Chios

Chios

Chios is an island in the east Aegean, in close proximity to Turkey. It has held a prominent position in merchant shipping in past centuries and mobility across the Aegean sea has shaped its history. The proximity to the Turkish coast has also seen refugees and migrants arrive there over the past two decades.

Over this period, local activists have advocated for migrants’ rights. Increasingly, advocates against migration have also become more organised. Today, Chios’ migration activism landscape is broad. The island has had a strong migrant solidarity movement which engages in varied forms of activism, including litigation. It has also seen growing political resistance to migration by a collection of actors across the political spectrum.

A key site in Chios’ migration activism landscape is the island’s RIC facility. Operating since 2016, it transformed into a Closed Controlled Access Centre in 2022. Residents resisted the expansion of the centre into a megastructure similar to the ones on Samos and Lesvos. This resistance has been successful so far. This outcome contrasts sharply with developments in Lesvos and Samos, where new structures have been built in spite of protests.

Similarly to these places, solidarity activism in Chios transformed through the arrival of international organisations since 2015. Likewise, it transformed again after the departure of many of these organisations following the EU-Turkey statement and increased border controls.

Relatedly, border securitisation in Chios is not as prominent as elsewhere and migrants even more invisibilised. However, practices that include pushbacks have been recorded. A deadly collision between a migrant boat and the Greek coastguard which left at least 15 migrants dead on 3 February 2026 has brought attention to border policing practices, which had previously focused on Lesvos and Samos, to the island.