"A Life Without Freedom Is Not A Life". Life in the Closed Controlled Access Centre in Samos

This year, on World Refugee Day, Europe Must Act and the Samos Advocacy Collective release their second report on life in the Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) of Samos.

In September 2021, European and Greek authorities inaugurated the Closed Controlled Access Centre of Samos, the first of the five EU-funded closed camps to be built on the Aegean islands. Last December, our first report unveiled that life in the CCAC is tantamount to life in prison.

Today, it is time for a second reality check. Through a joint project facilitated by Europe Must Act and in collaboration with the Samos Advoacy Collective, researchers and activists on the ground are interviewing residents of the closed facility to find out what life inside is really like.

The latest report "A Life Without Freedom Is Not A Life" reveals that access to fundamental services such as healthcare is more critical than ever, and strict measures continue to limit the residents’ freedom of movement. But the testimonies collected also unveil police violence, arbitrary detention, and a general abusive and unsafe environment. Is the new facility “a detention camp or a camp for asylum seekers? We are no longer free to live our private lives”, says a camp resident.

The direct accounts of people forced to live in the facility provide mounting evidence that detention centres and restrictions on asylum seekers’ fundamental rights and freedoms have a heavy toll on people’s physical and mental wellbeing. “People [are] sick, mentally.”

Read the full report here: