D. D  evelopments during 1st quarter of 2017 Until the completion of this report (March 2017), there were critical developments in key parameters that compose the picture of the refugee-migrant crisis during the 20152016 period. This chapter refers to the developments of the first quarter of 2017, which change, in a positive or negative direction, the situation or confirm the conclusions of the previous chapters, in order to record and assess the issue in a spherical manner. 1. Unaccompanied minors There were no significant changes noted in the first three months of 2017 regarding the treatment of unaccompanied minors. The major problems, pertaining mainly to the verification of minority, the detention conditions and the lack of a legislative framework for the guardianship of unaccompanied minors appear to remain open. In particular, regarding the issue of verification of age, up to this day, unfortunately219 minors continue to be discovered among the population of adult detainees. The legislative framework for guardianship has yet to be adopted, despite the existence of a draft law by the co-competent ministries. At the onset of 2017, a safe zone was put into operation within the Open Temporary Accommodation Facility in Elaionas, Attica, with the prospect of more such spaces. Also, towards the closing of 2016, and during the first month of 2017, the EHPA of Amygdaleza for minors was shut down. Minors were transferred to shelters of the 2nd Sector of the Detention Center (PROKEKA) of Amygdaleza, where they remain under protective custody until their placement in accommodation facilities. 2. Asylum applications With decision No. 445/2017, the Supreme Administrative 219 The Greek Ombudsman received reports No. 223632/2017 and 223926/2017 from the Greek Council for Refugees NGO, regarding cases of administratively detained minors, who, despite having declared that they are minors, remained in detention as adults by the "Illegal immigration" Prosecution Department of N. Karvali and in the PROKEKA of Xanthi, and had not been immediately referred to the procedures for ascertaining their minority. Court (Conseil d’ Etat) rejected the application of the first, after the entry into force of the EU-Turkey Statement of 18.3.2016, Syrian appellant from Lesvos against the rejection of his asylum application as inadmissible. The Court stated that the law adopts the criteria of Directive 2013/32/EU (Article 38) on the concept of safe third country for the examination of asylum applications. It also finds that the change in the composition of the threemember Appeals Committees against rejections of asylum applications with the participation of two administrative judges does not oppose the Constitution, which prohibits the assignment of administrative duties to active judges. The Court decided in favour of the quasi-judicial function of the Appeals Committees, which complies with the mandate of the Directive (Article 46) for the right to an effective remedy before a court or tribunal. The decision refers to the Plenary Session of the Supreme Administrative Court due to the major importance of the relevant issues. At an administrative level however, this development is expected to significantly affect the progress of many other decisions of the Appeals Committees, as mentioned by the European Commission,220 noting the slow pace of decision-making (rejections at a ratio of 150 to 1) up to December 2016. 3. Returns of third-country nationals The new EU Regulation 2016/1624 on the conversion of FRONTEX into a European Border and Coast Guard221 implements as of 7.1.2017 a European pool of monitors to which Member States contribute for each European operation for the return of third-country nationals. The Greek Ombudsman, as a national mechanism for the external monitoring of returns already participates with 8 members in this pool. Also, FRONTEX addressed the Ombudsman as a national mechanism for the protection of rights, activating the provision of the Regulation (Article 72(4)) on the complaints handling mechanism. As of 2017, the new role and increased competences of FRONTEX, in general present new challenges for the external monitoring of returns/readmissions, which the Greek Ombudsman is called upon to handle in an institutional cooperation with every competent agency at 220 See pg. 6 https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/sites/near/ files/20161208-4th_report_on_the_progress_made_in_the_implementation_ of_the_eu-turkey_statement_en_0.pdf 221 http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/PE-29-2016-INIT/el/pdf 75