family’s lawyer for the delay was that there was no organised transfer off the island scheduled and that the family would not be allowed to leave the island on their own, despite the lift of the restriction. In a similar vein, on 9 August 2022, the ECtHR granted interim measures in a case represented by the organisation I Have Rights (IHR).718 The case concerned two highly vulnerable applicants, one of whom a beneficiary of international protection and the other a person with a pending appeal on their subsequent asylum application, who remained on the island of Samos. Both applicants were reportedly in need of emergency medical treatment due to their medical condition (Hepatitis B), which they could not receive on the island. Yet despite having their geographical restriction lifted for months, they still remained there because, as noted,719 ‘in 2022, the authorities stopped conducting “organised transfers” from Samos’. The applicants were ultimately transferred following the Court’s intervention, which ordered the Greek Government to ‘a) guarantee to the applicants a medical assessment by a gastroenterologist/hepatologist, and b) ensure, if necessary, their medical treatment’. Since 1 January 2020, the new regulatory framework for the geographical restriction on the islands has significantly limited the categories of applicants for whom the restriction can be lifted. Thus, the implementation of this framework can increase the number of applicants stuck on the Greek islands and serves as a constant risk that can deteriorate the conditions there. For instance, as reported during the Lesvos Inter-Agency Coordination Meeting, which operates under UNHCR, on 19 January 2022, due to increased arrivals, the CCAC Director had informed that shelter availability in the Lesvos CCAC had become scarce, impacting on living conditions. At the time, the CCAC reportedly hosted 1,920 persons, which seems to also highlight a significant discrepancy vis-à-vis the nominal capacity of the CCAC, which has been consistently reported at 8,000 places by the National Coordination Centre for border Control, Immigration and Asylum, operating under the Ministry of Citizen Protection. 720 Throughout 2020, a total of 5,543 persons had their geographical restriction lifted, following a decision of the RIS on the islands of Lesvos (1,513), Samos (1,777), Chios (1,491), Leros (457) and Kos (305). Such data has not been provided by the MoMA either in 2021 or in 2022, even though it had been requested by GCR. In sum, the practice of indiscriminate imposition of the geographical restriction since the launch of the EUTürkiye Statement had for years been the cause of consistent and significant overcrowding in the island facilities and remains a factor that could contribute to the repetition of similar situations. Yet even amidst the reduced number of arrivals observed in recent years, which coincides with the exponential increase in reported pushback incidents at Greece’s land and sea borders, which have yet to be effectively investigated,721 and a policy of “intercept[ing] people at sea” as per the statements of the Greek PM in April 2023,722 which raises more questions on the methods used by the Greek authorities than answers, people are still obliged to reside in unsuitable and, in the case of the CCACs, prison-like conditions, which fail to respect their rights (see Conditions in Reception Facilities). In September 2020, the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR) reiterated its firm and consistently expressed position, calling the Greek Government to ‘review the dead-end policy with regards to the imposition of a geographical restriction on the Eastern Aegean islands and to move forward with the abolition of this onerous measure’.723 The GNCHR also noted that regardless of circumstances ‘any 718 719 720 721 722 723 ECtHR, Application no. 32683/22, C.N. v. Greece & Application no. 32755/22, R.M. v. Greece, 10 August 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/44318s0. IHR, ‘Interim measure granted in case concerning denial of emergency medical treatment for two of IHR’s beneficiaries’, August 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3L3Asic. For instance, see NCCBCIA, National Situational Picture Regarding the Islands at Eastern Aegean Sea (19/01/2022), 20 January 2022 and National Situational Picture Regarding the Islands at Eastern Aegean Sea (31/12/2022), 1 January 2023. Both can also be accessed on the MoMA’s website at: https://migration.gov.gr/en/statistika/, under the label ‘National Situation: Migrant and Refugee Issue’. Inter alia see Joint letter by GCR & HLHR on irregular forced returns (pushbacks), criminalisation and the Rule of Law in Greece, 17 March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/43VLqyS, paras 4-9 and relevant references. Ta Nea, ‘Mitsotakis at Bild: ‘There cannot be a European migration policy without fences and walls’, 17 April 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3mMZ46C. National Commission for Human Rights, Report on the refugee and migration issue (‘Έkθεση αναφοράς για το προσφυγικό και to μεταναστευτικό ζήτημα’), September 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3vuIqre, 44. 156