Amongst the factors further hindering accessibility to necessary services outside the camps were also ongoing gaps and challenges with respect to the availability of transportation or lack of resources to access it when available, which to different degrees continued being reported throughout 2023.976 As noted by a single mother from Afghanistan, residing in the Malakasa camp, in March 2023977: "I feel like I am living in hell. I have been in Greece for three months now, but time feels like not passing. I am so stressed about my asylum interview, that will take place in a few days. I just feel desperate and afraid most of the time. I stay inside the container with the lights off. I have been in Athens only to visit my psychologist and my lawyer. I received the financial support last month for the first time. In the beginning I had no help. I had to take the train to visit my psychologist but I had no money for the ticket. I could register my asylum application after some weeks, and only after that I received the Cash-Card. In the meanwhile, IOM started helping me with my transfers to Athens. But now they told me that they have stopped working in the camp and they'll only come for urgent cases. That makes me more worried. I even lost my last appointment with the psychologist in Athens because the transportation services were cut and there are still no trains. I feel a lot of pressure and stress." Similar gaps and/or complete lack of transportation services in mainland camps, leading to the severe disruption of camp residents’ ability to access their rights, including the asylum procedure, their lawyers, psychosocial care, or hospitals and medication for those in need of regular treatment, were reported in both March and April 2023.978 Efforts to address these gaps were subsequently and partially undertaken by IOM, which under the HARP project resumed the provision of remote transportation services (bus transportation) for people residing in the mainland camps of Andravida, Ritsona, Thiva, Nea kavala, Vagiochori, and Koutsochero,979 at least up to June, when the project was finalised. Following this, transportation started being provided under the RIS from the mainland camps to the nearest urban centers in July 2023, yet practical challenges, such as buses not being in use in Nea Kavala camp,980 continued being reported up to the end of the year, when provision of transportation services was reported as more stable.981 Regarding housing arrangements, with very few exceptions, by March 2022, amidst the significant reduction in arrivals, there had been a similar significant reduction in the use of unsuitable/emergency units (i.e., tents) for the purposes of accommodating camp residents, who at the time were instead accommodated in comparatively more suitable units, such as containers, apartments/rooms, and shelters.982 Whether and to what extent this was still the case in 2023, particularly following the increase in arrivals and the concomitant increase in the number of persons transferred from the islands to the mainland, is not possible to assess given the lack of relevant public data. Yet, infrastructural damages, due to physical wear and tear or misuse were reported with respect to the sewage system and housing units in Ritsona camp, in March 2023.983 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 Inter alia, as per information acquired during the 17 March 2023 protection working group for Northern Greece, which is organised under UNHCR. RSA, Refugee women in the offside: Greece encampment policy and services takeover lead to isolation and deny protection, 21 March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3lxoPqX. Information provided during the 11 April 2023 National Protection Working Group which is organised and chaired by UNHCR and currently co-chaired by GCR. Also see RSA, Refugee women in the offside Greece encampment policy and services takeover lead to isolation and deny protection, 21 March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3lxoPqX. Information provided during the 16 May 2023 National Protection Working Group which is organised and chaired by UNHCR and currently co-chaired by GCR. Information provided during the 27 September 2023 National Protection Working Group which is organised and chaired by UNHCR and currently co-chaired by GCR. As per information provided during the 22 February 2024 National Protection Working Group which is organised and chaired by UNHCR and currently co-chaired by GCR. IOM, Supporting the Greek Authorities in Managing the National Reception System for Asylum Seekers and Vulnerable Migrants (SMS), March 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/43mIVEv. As per the MoMA’s reply on 16 March 2023 to a relevant question tabled before the Greek Parliament, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3vZBwQG. 196