12 period expired. However, both Greek and EU For this update, Equal Rights analysed the files law explicitly state that detention must be of 5 asylum seekers detained under the so- lifted as soon as there is no reasonable called illegal stay scheme and observed the prospect of removal. Consequently, the following patterns: 17 detention of rejected asylum seekers on Kos remains unlawful, regardless of whether they ⎯ On average, applicants were detained for one month before registering their have an active return order to Türkiye or their applications for asylum. One applicant home countries. was detained for 1.5 months without the ii. Asylum Seekers Charged with Illegal Stay a. Situation authorities taking any action to register his case. However, this data is skewed by the fact that Equal Rights intervened in all Additionally, a smaller number of asylum 5 cases to request their immediate seekers were still detained in the Kos PRDC registration. during the period covered in this update. In ⎯ On average, the applicants spent 1.5 particular, the Migration Management months total in detention. All 5 were Department (Τμήμα Διαχείρισης eventually released either with a positive Μετανάστευσης, ΤΔΜ) applied a detention decision or through legal interventions scheme to asylum seekers who were apprehended on a nearby island where there was no reception centre—such as Rhodes or made by Equal Rights. ⎯ 4/5 applicants had their detention automatically renewed after registering Symi—or in Kos town days after their arrival. In such cases, the police charged people with for asylum. All 4 of them were issued illegally staying in the country, in violation of template decisions that stated that they Art. 76 L. 3386/2005, and then ordered their were detained “to ascertain the elements on return on that basis, even though they were de which the application for international facto asylum seekers and so should have protection is based, as otherwise it would be immediately undergone reception and impossible to obtain them because it is identification procedures. After their arrest, the considered that there is a risk of absconding, authorities transferred them from the as defined in paragraph g of article 18 of Law competent police station to the Kos PRDC. 3907/2011.” The fifth applicant was They were eventually able to register for released after Equal Rights filed asylum, although with significant delays. After objections against his detention. registering, the police would automatically renew their detention, this time under Art. b. Legal Assessment – New Arrivals 46(3) of the IPA, which applies to third- are Asylum Seekers country nationals who apply for asylum from detention.18 17 Art. 15(4) Directive 2008/115/EC; Art. 30(4) L. 3907/2011. The illegal stay scheme on Kos was unlawful 18 Art. 46(3) Law 4636/2019 corresponds to Art. 50(3) Law 4939/2022. ‘Still detained and forgotten’ – Update on Detention Policies, Practices, and Conditions on Kos 2022/23