times, simply not possible. The main difficulty was the actual access to the platform, since many of the persons of concern were either illiterate or technologically illiterate. This issue, combined with the fact that the Asylum Offices did not serve requests that could be submitted through the online system, eventually excluded many applicants and beneficiaries from those services. Using the platform to request for copies or to make appointments with the asylum service is currently mandatory. Therefore, persons visiting the Asylum Offices are denied access and are referred to the platform. The need for improvement and for the provision of alternative solutions was raised by several NGOs through a letter addressed to the National Commission of Human Rights since December 2021,879 as well as the fact that the platform remained not available in all languages while the initial menu is only in Greek and English. The issue was raised also in 2022,880 and still persists at the time of the writing (February 2025). Moreover, legal aid for the appeals procedure must be requested via the electronic application of the Ministry for Migration and Asylum, which significantly hinders access for those not familiar with the use of electronic applications or who do not have access to the required equipment/internet. 881 Moreover, in practice the Head of the RICs on the islands and Evros and the Head of Pre-removal detention facilities in Athens (Amigdaleza and Tavros) notify applicants of first instance decisions. In both cases, the inability of the applicants to understand the content of the communicated documents and the procedure has been reported and continued in 2024. Access to information in detention For those detained and due to the critically insufficient interpretation services provided in detention facilities, access to information is even more limited. According to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment (CPT)’s report to the Greek Government, foreign nationals detained in facilities across the country are deprived of their right to be informed about their rights in a language they could understand. According to the delegation, “a two-page information leaflet (Δ-33 form) detailing the rights of detained persons was generally available and pinned to the wall in various languages in most police stations visited, none of the persons interviewed by the CPT’s delegation had obtained a copy of it". Furthermore, the detainees complained that “they had signed documents in the Greek language without knowing their content and without having been provided with the assistance of an interpreter”.882 These findings remain valid in 2024. The same issue was raised in all subsequent CPT reports.883 Similar observations were made by the Council of the European Union after the 2021 evaluation and its recommendations to the Greek Government that followed in 2024,884 and were reported once again by GCR in its Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee in 2024.885 A delegation of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) held talks with the Minister and Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection and senior officials responsible for prison matters in Athens on 23 and 24 October 2023 in light of the Committee’s decision of March 2022 to open the procedure which may lead to the adoption of a Public Statement under Article 10, paragraph 2, of the Convention regulating the CPT. A delegation of the CPT also carried out an ad hoc visit to Greece from 21 November to 1 December 2023. The relevant report was published on July 2024 stating “As was the case in 2018 and 2020, the Committee must once again conclude that there remains an acute lack of 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 Letter signed by 14 NGOs communicated to the National Commission of Human Rights on 16 of December 2021, not available online. Amnesty International, ΠΡΟΣΒΑΣΗ ΣΤΟ ΑΣΥΛΟ (ΚΑΠΟΙΕΣ ΕΠΙΣΗΜΑΝΣΕΙΣ), 30 June 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3WtfkXV. The electronic application platform for legal aid and other applications relevant to the asylum procedure is available at: https://bit.ly/3BPGrCV. CPT, Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 28 March to 9 April 2019, CPT/Inf (2020) 15, April 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3MDGG8Z, para. 100. CPT, Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 13 to 17 of March 2020, CPT/Inf (2020) 36, Strasbourg, 19 November 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3quLJ4r, paras 22 -23. Council of the European Union, Council Implementing Decision setting out a recommendation on addressing the deficiencies identified in the 2021 evaluation of Greece on the application of the Schengen acquis in the field of return, 9 November 2021, available here. GCR, GCR Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee, Greece’s State Party Report, 142nd Session, 14 October – 7 November 2024, September 2024, available here. 171