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>Camp on Samos: Detention for children, paid for by Switzerland

The court also criticized the fact that the minor had no access to a guardian or a doctor in the camp. The latter, it argued, posed a "serious safety risk" for the young person. Furthermore, the contagious diseases rampant in the safe area endangered the health of all inmates.

The court therefore ordered that the 16-year-old be immediately transferred to alternative accommodation.

"For the first time, a Greek court has ruled that minors are effectively imprisoned in the Safe Area," says Stefan Bigler about the verdict. "This sets a precedent." Bigler works for the NGO Human Rights Legal Project, which represented the 16-year-old in court.

He also describes how conditions in the Samos Safe Area deteriorated last fall. Since then, it has been constantly overcrowded. "The conditions are catastrophic," he says. He knows of young people who had scabies and were not treated."They had actual holes in their arms and legs." And when problems arose at night, Greek riot police in full gear entered the safe area and attacked. "They broke at least one child's arm."

Bigler fears that overcrowding will continue in the future. After all, the number of refugees stranded on Samos fluctuates greatly. "That's why we need an emergency plan that can be used in the event of overcrowding in the safe area," he says. This has been lacking until now. "But the fundamental problem remains, of course: that children and young people are housed in prison-like structures. As a donor, Switzerland shares responsibility for this."

«Out of his mind from sheer boredom»

The fact that minors are being detained in the Samos Safe Area has also become a concern for the Greek parliament. Giorgos Psychogios of the left-wing Syriza party had pointed out the "unacceptable living conditions" and "alleged human rights violations" in the camp in a motion.

In response, then-Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos of the right-wing New Democracy admitted that living conditions in the Samos Safe Area were "not ideal." However, he also said that the problems there were "sometimes caused by the behavior of the guests." Furthermore, his ministry was working to transfer minors to other facilities and thus reduce overcrowding on Samos.

In addition to the Human Rights Legal Project, other non-governmental organizations, including Amnesty International, have also criticized the abuses in the Samos camp. The organizations have addressed an open letter to Magnus Brunner, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs.

Christina Balta of the non-governmental organization Equal Rights Beyond Borders points out in an interview with Die Republik that "catastrophic conditions" also prevail in the safe areas of the refugee camps on Leros and Kos, two other Greek islands. This is consistent with the fact that a Greek administrative court ruled on March 5, 2025, that the stay of a minor in the Leros safe area is tantamount to detention.

The Samos Safe Area is currently home to mainly minors from Egypt, Somalia, Syria, and Afghanistan. This makes their lives even more difficult: They have nothing to do, nothing but kill time. And wait until their asylum application is decided. Someday.

"There are no activities, neither cultural nor sporting," says 16-year-old Marik (not his real name) over the phone. There is a basketball court, but no basketballs. "Most young people are unmotivated and depressed. When you're tired and have nothing to do all day, it takes a toll on your psyche," he says.

Seventeen-year-old Osiris (name changed) puts it more drastically: "Many people here are out of their minds because of sheer boredom."
Say nothing, shift responsibility – and promise to improve

But who is responsible for all this?

There are several.

When confronted with criticism of the conditions in the Samos Safe Area, they either say nothing. Or they explain that they, not others, are responsible for the grievances. Or they point out that they are currently taking measures to address them.

One could also call it diffusion of responsibility.

Specifically, it sounds like this:

The Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum, which bears political responsibility for the refugee camp on Samos, refuses to comment on the criticism of the conditions there. It has also not responded to repeated inquiries from the Republic.

The Greek non-governmental organization Zeuxis, which is responsible for the care of the minors, wrote in a statement: It does not decide who is allowed to leave the safe area and who is not. The camp's Reception and Identification Service (which reports to the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum) is responsible for this. Other agencies are also responsible for appointing guardians for the minors and for maintaining and cleaning the facility.

Zeuxis staff are on-site to care for the minors around the clock. They provide them with access to doctors and hospitals and report incidents of violent assault to the relevant authorities.

Switzerland, which finances the operation of the safe areas on Samos and three other Greek islands, states via the State Secretariat for Migration that the "precarious" situation of the underage asylum seekers has been known since last October. It considers this a "major challenge." This has come about because the number of unaccompanied minors, especially from Egypt, increased sharply last fall.

As a result, federal officials visited the camps and assessed the situation for themselves. Recently, the responsible Federal Councilor, Beat Jans, even visited the camp on Kos. At the same time, Switzerland increased its financial contributions to Greece and called on the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum "at the highest level" to transfer minors from the safe areas to other facilities.

"Following these exchanges and Switzerland's intervention, the situation has improved noticeably, as more such transfers have taken place and overcrowding has decreased noticeably," the State Secretariat for Migration states.

While the State Secretariat issued a detailed and comprehensive statement on the catastrophic conditions in the safe area on Samos, it left numerous specific questions from the Republic unanswered. This is one of the reasons why the statement appears to be inconclusive – or even euphemistic – on several points. Overall, it stands in striking contrast to the accounts of the young people in the camp.

The fact that the federal government is very much concerned about these grievances is demonstrated by the fact that the Swiss ambassador personally visited the safe area on February 10, 2025. During the conversation, he expressed his dismay at the conditions there, says Stefan Bigler of the NGO Human Rights Legal Project. Bigler met with the ambassador for a personal discussion after his visit.

Also disturbing is what the Secretariat of State recorded in an internal memorandum on the ambassador's visit. The Republic obtained it (and other documents) through a public access request. The memo states: "Overcrowding is a major problem. Facilities designed for 200 children now house approximately 425 children, leading to a deterioration in living conditions and infrastructure. Adequate food distribution, hygiene, psychosocial services, and legal support—cornerstones of the original standards—are no longer consistently available."

The report further states: "Overcrowding forces the children to live in communal spaces with makeshift bedding, dirty food containers, broken sewage pipes, and accumulated garbage." There are also too few doctors and medical supplies in the safe area, no hot water, and not enough beds. "As a result, the children often have to sleep on the floor."

But the criticism from non-governmental organizations and the media seems to be having an effect: In recent days, the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum has relocated numerous children and young people from the Samos Safe Area to other facilities. Shortly before the publication of this research, Anwar, Tari, and Marik, as well as the two other minors with whom the Republic had contact, were also able to leave the camp.

However, according to information from the Republic, there are still numerous grievances in the Safe Area of ​​Samos: It is still overcrowded, minors are still not allowed to leave the area, there is a shortage of doctors and psychologists – and attacks continue to occur.

This is Europe's future

Refugee camps and safe areas like the one on Samos are an essential part of Europe's future asylum policy. It will work like this: Border troops seal off the external borders of the European Union and send so-called irregular migrants back to third countries and their home countries. Those who apply for asylum are taken to closed camps. Here, the refugees are divided up: Those who come from a country with an average protection rate in Europe of less than 20 percent are placed in a fast-track procedure, the outcome of which is predictable: The applicants are generally denied asylum and are deported from the camps. Only the remaining asylum seekers are allowed to enter the EU.

All of this is part of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), which the European Union adopted last May. EU member states have two years to implement the system. Switzerland also intends to adopt the principles of CEAS; the department of Asylum Minister Beat Jans (SP) submitted a legal basis for consultation last August, and the Federal Council adopted a corresponding dispatch last Friday.

For months, however, NGOs have been warning that the future refugee camps on the EU's external border are threatened by exactly the same conditions that are the reality in the Samos safe area: de facto detention, limited access to doctors and legal representatives, and violent attacks. In short, allegedly serious human rights violations.