Α. Αdministrative procedures and problems The administrative procedures followed along the migrants’ route, from border crossing until returning to the country of origin, if they are not placed under international protection in Greece, present problems that affect both their legal status and rights, as well as the overall elementary provision of temporary accommodation or their subsequent integration. For this reason, among the problems encountered in the management of the mixed refugee and migrant flows during the 2015-2016 period, priority is given to the following issues: registration at entry and the keeping of statistical data records, the identification of vulnerable persons requiring special care and the overall handling particularly of any unaccompanied minors among them, the access to political asylum for those who seek international protection from non-refoulement and the procedure for the return of third-country nationals to their countries of origin and deportation based on the readmission procedure. 1. Irregularities in the registration of irregularly entering third-country nationals and issues of reliability and evaluation of statistical data The intensity of the refugee and migrant flows in 2015 led to the Western Balkans route becoming and being accepted as an “official” route. Persons illegally entering the Greek territory on a massive scale, subsequently also left it illegally, and this illegal entry and exit took place along a series of countries, until they illegally entered the country of destination. This means that until the closing of the borders and for a period of several months, many EU and other countries tolerated, due to the emergency circumstances, the violation of a range of legislative provisions regarding entry and stay of third-country nationals on their territory. According to a FRONTEX estimate, from data it collected from the countries, and not through its own research, there were 763,038 violations detected on the Western Balkans route in 2015. This number represents the maximum, whereas it does not exclude that the same person committed the violation twice. In 2016, there were 122,779 violations.1 1 http://frontex.europa.eu/trends-and-routes/western-balkan-route/ According to another FRONTEX record, there were approximately 2,044,000 illegal border crossings recorded in 2015 - excluding intra-regional irregular migrants - on the Turkey-Greece and Bulgaria route, at the borders between these three countries and their region.2 We are of course aware that these are persons illegally crossing different borders and are therefore often recorded more than once. This example on the one hand introduces the issue that a lot of figures and estimates require further analysis in order to correctly interpret them, and on the other hand highlights a restricted reflection of reality in such types of statistical estimates. For example, the numerical estimate of the 2015 inflows into Greece and the outflows to the north borders is perceived linearly and does not reflect the certified exit of irregular migrants already living in the country. But why are we interested in such an accurate reflection of the flows and the profile of the persons who moved, and to a certain degree continue to move or reside, temporarily or less temporarily, in Greece and the neighbouring countries? The interest lies not only in keeping a historical record of one of the most important population flows towards Europe and between its countries since 1990; although not being the largest or the most important one, it did take place in a very short period of time. When it comes to our country in particular, it is of special interest for many reasons: To record the degree to which the country managed to respond to the task of registering illegal arrivals, as its domestic laws primarily require, illegal departures, as well as the number of persons staying and the place and time of their stay in the country. To also record the degree to which the registration of the arrivals complied with the terms and procedures set out by the applicable provisions and the country’s international obligations. Moreover, to be aware of the degree to which the various records correspond to reality - for example how many of the arrivals (and departures) were citizens of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan or countries whose citizens - according to asylum awards - do not have, primarily, a refugee profile. In addition to the above, after the dramatic reduction in the flows in the spring of 2016, and the shorter or longer duration of the stay in the country of the persons who entered it illegally, a statistical depiction that is as accurate as pos2 http://frontex.europa.eu/assets/Publications/Risk_Analysis/WB_ARA_2016. pdf, p. 12. 15