MEDITERRANEAN: NGOs accuse Greece of continuing to subject people in detention to ‘inhuman’ treatment ― Sharp rise in number of child arrivals in Greece and ‘alarming conditions’ in refugee camps ― Major increase in number of arrests for ‘people smuggl…

• Three NGOs have accused Greek authorities of continuing to subject people held in pre-removal detention centres (PRDCs) to conditions which could amount to “torture or inhuman and degrading treatment”.
• An NGO report has revealed that the number of child arrivals in Greece more than doubled in 2024 and that the children involved have reported “alarming conditions” in refugee camps.
• Greek authorities have reported a 53% increase in the number of arrests for people smuggling in 2024 compared to the previous year.
• The Council of Europe has criticised the conditions in pre-removal detention centres (CPRs) in Italy and authorities’ “widespread” administering of unprescribed psychotropic drugs to people held in them.
• Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has announced that its Geo Barents rescue vessel had ceased operations due to the difficulties it faced in conducting search and rescue (SAR) activities “under current Italian laws and policies”.
• The Italian Senate has adopted a new law which NGOs fear could further criminalise the provision of assistance to people in distress at sea.

Three NGOs have accused Greek authorities of continuing to subject people held in pre-removal detention centres (PRDCs) to conditions which could amount to “torture or inhuman and degrading treatment”. A delegation from the Council of Europe’s (CoE) European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) had visited Greece in November 2023 in order to “examine the treatment of foreign nationals deprived of their liberty under immigration legislation”. A report of the CPT’s findings was published in July 2024. On 12 December, the NGOs Border Criminologies, the Border Violence Monitoring Network and Mobile Info Team published their own report in which they asserted that the Greek State had continued to “act in direct violation of human rights standards and recommendations issued by the CPT following its November 2023 and numerous previous visits to PRDCs in Greece”. In a press release issued to mark the publication of the joint report, Mobile Info Team said: “We urge the Committee to give special attention to the human rights situation in Greece’s pre-removal facilities and to take appropriate action,” adding: “This is crucial in order to increase pressure on Greece to end these violations that have persisted over many years and have been long documented”.

An NGO report has revealed that the number of child arrivals in Greece more than doubled in 2024 and that the children involved have reported “alarming conditions” in refugee camps. The report, which was published by ECRE member organisation the Greek Council of Refugees and Save the Children, includes testimonies from families who described “living spaces with mold, food served past its expiry date and a severe lack of safe, child-friendly spaces and child protection services”. The director of the Greek Council for Refugees, Lefteris Papagiannakis, said that, although the situation in the reception facilities was not new, it was nonetheless surprising that “after almost 10 years of enhanced experience in managing the reception of asylum seekers in Greece, we’re witnessing an ongoing downgrading in essential service provision, including services for children”. Meanwhile, the director of Save the Children Europe, Willy Bergogné, called on both the EU and Greek authorities to take action to improve the situation. “The  EU and Greek authorities have a moral and legal obligation to act urgently to improve the conditions in the camps and protect these children and ensure they have access to safety, adequate services, and dignity,” he said.

Greek authorities have reported a 53% increase in the number of arrests for people smuggling in 2024 compared to the previous year. According to data published by the Hellenic Coast Guard, 228 people were arrested January-November 2024. However, the data has been disputed by certain NGOs, including Aegean Boat Report (ABR). “If the people arrested had in fact been real hardcore smugglers, criminals whose only goal was to make money on others’ misery, I guess most of us would welcome this “achievement”. Unfortunately, most of those arrested are neither criminals nor smugglers,” ABR wrote in a scathing article which was published on its website on 17 December. “It is far from the only thing of which Greece, the EU and the wider world should currently be ashamed. But it is certainly one, and very far from a cause for ‘celebration’ as the Greek government pretends,” it added. ABR’s criticism of the Hellenic Coast Guard’s identification of “people smugglers” comes a few days after a large group of NGOs issued a joint statement in which they condemned Greek authorities for their involvement in what the authors described as the “state crime of Pylos”, a reference to the June 2023 Pylos shipwreck and the false charges of people smuggling that were subsequently levelled against some of the survivors.

The CoE has criticised the conditions in pre-removal detention centres (CPRs) in Italy and authorities’ “widespread” administering of unprescribed psychotropic drugs to people held in them. According to the report, which was published by the CPT on 13 December following its visit to CPRs in Gradisca, Milan, Potenza and Rome in April, the CPT was “critical of the widespread practice of the administration of unprescribed psychotropic drugs diluted in water to foreign nationals, as documented at the Potenza CPR”. It also concluded that “the CPT’s findings, notably in relation to the very poor material conditions, the absence of a regime of activities, the disproportionate security approach, the variable quality of healthcare provision and the lack of transparency of the management of CPRs by private contractors, call into question the application of such a model by Italy in an extra-territorial setting, such as in Albania”.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has announced that its Geo Barents rescue vessel had ceased operations due to the difficulties it faced in conducting search and rescue (SAR) activities “under current Italian laws and policies”. According to a press release issued on 13 December, “The practice of Italian authorities to assign distant ports, frequently in the north, to disembark people rescued at sea has further undermined the capacity of the Geo Barents to save lives at sea and be present where it is needed the most. Since the implementation of the Piantedosi Decree, the Geo Barents has spent half a year navigating to and back from distant ports instead of assisting people in distress”. Commenting on his organisation’s decision, SAR representative Juan Matias Gil said: “MSF will be back as soon as possible to conduct search and rescue operations on one of the deadliest migration routes in the world. We will come back to bear witness and speak out against the violations committed against people on the move by EU members states, particularly by Italy, and the other actors in the area”. The announcement was met with messages of regret and support from several SAR NGOs. Alarm Phone X posted: “Terrible news, the Italian lawfare against the civil fleet continues,” while SOS MEDITERRANEE X posted: “Italian policies are obstructing vital operations and gradually emptying the central Mediterranean of rescue assets, putting more lives at risk,” and SOS Humanity X posted: “As they say: the systematic obstruction of SAR organisations is not life threatening to them, but to the people in distress at sea”.

The Italian Senate has adopted a new law which NGOs fear could further criminalise the provision of assistance to people in distress at sea. The new legislation, commonly known as the “Flows Decree”, was approved on 4 December and has been widely criticised by both opposition MPs and NGOs. “The real objective of the measure is not the management of rescues at sea but to limit and hinder the presence of humanitarian ships and arrive at a plan for the definitive abandonment of the Mediterranean and the criminalisation of rescue at sea,” a group of eight SAR organisations wrote in a joint statement. “What we expect is an increase in deaths at sea but once again this decree will not stop the solidarity of those who, like us, really try to do something to mitigate the suffering of others,” they added.

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