The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has issued new urgent measures concerning the living conditions of 45 unaccompanied minors held in the Closed Controlled Access Center on the Greek island of Samos. The action follows a petition filed by lawyer Dimitris Choulis.

Choulis shared the following update:

“New interim measures from the European Court for 45 unaccompanied minors.

Since September 2024, dozens of unaccompanied children have been living through an unbearable situation in the so-called ‘safe zone’ of the Samos Closed Controlled Access Center – a facility that cost €45 million to build and about €55 million to run over four years.

For months, the reality inside the camp was kept under wraps. In January 2025, after hearing accounts from a few of the minors, we filed a request with the ECHR. The Court accepted it. It took 15 days of back-and-forth with the Greek government before the Court concluded that Greece was violating its obligations and needed to remove the children from those conditions.

At the time, the government’s defence – echoed by the Closed Controlled Access Center administration and their partners – was that 500 people were being crammed into a space meant for 200. It was, they said, an emergency.

Since then, thanks to legal pressure and ongoing efforts, the number of residents has fallen to under 200. You’d think that would have improved conditions. It hasn’t. And that’s because the issue isn’t overcrowding – it’s that those in charge don’t see these children as human beings.

So, once again, we submitted an application for urgent measures, this time for 45 minors who simply can’t endure these inhumane conditions any longer. Within two days, the Court ruled that Greece is again failing in its fundamental duty to protect these children and ensure their proper care.

This time, the Court’s demands are alarmingly basic. They’re asking Greece to provide the children with sufficient drinking water – something that should go without saying.

Of the 45 children, the average detention time is 142 days. The longest is 189. Legally, they’re not supposed to be held for more than 25 days.

39 of the 45 are suffering from skin conditions, including open sores caused by scabies.

25 haven’t stepped outside the facility once since their arrival.

Many still sleep on the floor.

Access to doctors is minimal, often just for the sake of ticking boxes.

There is no schooling, no activities.

One boy from Egypt, a Greek Orthodox former altar server, asked to attend church – even just for Easter – and was refused.

When the children protested, one of their signs read: “We are not dogs.” They say they feel like animals – though, seeing how stray cats and dogs live, they say they’d rather be animals.

The place is infested with bedbugs and cockroaches.

They’re given second-hand, unwashed clothes. Hygiene products are scarce.

Some say they haven’t brushed their teeth since they arrived.

Camp staff refer to the children only by numbers, like identification tags – eerily reminiscent of Nazi concentration camps. It’s a system that strips them of their humanity.

They have running water for just one hour a day.

This isn’t about ideology. It’s not the result of far-right policies or individual cruelty. The root problem is our collective indifference – all of us who allow this to happen. And sooner or later, the consequences will reach us too.

Good morning from otherwise beautiful Samos.”
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