To designate a country as a “safe country of origin”, the authorities must take into account inter alia the extent to which protection is provided against persecution or ill-treatment through:539 ❖ The relevant legal and regulatory provisions of the country and the manner of their application; ❖ Compliance with the ECHR, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), namely as regards non-derogable rights as defined in Article 15(2) ECHR, the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of the Child; ❖ Respect of the non-refoulement principle in line with the Refugee Convention; and ❖ Provision of a system of effective remedies against the violation of these rights. A country may be designated as a “safe country of origin” for a particular applicant only if, after an individual examination of the application, it is demonstrated that the applicant (a) has the nationality of that country or is a stateless person and was previously a habitual resident of that country; and (b) has not submitted any serious grounds for considering the country not to be a safe country of origin in his or her particular circumstances and in terms of his or her qualification as a beneficiary of international protection.540 The “safe country of origin” concept is a ground for applying the Accelerated Procedure. Until the implementation of IPA, there was no national or EU common list of safe countries. Therefore, the rules relating to safe countries of origin in Greek law had not been applied in practice and there had been no reference or interpretation of the abovementioned provisions in decision-making practice. Following a joint Ministerial Decision issued on 31 December 2019,541 12 countries were designated as safe countries of origin. These are Ghana, Senegal, Togo, Gambia, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Albania, Georgia, Ukraine, India and Armenia. In January 2021 Pakistan and Bangladesh were included in the aforementioned list.542 In February 2022, Benin, Nepal and Egypt were also added to the list.543 The list of safe countries of origin was updated in November 2022 by Ministerial Decision 708368, which removed Ukraine from the list. The number of asylum applications submitted by citizens of countries considered as safe countries of origin throughout 2022 is not available. According to Art. 88 (7 στ) of the Asylum Code, the asylum applications by applicants for international protection, coming from “safe countries of origin”, are examined under the Accelerated Procedure. 2. Safe third country The “safe third country” concept is a ground for inadmissibility (see Admissibility Procedure). According to Article 91 (1) of the Asylum Code, a country shall be considered as a “safe third country” for a specific applicant when all the following criteria are cumulatively fulfilled: (a) The applicant's life and liberty are not threatened for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion; (b) The country respects the principle of non-refoulement, in accordance with the Refugee Convention; (c) The applicant is in no risk of suffering serious harm according to Article 15 of IPA; (d) The country prohibits the removal of an applicant to a country where he or she risks to be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as defined in international law; (e) The possibility to apply for refugee status exists and, if the applicant is recognised as a refugee, to receive protection in accordance with the Refugee Convention; and 539 540 541 542 543 Article 92 (4) of Asylum Code. Article 92 (2) of Asylum Code. Joint Ministerial Decision No 1302/20.12.2019, Gov. Gazette 4907/B/31.12.2019. Joint Ministerial Decision No 778/2021, Gov. Gazette 317/Β/29-1-2021. Joint Ministerial Decision No 78391/2022, Gov Gazette 667/15-02-2022 126