❖ 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. By means of a Joint Ministerial Decision of the Ministers of Migration and Asylum and Foreign Affairs, issued following a proposal by the Director of the Asylum Service, the countries of origin designated as safe, pursuant to this article, shall be determined. The evidence taken into consideration for the issuance of the said Joint Ministerial Decision, as prescribed in the preceding paragraphs, must be current and derived from credible sources of information, including, in particular, official diplomatic sources from both domestic and foreign jurisdictions, the EUAA, the legislation of other Member States concerning the concept of safe countries, the Council of Europe, and UNHCR. The designation shall be subject to mandatory review in November of each year. In the event of a substantial change in the human rights situation of a country designated as a safe country of origin, the designation shall be reviewed as expeditiously as possible and prior to the lapse of one year, as provided in the preceding sentence. The European Commission shall be notified of every decision concerning such designation.800 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 in that country; and (b) has not submitted any serious grounds for considering the country not to be a safe country of origin in their particular circumstances and in terms of their qualification as a beneficiary of international protection.801 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 2019,802 12 countries were designated as safe countries of origin. These are Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, India, Morocco, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia and Ukraine. In January 2021 Bangladesh and Pakistan were included in the aforementioned list.803 In February 2022, Benin, Egypt and Nepal were also added to the list.804 The list of safe countries of origin was updated in November 2022 by Joint Ministerial Decision 708368, which removed Ukraine from the list.805 In December 2023 a new JMD was published that included the countries mentioned in the previous JMD. 806 In December 2024 Angola and Moldova were also added to the list.807 Data on the full number of asylum applications submitted by citizens of countries considered as safe are not published by the MoMA nor have they been provided by the Ministry following GCR’s yearly requests. Instead, following the latest such request sent by GCR in January 2025, the MoMA replied by referring GCR to the Ministry’s website “and in particular at the link https://migration.gov.gr/statistika/ [where] the monthly newsletters are published, alongside relevant annexes, which include summary and detailed statistical data on the work of the First Reception Service, the Asylum Service and the Appeals Authority”. As per the specific publications,808 during 2024 a total of 2,101 asylum applications were submitted by Pakistani nationals, while 7,549 were submitted by Egyptian nationals. Yet data on the number of applications submitted by nationals of the other 16 countries designated as safe countries of origin is not available. According to Article 88 (7 f) of the Asylum Code, asylum applications of applicants for international protection coming from “safe countries of origin” are examined under the Accelerated Procedure. 2. Safe third country General rules The “safe third country” concept is a ground for inadmissibility (see Admissibility Procedure). 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 Article 92 (5) 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/Β/15-02-2022 Joint Ministerial Decision No 708368/2022, Gov Gazette 6012/Β/25.11.2022 available at: https://bit.ly/4d2bflc. Joint Ministerial Decision No 527235/2023, Gov Gazette 6844/Β/5.12.2023 available at: https://bit.ly/4d2bflc. Joint Ministerial Decision No 305652/2024, Gov Gazette 7117/Β/27.12.2024 available at: https://bit.ly/4g0fFJP. MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2024 - International Protection | Appendix A, available at: https://tinyurl.com/3w2bs8y6, 5. 158