Unaccompanied minors in Samos left in limbo: Greece faces legal pressure over the alarming treatment of unaccompanied refugee minors in the overcrowded reception center on the island of Samos. According to reports by several media outlets, including Efsyn Newspaper and Online Hyphen, and as highlighted in Tania Georgiopoulou’s article in Kathimerini: “The designated safe zone, meant for 200 minors, currently holds 500. Additionally, most of them are exceeding the 25-day legal stay limit, and are trapped at the camp for over 100 days”. They have no access to child protection services, are forced to sleep on the floor, and lack basic necessities like decent food, warm clothes, shoes and medical care. Many have even developed serious skin diseases. The Syros Administrative Court ruled for the first time that the stay of minors in the camp for more than 25 days constitutes a de facto “detention”, equivalent to imprisonment.
We are continuing to call on the Greek and EU authorities to take immediate action to protect these children and safeguard their rights.