 March 2020. The delegation visited several police and border guard establishments in the Evros and Samos regions as well as three immigration detention facilities: Filakio Reception and Identification Centre, Filakio Pre-removal centre […]
Greece: Covid-19 and Detention
Amidst a surge in cases across the country, several migrants and asylum seekers held in Chios’ Reception and Identification Centre (RIC) are reported to have tested positive for COVID-19. (The exact number remains unclear: while Greek media referred to two positive cases confirmed in Chios hospital, InfoMigrants cited reports of “at least 30” confirmed cases.) […]
