Migrant detention centers' security to private firms

However, the detention centers are cause of controversy not just because of their security services, but also because of the poor conditions in some of the facilities that are causing disease according to a report by Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF).

Greek authorities received EU funding to refurbish and renovate a a pre-removal detention center near the village Fylakio close to the border crossing, with Turkey, at Oresteiada.

The government now wants to outsource the security, along with two other pre-removal centres in Corinth and Paranesti, Drama prefecture, to a private security firm for €14 million a year. The legal groundwork to outsource the facilities was years in the making. Greek lawmakers amended its asylum service and reception laws in 2012. Outsourcing detention facilities to private security companies is a growing phenomenon, that was originally tried in the US on state level.

British firm G4S, the world's largest private security firm, is among bidders. G4S has come under criticism for the treatment of detainees at its three UK-based asylum centers. Other bidders include Mega Sprint Guard, JCB Security and Facility, and Swedish Systems Security. The call for tenders closed in mid-January.

Many analysts view this with some apprehension that profit motivated contractors have no interest in adhering to the spirit and not just the letter of regulation, focusing away from the well-being of migrants to the bottom line of a company.

However, Fylakio was among others included in a scathing MSF report out on 1 April, that noted among other things that detained migrants and asylum seekers are suffering from medical problems caused or aggravated by poor conditions, the length of detention, and the lack of consistent or adequate medical assistance.

Doctors cited in the report stated that most of the diseases treated are connected to the detention circumstances, like humidity. At the same time there is no daily presence of medical staff, according to the Greek Refugee Council, while the infirmary room also hosts unaccompanied minors waiting for their transfer to children facilities.

Scabies broke out at the facility at the end of 2012 and beginning of 2013. The Fylakio centre at the time of the scabies outbreak had new washing machines purchased by the EU funds but they were not hooked up.

The well-being of those detainees, according to the MSF report, is already being neglected despite the around €35 million Greece received last year from the EU’s return fund. The money is given to help voluntary return and reintegration programmes but the bulk of the money is said to have gone to border control and detention centres.

At Fylakio, the EU co-financed expenses of operational costs like food, cleaning, hot water, clothing, medical supplies and heating.

EU home affairs spokesperson Michael Cercone, quoted in the press, had no idea about EU funds being used to fund security services for Fylakio, but noted that member states are responsible for the money being spent correctly. Greek authorities pay for items and services then report back to the commission with invoices to prove the purchases. There is no follow-up by the commission.

"They [European Commission] should establish a mechanism of independent monitoring because these people are deprived of their liberty based on administrative decisions," she said.