According to GCR’s observations, inadequate interview conditions continued to be reported in the premises of RAO and AAUs in 2023. Notably, registrations and interviews were conducted without consideration of potential vulnerabilities and relevant needs. Certain interviews and registrations took place simultaneously in different spaces within the same container, which does not provide proper sound insulation and is not in line with the principle of confidentiality. The Appeals Committees further contribute to the non-implementation of special procedural guarantees through a strict interpretation of Article 72 Asylum Code. Several Committees have ruled that the onus is on the asylum seeker to establish exactly what evidence he or she would have been able to submit in his/her specific case if procedural guarantees had been provided during the procedure.654 According to a decision of the 10th Committee of the Appeals Authority dated 13 November 2023 regarding the second instance examination of the asylum case of a vulnerable person from Siera Leone, the vulnerability of the applicant “was not assessed, since on the day of his registration he was subjected to an extremely superficial, non-thorough and faulty medical examination […] Therefore […] at the time of his oral interview, the procedures of first reception had not even been initiated, let alone completed, and specifically his assessment as vulnerable by the competent EODY psychosocial unit. Thus, an essential type (of the procedure) was violated, as the assessment and recognition of vulnerability constitutes a special procedural guarantee in favor of the asylum seeker and a special procedural obligation of the Administration, the violation of which affects the validity of the examination of the application for international protection, making it ineffective and non-specialized […] In view of these, the Committee judges necessary to postpone the issuance of its final judgment so that the applicant can undergo at his own initiative medical examinations and present medical certificates on his state of health during the new scheduled discussion of the case […]”.-655 All decisions rejecting minors' claims have troubling similarities. Procedural deficits (absence of a guardian, of appropriate legal representation and legal aid during the process), as well as substantial deficits regarding the determination of refugee status (lack of any reference to the Best Interest of the Child or lack of assessment thereof, obvious lack of knowledge regarding forms of child persecution in general and in countries of origin in particular or the lack of a proper assessment of a minor's credibility), make it almost impossible for unaccompanied minors undergoing the procedure themselves to qualify for international protection. The number of decisions granting refugee status or subsidiary protection to unaccompanied children and the number of in-merit rejection decisions issued throughout 2023 is not available. What is available is only the number of 1s instance decisions granting refugee status and subsidiary protection to UAMs, which amounted to a total of 1,163 (1,133 decisions granting refugee status & 30 decisions granting subsidiary protection).656 1.5 Exemption from special procedures The Asylum Code does not provide for the exemption of vulnerable persons from special procedures as a rule (see Identification).657 Applicants in need of special procedural guarantees are only exempted from the Accelerated Procedure, the Border Procedure, and the Fast-Track Border Procedure where adequate support cannot be provided (see above).658 654 655 656 657 658 6th Appeals Committee, Decision 30955/2020, 18 May 2021, para II.4; 12th Appeals Committee, Decision 233902/2021, 9 September 2021, p. 3. Decision IP/268799/2023/13.11.2023 of the 10th Committee of the Appeals Authority on a case legally supported in 2nd instance by the Registry of Lawyers of the Asylum Service in GCR/HIAS/RSA, Δελτίο Νομολογίας Ασύλου 2/2203, December 2023, pp. 25-26, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3JuO7y7. MomA, Information Note A, December 2023, Reception, Asylum & Integration Procedures, p. 8, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/59d5hubb. Article 41 (d) Asylum Code provides that the determination of an applicant as vulnerable has the sole effect of triggering immediate care of particular reception, and Article 77 (3) Asylum Code adds ‘the provision of special procedural guarantees’. Article 72(3) Asylum Code. This provision clarifies that, where the applicant falls within the cases where appeals have no automatic suspensive effect, he or she must have access to interpretation services, legal assistance and at least one week to prepare the appeal (see also Border Procedure and Fast-Track Border Procedure). 142