protection in Greece, who were interviewed based on a predetermined questionnaire between November 2021 and April 2022, found that 28% of said households were as per their accounts living in conditions of homelessness or without a stable roof over their head, while another 22% were at imminent risk of homelessness due to becoming ineligible to remain in Greece’s reception system. 883 The 6-month restriction with respect to applicants’ right to access the labour market (see Access to Labour), initially introduced via the IPA in 2019, is an additional factor that needs to be taken into consideration, particularly amidst ongoing challenges in accessing the asylum procedure and accordingly reception conditions on the mainland, given that throughout this time asylum seekers are exclusively dependent on support received in the context of reception (once access is secured) and/or through civil society initiatives and soup kitchens. Persons identified as vulnerable also face destitution risks. For instance, despite significant improvements with respect to broader aspects of UAM protection, as of 30 April 2021, an estimated 853 unaccompanied minors were still reported as homeless and/or living in informal/insecure housing conditions, while 102 were still reported as living in the RICs 884. The number of UAM estimated as homeless and/or living in precarious conditions by the end of 2022 is not available, as relevant estimates have stopped being published. Nevertheless, between April 2021 and 1st January 2023, the National Emergency Response Mechanism aimed at tracing UAM in precarious conditions registered more than 5,000 new and unique requests for accommodation for UAM,885 highlighting an ongoing challenge. In any event, in order for the Greek authorities’ compliance with their obligations relating to reception conditions to be assessed, the number of available reception places that are in line with the standards of the recast Reception Conditions Directive should be assessed against the total number of persons with pending asylum applications, i.e. 146 (3,069 end December 2021) applications pending registration, 17,249 (31,787 end December 2021) applications pending at first instance and 4,921 (5,258 end December 2021) appeals pending before different Appeals Committees, at the end of 2022. In parallel, as of December 2022, 34,395 (asylum) registration appointments were reported as scheduled for 2023 in the mainland RICs of Malakasa and Diavata.886 2.4 Racist violence Situations such as the one giving rise to the condemnation of Greece in Sakir v. Greece continue to occur, with examples drawn from a case on Leros in the spring of 2020, where an asylum-seeking victim of crime who complained to the police about assault and bodily injury with racist bias by police officers had his complaint set aside and found himself subject to criminal prosecution and subsequent conviction under a hearing raising fairness concerns.887 The Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN) coordinated by UNHCR and the Greek National Commission for Human Rights, witnessed an increasing number of xenophobic and racist incidents in 2019 and early 2020, targeting the transfers of asylum-seekers to reception facilities on the mainland, newly arrived refugees and migrants, as well as staff of international organisations and NGOs and members of civil society and journalists, due to their association with the defence of the rights of refugees, on the Islands and in Evros. As noted by the RVRN in March 2020: ‘such targeted attacks have escalated with physical assaults on staff providing services to refugees, arsons in facilities used for shelter and for services to refugees, NGO vehicles and blocking of the transfer or the disembarkation of new arrivals with the parallel use of racist comments’.888 883 884 885 886 887 888 For more on the relevant data see Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Verslag feitenonderzoek naar statushouders in Griekenland, June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/43OPuAJ, 34. EKKA, Situation Update: Unaccompanied Children (UAC) in Greece, 30 April 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3tZxCjo. Special Secretary for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors, Situation Update: Unaccompanied Children (UAC) in Greece, 1st January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/43sXXss. MoMA, Reply to parliamentary question, 156079/2022, 16 March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3Lid1ln. RSA, Submission in Sakir v. Greece, July 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/331Tmkh. RVRN, ‘Racist Violence Recording Network expresses concern over xenophobic reactions against refugees’, 11 November 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/3963YPt. 181