Border surveillance technology under scrutiny in Greece

While Greece builds its reputation as the hotbed for Europe’s border surveillance technologies, its lack of transparency continues to cause concern among migrant rights activists.

A new report from the Border Violence Monitoring Network analyzes the spread of border surveillance in the Evros region, the land border between Greece and Turkey and a key route for migrants seeking to reach Europe. The group, which represents a coalition of NGOs and grassroots organizations, warns that the site continues to be a site for testing new technologies and “unofficial and possibly illegal” data collection and sharing – including biometric data.

“There is a persistent lack of transparency around the implementation of this type of equipment and the incorporation of artificial intelligence tools to migration policies,” the organization says.

The secrecy around border technology is hindering attempts by civil society to assess the impact of these developments, the group said in a statement published by Balkan Insight. At the same time, border violence continues in Evros, including the 600 migrant deaths that were recorded since 2000.

In April this year, the Greek Data Protection Authority (DPA) slapped the Ministry of Asylum and Migration with a record-breaking 175,000 euro (US$194,733) fine under the GDPR over two migrant surveillance projects: Kentaurus, which equips migrant detention camps with AI behavioral analytics, and Hyperion, an asylum seeker management system that relies on biometric fingerprint data.

The controversial Centaur and Hyperion projects will be implemented at the Fylakio Pre-removal Detention Centre in Evros, according to BVMN. The group also notes that the recently adopted EU Artificial Intelligence Act failed to introduce safeguards for migrants against AI.

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Asylum centers introducing biometric identification

Digital rights organization Access Now is drawing attention to the technology used in Greek Closed Controlled Access Centres (CCAC), highly securitized and EU-funded camps set up for asylum seekers.

The CCACs are already or soon will be, equipped with technologies such as automatic biometric identification upon entrance both for asylum seekers and the centers’ workers, writes the organization’s researcher Caterina Rodelli. The camps will also be equipped with surveillance cameras supported by motion analysis algorithms that flag suspicious behavior and surveillance drones. Data will be exchanged automatically with an operational control room in Athens.

The European Commission provided 276 million euros for new “multi-purpose” centers, promising better conditions after the fire that swept the Moria migrant camp in Lesvos in 2020. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International, however, describe the camps as a “dystopian nightmare” lacking in the most basic infrastructure and accuse the Greek authorities of unlawful detainment of its residents.