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Definitions
Asylum seeker
Under EU law, applicants for international protection are third-country nationals or stateless persons
who have applied for international protection and are in the asylum procedure. In this report, we refer
to applicants for international protection and asylum seekers interchangeably to mean persons who
have expressed their will to apply for international protection, regardless of whether they have formally
registered their application or not. The report expands on this definition in Section III.
Detention
Detention is a measure that deprives an individual of his or her freedom and is enacted pursuant to a
decision taken by a judicial body for criminal or administrative reasons. International human rights law
defines detention on a case-by-case basis, whereas EU asylum law generally defines it as confinement of
an applicant by a Member State within a particular place, where the applicant is deprived of his or her
freedom of movement. The report expands on this definition in Section IV.
Pushbacks
Pushbacks refer to a variety of state measures by which asylum seeker and migrants are forced back over
a border, generally immediately after they cross it, without consideration of their individual circumstances and without any possibility to apply for asylum.
Quarantine
The World Health Organization (WHO) differentiates quarantine as the “separation of persons who are
not ill but who may have been exposed to an infectious agent or disease, with the objective of monitoring
their symptoms and ensuring the early detection of cases.”
Reception and Identification Centre (RIC)
Formerly known as First Reception Centres; Reception and Identification Centres (RIC) exist in each of
the Greek "Hotspots". According to the Greek Asylum Code, newly arrived persons should be transferred
to a RIC, where they are held for at least 5 days for the purposes of reception and identification. This
initial period of restriction of movement may be extended for up to another 25 days. RICs also provide
information on asylum seekers’ rights and obligations, transfers to other facilities, and possibilities to
seek protection or voluntary return; registration and medical checks and referral to the asylum procedure. Individuals in the asylum procedure have the option of living in the RIC but may instead choose to
arrange their own accommodation in town. Although their movement is restricted on arrival, those living in the RIC are generally permitted to freely move after this initial period.
‘Quarantine of Asylum Seeker’ – A legal classification of the quarantine practice on Chios