On 2 October 2023, the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum denied freelance journalist Lydia Emmanouilidou’s request to visit the Closed Controlled Access Center (CCAC) of Samos, stating that “the visit of journalists to Migrant Reception Structures has been suspended until further notice”. It was not clear whether the ban applied to Emmanouilidou or was a national policy.
A press release published on 5 October clarified that media access to refugee facilities is restricted in the islands of the Eastern Aegean, namely Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos, due to the increased number of refugees “in order to make it easier for the workers in the reception centers to focus on their main task, which is to serve the asylum seekers”. According to the ministry’s press release, “access to all the remaining 28 inland accommodation facilities continues as before”. The press release referred to “a new system of managing and organizing the visits of journalists”, but did not specify what this new system means in practice.αρκές ζήτημα στην Ελλάδα, καθώς η διαδικασία υποβολής αιτήσεων δεν είναι διαφανής και τα αιτήματα συχνά απορρίπτονται αυθαίρετα», γεγονός προβληματικό για την άσκηση του δημοσιογραφικού επαγγέλματος, καθώς «τα νησιά του Αιγαίου, συμπεριλαμβανομένης της Λέσβου και της Σάμου, βιώνουν αυτή την περίοδο την άφιξη ενός μεγάλου αριθμού προσφύγων και [επομένως] το ρεπορτάζ μέσα από τις δομές θα ήταν κρίσιμο».
The incident was recorded as an “arbitrary denial of accreditation” and “violation of media freedom” by the press freedom violation reporting mechanism Mapping Media Freedom, which is run by the European Centre for Press & Media Freedom – ECPMF. The report goes on to detail that access to refugee facilities is an ongoing issue in Greece, as the application process is not transparent and requests are often arbitrarily denied. According to local reports, news outlets close to the government have easier access to the refugee camps than critical, independent media. The practice of limiting journalists’ access started already in the autumn of 2020, following the destruction of the Moria refugee camp. The COVID-19 pandemic has also been used as an excuse to limit media access to refugee facilities. The Aegean islands, including Lesvos and Samos, are currently experiencing high numbers of refugee arrivals, and reporting from inside the camps would be crucial.
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