1. A guardian for the child is appointed who shall undertake all necessary action in order to protect the rights and the best interests of the child, throughout the age determination procedure; 2. Unaccompanied children are informed prior to the examination of their application and in a language which they understand, of the possibility and the procedures to determine their age, of the methods used, therefore, the possible consequences of the results of the above-mentioned age determination procedures for the examination of the application for international protection, as well as the consequences of their refusal to undergo this examination; 3. Unaccompanied children or their guardians consent to carry out the procedure for the determination of the age of the children concerned; 4. The decision to reject an application of an unaccompanied child who refused to undergo this age determination procedure shall not be based solely on that refusal; and 5. Until the completion of the age determination procedure, the person who claims to be a minor shall be treated as such. The law also states that ‘the year of birth can be modified after the age determination procedure under Article 80, unless during the interview it appears that the applicant who is registered as an adult is manifestly a minor. In such cases, a decision of the Head of the competent Receiving Authority, following a recommendation by the case-handler, shall suffice.’697 The JMD 9889/2020 was an anticipated legal instrument, filling the gap of dedicated age assessment procedures within the context of the Asylum Service and limiting the use of medical examinations to a last resort while prioritising alternative means of assessment. Multiple safeguards prescribed in both the IPA and JMD 9889/2020 regulate the context of the procedure sufficiently, while explicitly providing the possibility of remaining doubts and thus providing the applicant with the benefit of the doubt even after the conclusion of the procedure.698 The above is corroborated by the World Medical Association (WMA) which clarifies that there is “conflicting evidence about the accuracy and reliability of the available methods of age assessment, which may generate significant margins of error”.699 The persisting administrative contra legem treatment of persons in a pending age assessment procedure as adults was noted over 2025, with a court decision clarifying that this is a malpractice in contrast to what the law stipulates. In a case supported by GCR, a child had been detained for three months in a PreRemoval Detention Centre together with adults unknown to him, under conditions completely unsuitable for children and with no access to a guardian, given that he was treated as an adult. 700 In its 2022 Concluding Observation, the UNCRC already noted its serious concern regarding the generalized and inappropriate determination procedures and urged the state to “[e]nsure that the age determination procedure is multidisciplinary, scientifically based, respectful of children’s rights, harmonized across the country, and used only in cases of serious doubt about the claimed age, and takes into consideration CRC/C/GRC/CO/4-6 14 documentary or other forms of evidence available, and ensure access to effective appeal mechanisms”.701 Nonetheless, in August 2025, the procedure was reformed once again by the Joint Ministerial Decision 147627/22-8-2025 by the Ministries of Migration & Asylum and Health. Competent authorities —including the Reception and Identification Service, the Asylum Service, and child protection agencies—initiate the procedure. It is conducted in a single session including a medical examination of physical development, a psychosocial assessment by a qualified specialist, and a wrist/hand X-ray for bone age estimation. In 697 698 699 700 701 Article 84(4) of the Asylum Code. See also GCR, Without papers, there’s no life: Legal barriers in access to protection for unaccompanied children in Greece, July 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/y6fb7zh5 ,p. 7. See, inter alia, World Medical Association, WMA Statement on Medical Age Assessment of Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Seekers, October 2019, available here. For more information, see GCR’s Press Release, Children, even alleged ones, are not to be detained. A recent decision of the Administrative Court of Athens safeguards the rights of children and persons under age assessment procedure in Greece”, 2 May 2024, available here. UNCRC Concluding Observations on Greece (2022), § 39(c) and 40(c) cited by GCR/AIRE Submission to the Committee of Ministers of The Council of Europe concerning the execution of the O.R. v Greece etc. Judgments of the Court - November 2025 available here. 157