Case study: Farah* is a refugee from Iraq and a single mother of minor children. Upon arrival on Samos in October 2023, they were not subjected to appropriate medical checks at CCAC Samos and Farah was not identified as a survivor of serious forms of violence, nor was one of her children identified as disabled. The family was subsequently transferred to the mainland and is currently in CTRC Thiva. In early 2024, the psychologist of the Health Care and Psychosocial Support Unit of CTRC Thiva examined the applicant and prepared a report referring to the violence she has experienced, as well as the disability of one of her children. Farah asked the RIS to re-assess her and her children’s vulnerability and to update their file in view of her asylum interview held at the end of April. No vulnerability assessment took place prior to her interview. The Ministry of Migration and Asylum had already declared since 2022 that “As of January 2023, a working-group will be established together with IOM, UNHCR EUAA and DG HOME aiming to develop standard operating procedures on the assessment of vulnerability and defining clearly the special receptions conditions for each vulnerable group”.60 No further notice has been given, however, on the creation of said working group or on the development of standard operating procedures until now. The absence of steps to secure such procedures may be inferred from a recent statement of the EU institutions on the matter: “the Commission has raised the need to establish dedicated Standard Operating Procedures on vulnerability assessments”. 61 Special reception conditions As part of its supervision of the execution of the ECtHR judgment in M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has requested the Greek government “in light of the Court’s findings in the A.D. judgment… to provide concrete information on the reception and living conditions of pregnant women and other vulnerable individuals as well as their assessment as to the necessity of measures in this regard”. 62 Greek law provides that “Only vulnerable persons are deemed to have special reception needs and thereby benefit from special reception conditions”. 63 Yet, the law stops short of specifying what special reception conditions consist of and how they differ from the conditions provided to the general asylum-seeking population. Since the termination of the ESTIA programme at the end of 2022, accommodation in RIC and CTRC is the sole form of housing for asylum seekers on the mainland, even for those classified as vulnerable. At that time the Ministry of Migration and Asylum had already announced the launch of a new programme named STIRIXIS, to succeed ESTIA by providing – only – 500 accommodation 60 61 62 63 European Commission, Task Force Migration Management Mission Report – Athens/Lesvos – December 2022, Ares(2022)8851878, December 2022, 3. European Commission, Letter to civil society organisations, Ares(2024)613054, 26 January 2024. Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, CM/Del/Dec(2023)1475/H46-15, 21 September 2023, para 5. Article 62(3) Greek Asylum Code. RSA REPORT │ REFUGEE CAMPS IN MAINLAND GREECE | JUN 2024 20