I Have Rights.

📍Vathy, Samos, Greece
⚖️ Non-profit asylum law clinic
✊🏼 Defending the rights of people on the move
Bluesky: @ihaverights.bsky.social

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

New report, together with @homodigitalis out today, exposes ongoing data protection violations in the Samos CCAC. These are emblematic of a system where control and surveillance are prioritised over the rights of those seeking protection.

Read more: https://t.co/Af4jXQvgz9

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

Following a fire in the Samos CCAC that destroyed containers & belongings, ppl report being left without accommodation, some sleeping outside, told to "manage on their own".

Yet another example of systemic failure to ensure dignified conditions for ppl on the move.

[MSF International @MSF]

Our medical team has reported 6 cases of malnutrition among children at a centre housing asylum seekers on Greece's Samos island. This is the first time we've seen malnutrition at the centre since we began working there in 2021.

https://t.co/uDKk9G62VK

[Border Violence Monitoring Network @Border_Violence]

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.@we_are_solomon revealed last week the level of neglect that unaccompanied minors (UAMs) experience in Greece's "model" refugee camp in Samos.

Our member org .@IHaveRights_ has been sounding the alarm on the maltreatment of UAMs in Samos for years

https://t.co/aeDX547EfU

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

After months without cash assistance, asylum seekers in #Greece are struggling to meet their basic needs.

Cash assistance must resume immediately!

Read the joint statement: https://t.co/Ax34Z3oROV

[Human Rights Legal Project @HRLPSamos]

HRLP lawyer @DimitrisChoulis features in BBC's new article on the #Pylos9 shipwreck, which challenges Greek authorities' official version of events.

Read the full article:
https://t.co/Dd3iTTFGVr

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

NGOs have been documenting human rights violations since the camp opened in 2021. Despite recommendations by @CoE_CPT, human rights bodies and NGOs, 3 years later nothing has been done.

⌛️It’s high time that changes.

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

People in #Samos are prevented from leaving the CCAC for up to 25 days after arrival. Many sleep on cardboard without blankets in overcrowded spaces. There isn't always running water and it’s rarely hot. Diseases are spreading but there is limited access to medical care.

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

As people of this EU-funded facility continue to be exposed to de facto detention and inadequate living conditions, we are concerned that Greece may be a blueprint for the implementation of the new EU Migration Pact across the region.

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

Time and time again, NGOs have condemned the dreadful state of the EU-funded Samos CCAC. To this day, nothing has changed. So @IHaveRights_ and 4 other NGOs have written to the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs @magnusbrunner to take action.

Read: https://t.co/FcNXDwyePz

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

🚨 Human Dignity & Equality: alarming implications for human rights
- Surveillance creates discomfort and anxiety, with some comparing it to imprisonment
- Biometric and AI systems risk reinforcing racial and ethnic biases with limited transparency & accountability

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

🚨General observation from our report on tech in the Samos CCAC w/ @Border_Violence

🔍 Opinions on technology in the Samos CCAC vary among people interviewed
24% likened the experience to imprisonment
17 % felt controlled & having their privacy invaded
22% reported no impact

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

⚖️ The report highlights serious rights implications:
- Right to Privacy: Intrusive surveillance (phone removal, biometric data collection, and cameras) raises privacy concerns
- Right to Information: Lack of transparency about data collection and processing violates GDPR

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

Great piece on the impact of phone removals: being deprived of their phones during the first days in the Samos CCAC exacerbates ppl's isolation & vulnerability to human rights violations & limits their ability to gather evidence on potential mistreatment.

https://t.co/GA8qUrUxKf

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

📢 Join us for tonight's event with
@Border_Violence.

Learn about the use of invasive technology in the Samos CCAC & the practice of phone removal of asylum seekers upon their arrival on Samos.

Sign up: https://t.co/auO1Iun405

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

More than 400 minors are currently detained in inhuman & degrading conditions in the Samos CCAC.

Last week, the @ECHR_CEDH granted @HRLPSamos's request for interim measures against the Greek government for the horrific living conditions in the ‘Safe Zone’.

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

Important research highlights systemic gaps in reception facilities in Greece, depriving children of accessing basic rights.

Despite poor conditions in mainland facilities, children often feel “relief" when moving from island CCACs to the mainland.

https://t.co/kudqT6VSyG

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

🇪🇺 & 🇬🇷authorities should:
🔵Publish technical data for Hyperion
🔵Use less invasive methods such as non-biometric ID cards instead of fingerprinting for facility access
🔵Regularly report on the technologies’ impact on vulnerable groups & measures to prevent discrimination

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

🔒#EU-funded Hyperion system controls access to the Samos CCAC using biometric data & ID cards. People must scan their fingerprints and/or biometric ID cards to enter, exit, or move within the facility.

🚨Our tech report w/ @Border_Violence studied how this affects people.

[I Have Rights. @IHaveRights_]

While fingerprinting caused less concern among interviewees than phone removal or surveillance, 22% still felt discomfort. Many expressed frustration with the long queues, security checks, and strict entry/exit rules—comparisons were made to living in a prison.