Detention Conditions

Migrants are detained in large-scale facilities and small border police stations scattered throughout northern Greece. A Human Rights Watch researcher was able to interview several detainees who had been held in the region between July and September 2009. Her findings:

Fylakio-Kiprinou Detention Center

The Fylakio-Kiprinou center is one of Greece’s newer migrant detention facilities and provides comparatively better conditions than the other, smaller police stations in the north. It has a doctor on staff. However, migrants complained of overcrowding, dirty conditions, and police abuse. They said that the police who work on one shift are particularly violent. Several former detainees recounted an incident involving a detainee, an Arab-speaking man, who tried to escape; he was caught and badly beaten. Detainees have access to an out-of-doors area for only a few minutes each morning and afternoon, and they are fed two meals per day, which some said was insufficient. Unaccompanied boys are detained for several months in rooms with adults. One former detainee reported that newcomers are forbidden to make phone calls during the first 10 days in custody.

Soufli Police Station

The station is overcrowded and filthy, people interviewed told Human Rights Watch. Two and three detainees share a single mattress. There is one working toilet for about 25 detainees. Two meals a day are served. Detainees had no access to outside areas and had not been able to make any phone calls.

Human Rights Watch interviewed a young Afghan woman who said she was 16. She was held in a cell with her husband and other men, which she said was stressful and intimidating. She told Human Rights Watch that a 16-year-old Afghan boy was also detained with the adults and that there were three small children below the age of 10 held with their parents in these conditions.

Vienna Detention Center

Conditions in this center are overcrowded and dirty, according to people who were detained there in September 2009, and the building is infested with cockroaches and mice. The facility, which looks like an old warehouse, is divided into rooms that each hold about 50 people. Detainees said they were given dirty blankets and lacked bed sheets and sufficient warm clothing. Access to an outside area is granted only every three days for two hours. Migrants are detained for several months, with unaccompanied boys kept in the same cells with adults. Detainees had no access to medical care, with some complaining of skin, eye, and other untreated health problems.