fires in dire conditions, following the Greek government’s announcement of a general prohibition on departures from Lesvos. The ECtHR indicated interim measures under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court “take all necessary measures to safeguard the applicants’ life and limb in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention, in view of the particular circumstances and the applicants’ vulnerability.” 856 In a similar vein, on 9 August 2022, the ECtHR granted interim measures in a case represented by the organisation (IHR).857 The case concerned two highly vulnerable applicants, one of whom was 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 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,858 ‘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”. However, and despite the repeated calls by international and national human rights bodies to address the increasingly desperate situation of refugees and migrants in reception centres in the Aegean islands and the increasing number of Courts’ Decisions dealing with the situation on the Islands, the situation on the Greek Islands remained dangerous and persons there were exposed to significant protection risks throughout 2022 as well. By 15 August 2021, and despite for example the Decision of the European Committee on Social Rights indicating immediate measures and inter alia ordering the Greek Authorities to ensure that migrant children in RICs are provided with immediate access to age-appropriate shelters,859 some 6,600 refugees and asylum-seekers continued residing on the Aegean islands, the majority of whom were from Afghanistan (48%), Syria (13%) and DRC (10%). Women accounted for 21% of the population, and children for 29% of whom nearly 7 out of 10 were younger than 12 years old. Approximately 14% of the children were unaccompanied or separated, among them, most came from Afghanistan.860 Out of the total number of asylum seekers and refugees remaining on the islands at the end of 2020, 7,093 were residing in the RICs of Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos, with a total nominal capacity of 3,338 accommodation places, while 7,172 persons were residing in the temporary camp of Mavrovouni, Lesvos.861 By 1 January 2023, 389 unaccompanied minors remained in RICs,862 almost three times higher than one year earlier when 131 unaccompanied minors were in RICs. 863 The available data does not allow the identification of the extent to which this concerned the islands and/or the RIC of Evros. As highlighted by GCR / OXFAM / SCI: ‘In the new €43 million Closed Controlled Access Centre of Samos, which is fully funded by the European Union, asylum seekers had no access to adequate water for more than two weeks in May 2022. Due to a water pump malfunction the tap water supply was limited to only two hours per day (8-9 am and 7-8 pm). According to organisations operating on Samos island, there were days when asylum seekers living in the facility had no access to tap water at all, while receiving only three bottles of water (4.5 litres) per person per day, to meet all their needs - consumption, personal hygiene, laundry, personal and household cleaning. According to the World Health 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 RSA, ‘European Court of Human Rights orders Greece to safeguard asylum seekers’ life and limb on Lesvos’, 24 September 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3uXUp0D. 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. European Committee of Social Rights, Idem. UNHCR, Aegean Islands Weekly Snapshot, 9-15 August 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3JUG78d. General Secretariat for Information and Communication, ‘National Situational Picture Regarding the Islands at Eastern Aegean Sea (31/12/2020)’, 1 January 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3bAvSXG. Special Secretary for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors, Situation Update: Unaccompanied Children (UAC) in Greece, 1 January 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/43sXXss. AIDA, Country Report: Greece, 2021 Update, May 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3MRVkLf. 177