Abysmal reception conditions at Samos’ prison-like refugee camp

Question for written answer E-001575/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos (NI), Kostas Papadakis (NI)

Recent media reports and complaints made by international organisations concerning the prison-like refugee camp on Samos, confirm the truth behind the complaints made by organisations and associations, which the island's inhabitants drew attention to by mobilising against the opening of the camp.

Uprooted refugees are being held in abysmal prison-like conditions based on 'European standards', with barbed wire and security cameras, with refugees not being allowed out for as many as 25 days, as well as a lack of water and personal hygiene items, overcrowding leading to substandard living conditions, insufficient access to legal assistance and interpretation services, no doctor based inside the camp and a lack of nursing staff and medicines. Refugees are sent to Samos hospital, which is facing major shortages.

In light of this:

• 1.What view does the Commission take of the fact that prison-like camps such as the one on Samos and the abysmal conditions in these facilities represent the implementation of the rules laid down in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which provides for increased deportations following superficial fast-track procedures for examining asylum applications, as well as confinement, with asylum seekers being held in violation of their rights as these are laid down in the Geneva Refugee Convention?
• 2.Can the Commission say whether the so-called 'adequate reception conditions' mentioned in EU legislation amount to confinement and the chronic problems relating to understaffing and the failure to fulfil the most basic needs of the asylum seekers at the Samos camp, such as access to a sufficient quantity of water and sufficient healthcare?

Submitted: 30.8.2024