Closed and Controlled: Vastria and The Architecture of Containment in EU Migration Policy
Deep in the forests of northern Lesvos, far from the public eye, the Vastria Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) is nearing completion. According to Nikos Panagiotopoulos, the Migration and Asylum Minister, the facility is now 95% complete and represents “an obligation of Greece to the European Union that is funding it.” This simple statement carries staggering implications. It not only reveals who is bankrolling these controversial structures, but also raises a deeper moral and legal question: If the EU is funding human rights violations, what is its obligation to humanity?
Framed by Greek and European officials as modern and secure refugee housing, Vastria is in truth de facto detention; a high-security, prison-like structure, perpetuating the subjection of hostility and violence onto people on the move seeking safety in Greece. Encircled by concrete walls, barbed wire, and surveillance towers, it is, just like the other new-style CCAC structures, a site of containment and control, not care.
Its isolated location, accessible only by a single road, compounds the danger. Situated over 30 kilometres from the island's capital of Mytilene, and home to the island’s only hospital, public transport options are unclear. In order to reach Mytilene, residents might be forced to walk over seven hours. Over seven hours for access to public services, for medical and legal help, and to be seen, heard, and reminded of their shared humanity. Most alarmingly, the site lies in a designated high fire risk zone and in the dry heat of summer, a fire here is not a question of if, but when.
Construction of the Vastria CCAC in Lesvos has been delayed again, with current work focusing on underground electrical infrastructure near a landfill site. The Municipality of West Lesvos has neither confirmed nor denied project approval for the landfill-adjacent works, raising transparency concerns, especially given ongoing legal opposition from Mytilene and the North Aegean Regional Authority. A new law now allows authorities to bypass local objections by approving desalination plants for detention centres directly through DEYAL, enabling essential infrastructure for Vastria despite prior refusals.
The CCAC model represents a new chapter in European migration policy, one that turns away from protection and embraces deterrence. These centres, developed with significant EU funding, differ drastically from traditional refugee camps. They are remote, heavily surveilled, and tightly regulated. Movement is restricted, contact with the outside world is limited, and access for NGOs and legal aid workers is increasingly obstructed. In practice, these sites function as detention facilities. Asylum seekers are confined under conditions that strip them of autonomy and dignity, with little access to the legal protections and social services that are their basic rights.
This approach stands in direct contradiction to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights, both of which prohibit arbitrary detention and uphold the rights of those seeking asylum. The question then becomes unavoidable: Is the European solution to migration challenges de facto detention and a complete disregard for basic human rights and dignity? Evidence suggests that it is. Greece’s CCAC network, now expanded to Samos, Kos, Leros, Chios, and Lesvos, exemplifies this shift. Promoted as organised and safe, these centres are in fact mechanisms of exclusion and invisibility. They serve not to integrate or assist, but to isolate and deter. The strategic placement of these camps in remote locations far from public scrutiny is no coincidence. It is part of a deliberate attempt to reduce visibility, evade accountability, and minimise the perceived presence of refugees within Europe’s borders.
The location of Vastria, deep within the forest and in a high-risk fire zone, highlights the consequences of this strategy. Emergency response access is severely limited. There is only one road in and out. If a fire were to occur, evacuation would be a logistical nightmare, potentially resulting in mass casualties. However, despite these dangers, construction at Vastria continues, supported by European funding. If the EU knowingly finances facilities that isolate, endanger, and violate the rights of vulnerable people, can it claim to uphold human rights at all? It is clear that the CCAC system is not just a Greek issue, it is a European one. The funding, political support, and regulatory framing of these centres makes the European Union complicit in the conditions they produce. While leaders speak the language of humanitarianism and protection, their policies produce the opposite: trauma, neglect, and danger.
What makes this situation more damning is the increasing difficulty faced by civil society in documenting and challenging it. NGOs, lawyers, and journalists face mounting restrictions in accessing CCACs. Bureaucratic barriers, special permissions, and administrative obstruction have become the norm. This suppression of oversight is not incidental, it is part of a larger trend to shield these centres from public accountability. Asylum seekers are rendered invisible by design, and their suffering is kept far from the eyes of the public.
The dignity and safety of refugees must take precedence over political optics and deterrence-driven policies. Asylum is not a crime and funding detention is not protection; Europe must ask itself whether its migration policy can coexist with its commitment to human rights.
To sign our petition against the CCAC system in Greece, click here