A few days ago, METAdrasi’s team of lawyers had a significant success: they managed for a Syrian family – that lived outside the Reception and Identification Center (RIC) in Samos due to the camp being overcrowded – to be granted interim measures by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The case was mainly based on the family’s 10-month-old baby girl who is suffering from severe bronchiolitis. Doctors recommended that the girl improve her living conditions and gave her special medication that requires the use of a rechargeable device. However, the use of this device was impossible, as the family lived in inhumane conditions in a tent that they had bought for themselves, in an open space next to the RIC! In addition, due to the fact that they had not been registered by the Regional Asylum Office of Samos, despite the expiry of almost 4 months since their arrival in Greece, they were deprived of access to free medical care, when they did not even have the means to get the necessary medicines for the little girl.
METAdrasi’s lawyers immediately applied at the Reception and Identification Center of Samos, for the lifting of the imposed geographical restriction against the family, but the application remained unanswered. Seeing the deterioration of the situation, they appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. The decision was immediate: taking into account the health condition of the little girl and her family, as well as the conditions prevailing in the Reception and Identification Center of Samos, the Greek government is obliged to immediately ensure living conditions that do not violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and to provide medical care consistent with the little girl’s state of health.
This decision, in addition to vindication for the family from Syria, is also a reward for METAdrasi’s lawyers who, since 2011, are constantly present in the islands (Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Kos and Leros), giving a real fight in order to protect the fundamental human rights of potential beneficiaries of international protection.
Photo courtesy of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.