The Persistent Failure of Greece’s Closed Controlled Access Centers

Human Rights Research Center
5 hours ago
5 min read

April 17, 2026

HRRC calls on the European Union to prioritise and adapt their oversight of EU-funded Closed Controlled Access Centers on Greece’s islands so they may comply with the standards set from the start. We call for Greece to uphold minimum human rights standards and grant independent journalists and monitors unrestricted access to the centers to end this "dystopian nightmare."

[Image credit: Amnesty International/Samos Volunteers]

The introduction of Closed Controlled Access Centers (CCACs) on the Greek islands in late 2021, which was backed by hundreds of millions of euros in EU funding, was promised as a "more dignified" approach to migration management. However, documented conditions since their inauguration reveal a consistent failure to meet even minimum human rights standards, with facilities frequently described as "prison-like" structures that infringe on fundamental rights to liberty, privacy, and health.

Across the islands of Samos, Lesvos, and Leros, the CCAC model has replicated the systemic failures of the previous "hotspot" era. While designed to provide safety, these centers are defined by an oppressive and mentally devastating environment, including double security fences, 24/7 CCTV surveillance, and magnetic gates.. Some of these key systemic issues that have persisted in the camps are:

De Facto Detention: New arrivals are systematically deprived of their liberty for up to 25 days—and often much longer—under the guise of "restriction of movement" procedures.
Critical Healthcare Gaps: There is a persistent lack of permanent doctors and psychologists, leaving residents—including those with severe trauma or chronic illnesses—without adequate care.
Unhygienic Conditions: Facilities are frequently overcrowded, with reports of residents sleeping on floors, widespread infestations of cockroaches and bedbugs, and "inedible" food.
Protection Failures: Vulnerable groups, including single mothers and unaccompanied children, are often not correctly identified or are housed alongside unrelated adult men, exposing them to harassment and sexual violence.

The Kos CCAC, opened in November 2021 near the village of Pyli, exemplifies the rapid breakdown of reception systems under pressure. By late 2023, the facility was operating at 183% of its official capacity, housing over 3,800 people in a space meant for 2,100.

To cope with overcrowding, authorities re-opened parts of the former Reception and Identification Centre (RIC) and repurposed Pre-Removal Detention Centre (PRDC) sections. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) described these areas as "appalling" and "unfit for human habitation," documenting containers with no running water, no electricity, broken doors, and leaking ceilings. Asylum seekers report being transferred to the island on ferries alongside tourists while being handcuffed and prohibited from speaking, a practice described as a degrading tool for public humiliation. Inside the camp, reports of police violence are common, with residents describing being beaten, starved, and subjected to racist verbal abuse.

Basic necessities are often withheld. New arrivals on Kos have reported receiving only a thin blanket and a bar of soap, even as temperatures drop in winter. Food provision is also a major grievance: residents are often provided with only one meal per day, which has led to cases of food poisoning. Access to clean water is so restricted that residents are reportedly barred from entering the facility with their own bottles of water, and the camp provides only one liter per person daily.

Documentation of the conditions remains difficult. Information on the conditions of the centers often isn’t known until around a year after an incident takes place, as access to the centers is almost exclusively granted to an extremely small number of individuals from international organisations and the occasional local NGOs. As the sole other source of information from these centers is the very governmental branches that handle them, there is often national interest to not disclose the full reality of the conditions.

The Greek government’s "Closed Controlled Access" model has failed to provide a humane alternative to the squalor of the past. On Kos, in particular, the deterioration of infrastructure and the normalization of arbitrary detention and police aggression demonstrate a profound disregard for human rights standards these centers were supposedly built to uphold. Instead, it has institutionalized administrative detention has created a “dystopian nightmare,” according to Amnesty International, where the rights to dignity, safety, and due process are systematically ignored.

Glossary

Administrative detention: The deprivation of liberty of a person that has been initiated/ordered by the executive branch — not the judiciary without criminal charges being brought against the internee/administrative detainee.
Arbitrary detention: When it is clearly impossible to invoke any legal basis justifying the deprivation of liberty.
Asylum seeker – a person who has been forced to leave their own country because they are in danger and who arrives in another country asking to be allowed to stay there.
CCAC (Closed Controlled Access Center) – new generation refugee camps, officially known as Closed Controlled Access Centres or CCACs. These are high-tech compounds located on islands such as Samos and Lesvos used to process, detain, and surveil people on the move.
CPT (European Committee for the Prevention of Torture) – a monitoring body envisaged by the 1987 Convention of the same name, designed to complement the Art. 3 ECHR provision enshrining the absolute prohibition of torture.
De facto detention – can be understood as a measure which in practice amounts to deprivation of liberty but which states do not formally qualify as such. De facto detention is not based on a detention order nor is it usually subject to a judicial review. It also tends to be carried out in places which are not recognized as places of deprivation of liberty, for instance at border premises, reception or registration centres, and even boats.
Food poisoning: an illness usually caused by eating food that contains harmful bacteria.
Grievance: a complaint or a strong feeling that you have been treated unfairly.
Harassment: illegal behaviour towards a person that causes mental or emotional suffering, which includes repeated unwanted contacts without a reasonable purpose, insults, threats, touching, or offensive language.
Hotspot (migration) – An approach where the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) work on the ground with the authorities of frontline EU Member States which are facing disproportionate migratory pressures at the external EU borders to help to fulfil their obligations under EU law and swiftly identify, register and fingerprint incoming migrants.
Inauguration: the act of something officially starting to be used
Institutionalised: established as a common and accepted part of a system or culture.
PRDC (Pre-Removal Detention Centre) – According to Article 51(1) Asylum Code, asylum seekers are detained in detention areas as provided in Article 31 L 3907/2011, which refers to pre-removal detention centres established in accordance with the provisions of the Returns Directive. Therefore, asylum seekers are also detained in pre-removal detention centres together with third-country nationals under removal procedures.
RIC (Reception and Identification Centre) – originates from the First Reception Service that was established with Law 3907/2011. R.I.S. is under the jurisdiction of the General Secretariat for Reception of Asylum Seekers from 20/02/2020 and was founded with law Ν.4375/2016 (ΦΕΚ 51/Α’/ 03-04-2016). It supervises reception and identification processes throughout Greece. Its mission is to provide humane reception and identification procedures for third-country nationals or stateless individuals entering Greece.
Restriction of movement – detention and any restrictions relating to the freedom of movement.
Sexual violence: Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is violence committed against a person because of his or her sex or gender. It is forcing another person to do something against his or her will through violence, coercion, threats, deception, cultural expectations, or economic means. Although the majority of victims and survivors of SGBV are girls and women, boys and men can also be harmed by SGBV.
Systemic: A systemic problem or change is a basic one, experienced by the whole of an organization or a country and not just particular parts of it.

Sources

HRRC accepts NO funding from governments for our research or campaigns. At every step of the way, our impact is made possible because of people like YOU. Make your contribution now!

The Persistent Failure of Greece’s Closed Controlled Access Centers

Recent Posts