Coping with a fundamental rights emergency – The situation of people crossing the Greek border in an irregular manner Identification of persons with specific needs It is generally acknowledged that overall the process at the border is not suitable to identify persons with protection needs, nor persons with specific social or medical needs. The new law aims at addressing this gap by establishing screening centres where persons seeking international protection are separated from other migrants and which establishes a referral system to the competent bodies for persons belonging to vulnerable groups. The 2011 law lists at Article 11 (2) seven categories of people who are defined as vulnerable. These include: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. unaccompanied minors; people with disabilities; elderly; women in pregnancy or postpartum; single parents with minor children; victims of torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence or exploitation; victims of trafficking. The competent bodies to whom vulnerable individuals will be referred to will depend on the type of vulnerability and on the whether the response required is medical, social or legal. For example, a victim of trafficking or of serious forms of sexual violence or exploitation will require a safe haven, medical and psycho‐social support as well as legal support in case he/she wishes to obtain justice. By contrast, a single parent with minor children may require adequate housing and access to education or child care facilities. Different bodies at central, regional and municipality level are likely to be involved. Effective information‐sharing and collaboration mechanisms will need to be set up in order to ensure a successful housing, medical and legal response. An example on the need for coordination is access to anti‐retroviral treatment (ATR) for HIV+ patients, which the University Hospital in Alexandroupoli highlighted as not being able to cover under their own funds. The doctors informed the FRA that in order for the Ministry of Health to be able to cover the costs for such treatment, migrants are required to provide a certification by their country of origin that such treatment is not available there. As hardly any migrant can provide such a certificate, such medical needs remain formally uncovered, although the hospital continues to provide treatment. At the same time, KEELPNO informed the FRA that they have lists of countries where such treatment is usually not accessible and that therefore persons originating from these countries can receive ATR from the Greek state. In the discussions with the local municipalities, the latter confirmed to the FRA the existence of local structures for social care, indicating however that their resources are limited as they have to cater for a local population often composed of older persons who are themselves in need. Nevertheless, all three mayors met by the FRA indicated their willingness to consider opening up existing social services to migrants, provided additional funds would be allocated. One mayor 31