Asylum seekers and the right to freedom of movement: An analysis of the (in)visible restrictions and their legitimacy in the context of refugee camps in Greece

The so-called “refugee crisis” in 2015 heavily impacted Greece’s reception system, which had to quickly adapt to the need to accommodate thousands of migrants who arrived to reach Europe. The influx of large numbers of refugees led to the adoption of the hotspot approach that, since then, has been used as a long-term solution to host people in need of international protection. During the examination of their asylum requests, refugees in Greece reside in isolated camps, where they experience extremely harsh living conditions. Besides, the current reshaping of accommodation centers into restrictive and securitized facilities, a process emphasized during the Covid-19 pandemic, has further diminished the enjoyment of the rights asylum applicants are entitled to. In this context, freedom of movement appears to be particularly impacted. Considering that both appropriate accommodation and the possibility to move freely to access services and engage with the host community are pivotal to local integration, this thesis explores the relationship between the Greek reception system and the right to freedom of movement enshrined in Article 26 of the 1951 Geneva Convention. The purpose of this desk-based research is double. On the one hand, it aims to demonstrate how the right to freedom of movement is restricted for asylum seekers by analyzing the legal and practical ways they face multi-layer forms of mobility restriction along the entire international protection procedure. On the other, the goal is to assess the extent to which reception provisions in Greece fail to protect their right to freedom of movement and if there is a risk that the restriction of liberty asylum seekers encounter could amount to de facto deprivation of liberty.