Greece inaugurates its first 'closed' camp for asylum seekers

Greece on Saturday inaugurates the first of five new "closed" migrant camps, opposed by rights groups who say the strict access measures are too restrictive.

Barbed wire fencing surrounds the new camp on the island of Samos which is also installed with surveillance cameras, x-ray scanners and magnetic doors.

The EU has committed 276 million euros ($326 million) for the new camps on Greece's five Aegean islands -- Leros, Lesbos, Kos, Chios as well Samos -- that receive most of the migrant arrivals by sea from neighbouring Turkey.

The Samos camp, which will serve as a pilot for the other so-called closed and controlled-access facilities, has a detention centre and will only be accessible via electronic chip. 

Gates will remain closed at night.

"The model of the controlled structures will be gradually transferred to all the islands and Greece's mainland," Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said a few months ago.

The Leros camp is expected to be finished next month, while on Lesbos -- home to Moria, Europe's largest camp and destroyed by fire last year -- work has yet to begin.

Living conditions 

With better quality accommodation, running water, toilets, separate areas for families and more security, the Greek government assures that the camps will meet European standards.

They replace previous facilities that became infamous for their living conditions.

On Samos, the facility near the port of Vathy had been designed for about 680 people but, at one point, was home to nearly 10 times that number.

Up to 600 asylum seekers still live there  -- rats, improvised wooden barracks without heating and a lack of toilets and showers continue to be part of their daily lives.

But from Monday, residents will be transferred to the new facility some five kilometres (3.1 miles) from Samos's main town of the same name. 

Τhe old camp will be closed by month's end, according to the migration ministry.

And the Greek army will dismantle the buildings, remove the containers and decontaminate the area, which will then be passed on to the municipality.

"This is a promise to the local community, but also a commitment of our ministry," Mitarachi said, responding to anger among the local community who, for years, watched as the camp ballooned on the outskirts of their village.

Camps should be open

NGOs and aid groups however have raised concerns about the new camps' structure in isolated places and residents' confinement.

Last week, dozens of NGOs, including Amnesty International, accused Greece of pursuing "harmful policies focused on deterring and containing asylum seekers and refugees".

Some 45 NGOs and civil society groups urged the EU and Greek government to abandon plans to restrict the movement of people in the camps.

In a report, they said the new structures "will impede effective identification and protection of vulnerable people, limit access to services and assistance for asylum seekers, and exacerbate the harmful effects of displacement and containment on individuals’ mental health."

The UN refugee agency's representative in Greece also expressed reservations.

"The word 'closed' comes up often and this is concerning," Mireille Girard said, adding "asylum seekers need protection, they are not criminals or a risk for the community, they are people who need help."

"For us, camps should be open. The government has assured us that they will be."

Greece was the main point where more than one million asylum seekers -- mainly Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans -- entered Europe in 2015. 

The crisis in Afghanistan has prompted fears of a new migration wave.

Mitarachi said this week that the flow of new arrivals had been reduced by 90 percent compared to 2019.

However, humanitarian organisations say the drop is due to systematic and illegal pushbacks of migrants to Turkey by Greek authorities which Greece's conservative government has repeatedly denied.