ECRE Weekly Bulletin of 13 March 2015
Despite its potential, the Greek system of referral of third country nationals to the appropriate procedures (known as ‘first reception’), coupled with a dramatic lack of reception places, results in practice in asylum seekers and migrants, including children, being held in detention, often for prolonged periods. This is the conclusion of a report published this week following an ECRE delegation visit to the Fylakio First ‘Reception’ Centre and the adjacent Fylakio Detention Centre in the Evros region.
Migrants arriving irregularly in the Evros region may be detained for up to seven days in a police station, or in the Fylakio Detention Centre, before they are transferred to the First Reception Centre in Fylakio. Although the facility is called a ‘reception centre’ and the conditions are better than in the Fylakio Detention Centre, it is ECRE’s view that the situation is also one of detention as they are deprived of their liberty; people are not allowed to leave without permission and the centre is secured with barbed wire and permanently guarded by the Hellenic Police. From the ‘First Reception Centre’, many people are referred back to the Fylakio Detention Centre, or another detention centre, either for their removal, for the completion of their asylum application or because there is no appropriate open accommodation available.
