and especially regarding the legal grounds and the duration of quarantine. Additionally, UNHCR and other actors providing legal counselling have had no access to the sites and as result, newcomers receive limited to no information regarding the Reception and Asylum procedures about to be initiated following their quarantine. It is worth noting that before the end of quarantine, newcomers are not -even temporarilyregistered by the RIS. Worryingly enough, in certain cases the mobile phones of newcomers are confiscated by the Authorities upon arrival, rendering any communication with their relatives and/or legal actors impossible.163 Also, in certain cases, asylum seekers arriving by sea without negative COVID tests have been fined with a 5,000 euro fine by the Greek police. At the beginning of August 2021, the Chios Police Department fined 25 asylum seekers a total of 125,000 euros. 164 Moreover, since 21 March 2020, Greece imposed lockdown schemes to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, including severe limitations on the movement of people hosted in RICs and Temporary Accommodation Facilities. Though restrictions applied to refugee camps were successively prolonged and remained in force until November 2022, despite the nationwide lifting of restriction of movement for the general population,165 there was a deterioration of [the asylum seekers’] medical and mental health (See Reception Conditions).166 During the first months of 2022, residents of the RIC were able to exit the camp from 07:00 to 21:00. In January 2022, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Asylum and Migration orally announced that the residents would exit the RIC depending on the numbers of confirmed COVID cases on the islands. Due to the low number of confirmed COVID cases, this measure was not practically enforced. New arrivals were obligated to stay in a 14-day quarantine before their registration. Up until November 2022, quarantine was imposed on all newcomers in Lesvos and Kos. Limited information regarding the procedures (before RIS and GAS) to be followed was provided to newcomers isolated in the quarantine areas. During the confinement period, access to human rights actors has also been very limited. A Joint Ministerial Decision published on 19 November 2022 (GG B’ 5874) terminated the five-day quarantine period, stipulating that new arrivals who test negative to COVID-19 should be held in the CCAC’s First Reception Area for registration by RIS, undergoing Reception and Identification procedures. Newly arrived asylum seekers who test positive are placed in mandatory quarantine for five or more days with restricted access to their rights in the above-mentioned conditions. However, registration by the RIS might not take place immediately upon arrival, due to the limited capacity of the latter. Consequently, in Lesvos applicants are restricted for approximately 5 days in the renamed “waiting area” inside the CCAC before their registration. The newcomers arriving within the municipality of West Lesvos are transferred to the Controlled Facility for Temporary Accommodation of West Lesvos (Megala Therma or Kastelia) which is complementary to the CCAC of Lesvos and is located to a remote area. The newcomers are in fact arbitrarily detained without any formal reason and without initiating reception and identification procedures. There is not any administrative staff from the RIC apart from the deputy commander nor any translators. The living conditions are unacceptable. Medical screening is provided only by the Médecins Sans Frontières mobile unit visiting the residents twice a week.167 In Kos, the containers of the old RIC which were unsustainable and unfit for habitation were used as a quarantine area, along with areas of the Pre-removal Detention Centre (PRDC). After the termination of quarantine, the old RIC has been used as a “First Reception Area”. In practice, the ‘first reception area’ or so called ‘waiting area’ in Samos and Lesvos is the same area that was used for quarantine detention. The occasional increase of arrivals in Kos, during December 2022 and January 2023, combined with the absence of a doctor needed to sign the registration form, has led to some individuals remaining at the site 163 164 165 166 167 Equal Rights Beyond Borders, Rights of Migrants regarding the human rights impact of COVID-19 protocols on asylum seekers arriving to Kos and Chios, March 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3NV77qE. European Council of Refugees and Exiles, Greece: Tabled Bill Continues Erosion of Protection – Greek Authorities Imposing Fees and Fines on Asylum Seekers and NGOs, 27 August 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3DTNpan. Joint Ministerial Decision Δ1α/ΓΠ.οικ. 17567/2022 - Gov. Gazette 1454/Β/25-3-2022, Médecins Sans Frontières, Constructing crisis at Europe’s borders: The EU plan to intensify its dangerous hotspot approach on Greek islands, June 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3KqXvlw. RSA, ‘What is happening today in the refugee structures on the Aegean islands, Lesvos’, 3 May 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/45HXy7vGCR, and newsletter April-May 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/461FhCn. 48