The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) have submitted comments to the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) on the follow-up to the collective complaint ICJ and ECRE v. Greece. The submission comments on several aspects of Greece’s continuing non-compliance with the European Social Charter (ESC) concerning the rights of migrant and refugee children.
In its decision of 2021 on the collective complaint brought by the ICJ and ECRE, with the support of the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), the ECSR found that Greece had violated several provisions of the ESC in its treatment of migrant children, notably: the right to housing, the right to social, legal and economic protection, the right to social security, and the right to protection of health.
Despite some positive legislative developments since 2021, Greece continues to fall short of its obligations under the ESC and international human rights law with respect to migrant and refugee children. Persistent shortcomings, also documented by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), include:
- continued resort to detention or detention-like restrictions of migrant and refugee children as a substitute for reception, including prolonged confinement in Closed Controlled Access Centres (CCACs) and Reception and Identification Centres (RICs) “safe zones,” placement with unrelated adults, and routine use of adult-oriented facilities, contrary to the Charter’s guarantees and the best interests of the child;
- persistent substandard reception conditions on the islands, the continued lack of appropriate shelter for unaccompanied children on the mainland, and recurrent barriers to healthcare and schooling, amounting to ongoing non-compliance with the Revised ESC;
- a deficient current age-assessment framework, in particular the 2025 Joint Ministerial Decision prioritizing medical tests, reducing appeal deadlines, and introducing a presumption of majority, which perpetuates and in some cases exacerbates the violations already identified by the ECSR and undermines the effective enjoyment of children’s rights.
The ICJ and ECRE call on the ECSR to urge Greece to end the detention of migrant and refugee children, and to adopt time-bound compliance measures accompanied by a concrete remedial plan. Greece must ensure child-appropriate accommodation, effective age assessment safeguards, prompt age-appropriate placement with guardianship, access to schooling as well as primary healthcare.
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Read the full submission here.
Background
The Committee of the Council of Europe is the expert body of the Council of Europe supervising the implementation of the European Social Charter through collective complaints and regular reporting by Contracting Parties. Collective complaints may be submitted by non-governmental organizations and social partners, alleging violation of the rights of the Charter.
The collective complaint by the ICJ and ECRE v. Greece (No. 173/2018) was lodged in 2018. It challenged the failure of Greece to provide for adequate accommodation and access to other rights for migrant and asylum-seeking children in reception centers in the North Eastern Aegean islands and children living in the streets of Athens and elsewhere on mainland Greece, whether with their families or unaccompanied.
In its decision on immediate measures of 23 May 2019, the Committee required Greece to immediately provide migrant children with appropriate shelter, food, water, education and medical care; to remove unaccompanied migrant children from detention and from RICs at the borders, place them in suitable age-appropriate accommodation and to appoint effective guardians.
Contact
For more information, please contact: Karolína Babická, ICJ Senior Legal Adviser: karolina.babicka@icj.org
