Introduction On 2 March 2020, the Greek government adopted an emergency legislative decree (Πράξη Νομοθετικού Περιεχομένου, hereinafter “Decree”) stripping persons arriving undocumented in the country of the right to seek asylum during that month. 1 This act, subsequently rubberstamped by Parliament,2 was adopted as part of a response to the Turkish announcements that Turkey would no longer be preventing refugees and migrants from crossing its borders with Greece.3 The Decree suspended the registration of asylum applications for one month and foresaw immediate deportation for those entering the Greek territory, without registration, to their countries of origin or to Turkey. As a result of the Decree, individuals who entered Greece with the aim of seeking international protection in March 2020 were automatically and indiscriminately detained for the purpose of return and were denied access to the asylum procedure and a series of rights provided by national, European and international legislation. The controversial suspension of access to the asylum procedure amounts to a clear violation of domestic, European Union (EU) and international law, as has been stressed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and more tacitly pointed out the European Commission.4 So far the Commission has declined to share its legal analysis of the Decree.5 The Decree ceased to produce legal effects at the end of March 2020. However, it has had highly damaging effects on a significant number of people in need of protection. According to UNHCR statistics, 2,927 persons entered Greece via land and sea in the course of that month.6 These persons were automatically and arbitrarily placed in detention under abhorrent conditions and continue to remain in closed facilities without effective judicial protection, despite ultimately being allowed to express the intention to lodge an asylum application with the Asylum Service. Asylum applications have not yet been registered, however. Harm from inhuman detention conditions is compounded by serious, even life-threatening, health risks stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which have regrettably not led to a reconsideration of detention policy in Greece. In this Legal Note, Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) examines the administrative treatment and policy of detention applied to persons falling within the scope of the Decree, the conditions in which they have been detained and the response adopted thus far from the different fora approached by individuals in search of judicial redress at domestic and European level. The analysis is based on cases 1 2 3 4 5 6 Government Decree on “suspension of the submission of asylum applications”, Gov. Gazette A’ 45/2.3.2020, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/2XFsMvb. Law 4681/2020, Gov. Gazette A’ 74/27.3.2020, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/2XI2Lvk. Al Jazeera, ‘Greece on the defensive as Turkey opens border to refugees’, 1 March 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/2RHYp3B; AMNA, ‘ΚΥΣΕΑ: Στο μέγιστο επίπεδο τα μέτρα φύλαξης των συνόρων της χώρας’, 1 March 2020, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/2VgYvl7. UNHCR, ‘UNHCR statement on the situation at the Turkey-EU border’, 2 March 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3bhsM8D; The Guardian, ‘Greece warned by EU it must uphold the right to asylum’, 12 March 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3aePdKn. EU Observer, ‘EU commission keeps asylum report on Greece secret’, 21 April 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3blDgUF. UNHCR, Mediterranean Situation: Greece, available at: https://bit.ly/2KbyVY9. Note that government statistics refer to 9,061 arrivals during the same period: Ministry of Migration and Asylum, ‘Μηνιαίο Ενημερωτικό Σημείωμα Υπουργείου Μετανάστευσης και Ασύλου (Μάρτιος)’, 14 April 2020, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/2RKSj2n. RSA LEGAL NOTE │ 2020 2