any prior individual assessment. The impact of the geographical restriction on applicants’ “subsistence and… their physical and mental health”,978 on the ability of applicants to fully exercise their rights and to receive reception conditions, by taking into consideration reception conditions prevailing on the islands is not assessed. ❖ No time limit or any re-examination at regular intervals is provided for the geographical restriction imposed. ❖ No effective legal remedy is provided in order to challenge the geographical restriction imposed by the Minister of Citizen Protection, contrary to Article 26 of the recast Reception Conditions Directive. The remedy provided under Article 118(1) (formerly introduced by the amended Article 24 L 4540/2018 in December 2018) remains illusory, since an individual cannot lodge an appeal pursuant to the Code of Administrative Procedure in the absence of an individual, enforceable administrative act. In addition, no tailored legal aid scheme is provided for challenging such decisions (see Regular Procedure: Legal Assistance). A fortiori, no legal remedy to challenge said restriction is provided by the new Asylum Code that replaced the IPA. During 2024, the geographical restriction was inter alia lifted in the following cases: ❖ Persons granted international protection; ❖ Applicants exempted due to the applicability of the family provisions of the Dublin Regulation; ❖ Vulnerable applicants for whom appropriate support could not be provided within the area of restriction, though GCR is aware of several cases of vulnerable applicants for whom the restriction was not lifted, even though neither special reception conditions nor special procedural guarantees could be provided, not least, due to diverging practices between locations (also see Lift of geographical Restriction); ❖ Applicants about to be included in transfers to RICs in the mainland for decongestion purposes Additionally, applicants rejected at the first instance are allowed to leave the islands within the period provided for voluntary departure, as long as they have not lodged an appeal. As has been the case since 2021, data on the number of persons who had their geographical restriction lifted in 2024 has not been provided, even though it was requested by GCR. Instead, the MoMA’s reply to GCR’s December 2024 request for information makes reference to the availability of relevant “summary and detailed statistical data on the work of the First Reception Service, the Asylum Service and the Appeals Authority” on the MoMA’s website (https://migration.gov.gr/statistika/).979 Yet, as is the case with other data mentioned throughout this report, so too in the case of data regarding decisions lifting the geographical restriction throughout 2024, these are not to be found in the public sources referenced by the Ministry. Based on available data published by the MoMA on the number of asylum applicants transferred from the islands to the mainland throughout 2024,980 it could be inferred that the geographical restriction might have been lifted in the case of up to 36,461 applicants. However, the specific data published by the MoMA lacks significant information, such as information on the legal status or potential vulnerabilities of the people transferred (or any more specific breakdown whatsoever), thus making it impossible to draw any safe conclusions. Since 1 January 2020, the new regulatory framework for the geographical restriction on the islands has significantly limited the categories of applicants for whom the restriction can be lifted. Thus, the implementation of this framework can further increase the number of applicants stuck on the Greek islands and serves as a constant risk for bottlenecks that can deteriorate conditions there. This was vividly showcased in the latter half of 2023 and 2024, when ,due increased arrivals, there was a re-emergence of conditions of overcrowding in the island facilities, leading to the severe deterioration in the quality of reception in the CCACs and to procedural delays in inter alia accessing reception conditions. 981 More information is provided in Housing, below. 978 979 980 981 Article 17(2) recast Reception Conditions Directive. MoMA, Analysis and Studies Office, Information provision for the preparation of the updated Annual Report on Greece for 2024 in the framework of the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) project, 10 January 2025. MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2024 - International Protection | Appendix A, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yvd7454p, table 2. Amongst others, see Joint CSO Statement, Reception of asylum seekers in Greece: the demand for humane conditions remains, 9 November 2023, available here; The New Humanitarian, ‘This is inexcusable’: What’s behind deteriorating conditions in Greek island asylum camps?, 4 December 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/ss7ufmtv. 186