Greece failed to identify sex trafficking victims in migrant centre, UN expert alleges

By Emma Farge

A U.N. human rights expert voiced alarm on Monday at Greece's failure to identify and help victims of sex trafficking, saying the government may have missed hundreds of cases at a migrant centre on the island of Samos.

In a letter to Greek authorities, U.N. Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons Siobhán Mullally said authorities failed to identify 14 female victims of sexual exploitation or forced labour despite them displaying "clear indicators" like injuries, scarring, sexual diseases or pregnancy.

The women, who were all from West and Central Africa and had travelled through various countries, arrived at the Greek centre in 2022 and did not receive adequate housing or medical, psychological and other assistance, Mullally wrote.

"They arrived in Samos as asylum seekers and all 14 cases demonstrate the systemic failures to identify survivors of trafficking," according to the letter dated Sept. 2 and made public on Monday. "The environment of CCAC is not suitable for a survivor of trafficking and sexual violence," Mulally wrote, referring to the Closed Control Access Centre on Samos.

Greece's migration ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Greece, which was on the forefront of Europe's 2015-16 migration crisis, has seen a rise in migrant and refugee arrivals this year, according to U.N. data. Around 56,000 people have crossed irregularly to Greece this year, the second-highest number in Europe after Italy.

The Samos camp, a sprawling, crowded, heavily surveilled facility surrounded by barbed wire, was opened by the government in 2021 to replace the former camp of Vathy - once an overcrowded, rat-infested tent city of 7,000 people.

Mullally said as many as 285 other asylum seekers who arrived there in 2022 might also be potential victims, without saying how this estimate was reached.

One of the human trafficking victims described in the letter became pregnant after prolonged periods of sexual violence and gave birth to a baby girl one day after arriving at Samos.

Once moved to the centre by police, she was offered no change of clothes for four weeks and had to remain in her blood and sweat-stained labour garments, Mullally's letter says.

Mullally is one of dozens of U.N. experts mandated by the United Nations to report and advise on specific themes and crises. Their views do not reflect those of the global body as a whole.