Walls of Shame: Accounts from the Inside. The Detention Centres of Evros

April 2012

What we have obser­ved in Evros area is a mul­ti­le­vel deter­rence sys­tem imple­men­ted by the Greek poli­ce and Fron­tex. The detenti­on of refu­gees and migrants in Evros is syn­o­ni­mous with bru­ta­li­ty, des­pair and dehu­ma­ni­sa­ti­on. In this case, cal­ling an emer­gen­cy of «mass-immi­gra­ti­on» has given the Greek govern­ment and the EU an excu­se for vio­la­ting human dignity.

Greece has been repea­ted­ly cri­ti­cis­ed for its human rights vio­la­ti­ons, spe­ci­fi­cal­ly for the appal­ling detenti­on con­di­ti­ons for immi­grants in the bor­der regi­on Evros. Fol­lo­wing this harsh cri­ti­cism, the Greek govern­ment declared its com­mit­ment to impro­ve the asyl­um and recep­ti­on sys­tem and the­r­e­fo­re announ­ced a natio­nal Action Plan 2010. Howe­ver, so far the­re have been almost no impro­ve­ments. Human rights vio­la­ti­ons continue.

Edi­tors: PRO ASYL Foun­da­ti­on and Fri­ends of PRO ASYL in co-ope­ra­ti­on with the Greek Coun­cil for Refu­gees and Infomobile/Welcome to Europe