A verdict representing a milestone for migrants was issued on October 3, 2024, eleven years to the day after a major shipwreck off Lampedusa. On this meaningful anniversary, the European Court of Human Rights found that Greece had violated the rights of seven unaccompanied foreign minors at the hotspot of Samos in 2020.

"It is an historic verdict, because for the first time the European Court of Human Rights talks about conditions not in line, for any individual, with Article 3 of the Convention", Giulia Cicoli, director of communications and fundraising at Still I Rise, told ANSA.

(Editor's note: Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.)

The organization, together with the lawyers' group I Have Rights, brought the case to court in 2019 against Greek authorities over the "criminal management of the hotspot of Samos."

Pursuing the case

The European Court of Human Rights recognized the issue and acknowledged that "living conditions at the Reception and Identification Center (RIC) on Samos at the time constituted inhumane and degrading treatment of any individual, regardless of their specific vulnerabilities," noted Cicoli.

The events date back to 2020 at the hotspot of Samos, where the teenagers – who are now over 18 – endured inhuman and degrading treatment and the violation of their human rights, according to the court, which has ordered Greek authorities to pay them a total of 41,500 euros.

Despite the small amount of money in compensation, which needs to be divided between the seven youths, "we are satisfied that justice was served," stressed Cicoli. The association Still I Rise was born on the Greek island in 2018 "to support minors who lived in terror, without any respect for their human rights," she explained.

Cicoli remembers the odyssey that preceded the sentence: "We didn't only file a lawsuit in Greece but also in Italy, then there were three European parliamentary inquiries and open letters to Commissioner Ylva Johansson and, finally, we turned to the European Court of Human Rights, which in two days ordered the transfer of the minors to an appropriate community.

"Two years ago, the court proposed a plea deal to us and to the Greek government, but all the boys decided to proceed with the case to obtain justice and to prevent other minors from experiencing what they did."

Seven minors who had fled war and violence were abandoned

The seven unaccompanied minors reached Samos from Turkey when they were between the ages of 14 and 17 to seek asylum, after fleeing war and violence in Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.

They now live in various European countries, which they have reached by joining family members, where they study and work.

Despite their status, at the time they were abandoned by Greek authorities without any material or psycho-social support in the overcrowded hotspot of Samos. Over a period ranging between six and 10 months, the teenagers had to provide for themselves under conditions that European human rights commissioner, Dunja Mijatović, described as a "fight for survival".

Read AlsoGreek migrant camps 'malfunctioning' and 'overcrowded' warn NGOs

Situation on Samos has not improved

The RIC on Samos is one of five hotspots created on the Greek islands to implement an agreement between the EU and Turkey.

In 2020, over 7,000 people lived in makeshift shelters around the facility, whose official capacity was for 648 people. Living conditions were marked by lack of access to medical care, no protection against the cold and bad weather, overcrowded facilities, poor quality of food, social tensions and inadequate security standards. In less than a year, four fires destroyed part of the camp.

Meanwhile, the situation on Samos has not improved, despite the closure of the RIC in 2022 and the opening of the new Closed Controlled Access Center (CCAC), for which the EU has spent tens of millions of euros.

"Even though migrants are transfered more quickly, it is a prison where journalists are not allowed, so we have no reports on what really happens inside," said Cicoli.

Last spring, the European Court of Human Rights once again issued provisional measures in relation to living conditions at the CCAC, ordering Greek authorities to provide adequate lodgings to a mother and her child.

"Unaccompanied minors are de facto detained around the clock at the CCAC of Samos," said Ella Dodd, coordinator of I Have Rights.

"For 16 hours a day, they are kept in a so-called 'safe zone', a section of the facility surrounded by barbed wire," she said. "Detaining children in an inhumane structure cannot be the answer for those seeking security."

Read AlsoEU-funded Greek migrant camp described as 'dystopian nightmare' by Amnesty International