Athens, Greece, 24 March 2020 —  Greece’s government should immediately reduce congestion in the islands’ Reception and Identification Centers (RICs) for asylum seekers and migrants to avert a public health crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic, 21 human rights and humanitarian organisations said today.

Thousands of people, including older people, those with chronic diseases, children – including very young and unaccompanied children –pregnant women, new mothers, and people with disabilities, are trapped in dangerously overcrowded, deplorable conditions on the islands amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Forcing asylum seekers to remain in conditions that violate their rights and are harmful to their well-being, health, and dignity cannot be justified on grounds of public health, the organisations said.

International human rights law requires that the health needs of asylum seekers and migrants be addressed and, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, any restrictions on rights for reasons of public health or national emergency be lawful, necessary, and proportionate as well as nondiscriminatory.

On March 17, 2020, Greece’s government announced measures to prevent a coronavirus outbreak in RICs on the islands, the so-called “hotspots,” that essentially put the camps on lockdown, trapping thousands of asylum seekers and migrants. The measures include suspending all special activities and facilities in the camps, including non-formal schools, while no visitors, including members of aid organisations and agencies providing essential services, will be allowed into the RICs for at least two weeks, the Migration and Asylum Ministry said. Camp residents will be prevented through strict controls from venturing outside the facilities, even to get supplies, but also from circulating within them without good reason.

On March 22, Greece’s prime minister announced a nationwide lockdown banning “all unnecessary movement by citizens.”

As of March 22, the population of the hotspots on Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos, and Leros was almost 31,400 over capacity, with 37,427 people in facilities with a total capacity of just 6,095. Conditions in the centres cannot be characterised as suitable for dignified, humane living, the groups said. Extremely limited access to running water, toilets, and showers, as well as hours-long lines for food distribution and insufficient medical and nursing personnel, make it impossible to abide by the guidelines for protection from the coronavirus, putting people at significantly heightened risk in the face of the growing threat of widespread COVID-19 transmission.

Greece’s government should adopt measures to prevent an outbreak and prepare a response plan to be enacted immediately once the first case of COVID-19 in a reception centre is detected. In the event of an outbreak, a quarantine that would trap tens of thousands of healthy people together with people infected by COVID-19 in the overcrowded camps, accompanied by a lack of adequate and appropriate medical preparedness and response, would almost certainly lead to preventable deaths of numerous people, the organisations said.

Greece’s government should take the measures outlined below, which will reduce the risk of COVID-19 infections among the population living in these centres and generally help protect public health:


“Restricting thousands of women, men, and children in severely overcrowded camps, where living conditions are unacceptable, makes it impossible to isolate people exposed to COVID-19 or to comply with minimum preventive and protective measures, even hand washing and social-distancing,” said Eva Cossé, Greece researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Greek government urgently needs to move people to mainland Greece.”

“The government must take the necessary steps in order to ensure that the thousands of asylum seekers and migrants living in claustrophobically congested RICs are protected,” said Vassilis Kerasiotis, HIAS Greece country director. “They should be relocated to otherwise empty hotels and apartments where they can practice social distancing. In these hard times, no one should be left behind. It is not only a moral but also a prudent thing to do, since the fates of asylum seekers as well as those of the locals are inevitably bound together in the face of the pandemic.”

“Asylum seekers and migrants residing in RICs should have equal access to protection and medical assistance as the rest of the Greek population, ” said Dimitra Kalogeropoulou, head of IRC Greece. “The most effective way to curb the spread of COVID-19 is by ensuring that everyone can take meaningful measures to protect themselves, including adequate access to sanitation, space, and healthcare. ”

“Given current conditions in the hotspots, containing any outbreak would be impossible and could potentially put thousands of lives in danger,” said Antigone Lyberaki, general manager at SolidarityNow. “There is a window of opportunity to address this issue while the situation is still manageable, but we fear this window may be closing fast.”

“When the virus hits overcrowded camps in Greece, the consequences will be devastating,” said Fotini Kokkinaki with HumanRights360. “That will be a nightmare within an existing nightmare since the public health system has collapsed during the previous years of economic depression. We must act now before it is too late.”

Signatories: