European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) orders the Greek Government to guarantee the Applicant appropriate and specialised medical assessment and treatment and adequate living conditions compatible with his health state and Article 3 of the Convention.
On 19 December 2022, Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid (Fenix) submitted an urgent request for interim measures to the ECtHR on behalf of one of our clients, Applicant M., to order the Greek Government to guarantee his access to the necessary and specialised medical care and adequate accommodation compatible with his state of health and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), since the Greek Authorities have failed to do so since his arrival in March 2021.
Applicant M. is a vulnerable person, and a survivor of psychological and physical violence in his country of origin. Due to the violence, he was subjected to, he suffers severe mental health symptoms compatible with PTSD. In addition, Applicant M. suffers from several serious health problems, which have been overlooked by the Greek Authorities for more than one year, despite their knowledge. He had his left leg amputated at the General Hospital of Mytilene 'Vostaneio' at the beginning of 2022 due to chronic osteomyelitis, and was then diagnosed with Hepatitis B in June 2022 and a severe case of diabetes in October 2022. In December 2022, he was also recognised with a yet-to-be-specified autoimmune disease and possible thyroid disorders for which he hasn’t received the required medical treatment until today. Since his arrival in Greece, he has been forced to live firstly at RIC Lesvos and then at the camp of Corinth, without access to the necessary and specialised medical care, under inhumane and degrading reception conditions incompatible with Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR.
Despite the Applicant’s geographical restriction being lifted in December 2021 due to his vulnerabilities and the need of the Applicant to be transferred to appropriate accommodation in Athens, the transfer never took place. Since August 2022, Fenix lawyers have submitted several requests for an urgent transfer to Athens in order to guarantee his access to the necessary and specialised medical treatment available only in Athens, and due to the deterioration of his health condition on Lesvos. Nonetheless, Greek authorities transferred him to Corinth camp in November 2022, where he still does not have access to the medical treatment needed, failing to guarantee Applicant’s access to the medical treatment available only in Athens.
On 19 December 2022, the ECtHR issued a decision of interim measures under Article 39 of the Rules of the Court ordering the Greek Government to “a) guarantee to the applicant a medical assessment by a gastroenterologist-hepatologist; b) ensure medical treatment appropriate to his needs following the assessment by the medical specialist; and c) guarantee to the applicant living conditions compatible with Article 3 of the Convention and his state of health”.
Fenix expresses deep concern about the continued lack of access to adequate and specialised medical care and inadequate living conditions in Corinth camp by Applicant M.. This case shows how the decision of the Greek Government to end the ESTIA programme increasingly results in the violation of the rights of thousands of asylum seekers with vulnerabilities in Greece who are forced to live in camps throughout Greece under conditions which constitute inhumane and degrading treatment and without access to medical care.
The intervention of the ECtHR is welcomed but should not be required for the Greek Government to comply with its obligations under domestic, European and international law.
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