More than 80 unaccompanied minors are in detention for a period of time

between a week and a month. A rare opportunity to talk and take pictures

due to a visiting group of an international conference on refugee issues

on Lesvos. The detention center is being "cleaned" before the arrival of

the visitors. Within the two days before their arrival 300 adults are

being released, a cleaning company visits the prison. Unfortunately for

the Public Relations the public prosecutor is not present so that the

more than 80 unaccompanied minors cannot be released before the arrival

of the international conference participants. Some minutes before the

bus with the visitors arrives, the guards release a group of women and

their children and allow them to walk freely inside the area of the

detention center. This is an absolutely symbolic act since refugees

being released from Pagani prison have reported since years that they

don't receive the fundamental right of a prisoner, access to open space

and a time of 30 minutes to hour to move outside the cells. At the

moment the visitors arrive nurses often criticized for lack of interest

and responsible bahaviour towards the refugees start to guides

translated in several languages for refugees - which under "normal"

conditions seldom reach a refugee detainee in Pagani.

The theatrical and mendacious behaviour of the officials, the police and

the employees of Pagani detention center and the visit of the "political

tourists" from countries such as Germany, France, Netherlands, Turkey

etc. - mostly people working in the field of refugee assistance through

the church, was queried by an action of PROSFYGI, who opened a banner in

front of the detention center saying "welcome to the human rights abuse

center" and symbolically covered the floor in front of the main entrance

with red colour in order that the visitors had to cross and leave red

traces behind them on their way to the detainees.

Visits like this but also inspections of large human rights NGOs are

dealt with by the authorities always by the same way: A cleaning before

their arrival and some nice symbolical acts during the visit such as

releasing women and kids for some minutes or the installation of card

phones, a day before the inspection that will obviously criticize the

absence of functioning card phones.

The same motivation and inspiration that awakens in the authorities

while preparing for all kinds of visitors in the Greek detention centers

could be used instead for truly positive changes in the structure of

these human rights abuse centers in order to be at least in small parts

what they are being praised as "welcoming centers" (kentra filoxenias).