Decisions by the Independent Appeals Committees: 2023 Refugee status Subsidiary protection Rejected Inadmissible 642 218 6,730 5,037 Source: Ministry of Migration and Asylum, Reply of the Ministry to the Greek Parliament, 23 February 2024, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/bdd5zkar, pp. 3-4.359 As in previous years,360 the recognition rate at second instance was exceptionally low at 6.59%, even lower than the 11.6% rate in 2022. Out of the total decisions, the rejection rate reached 93.43%, while the refugee recognition rate stood at 4.9 % and the subsidiary protection recognition rate at 1.66 %. The top 5 nationalities granted refugee status at second instance in 2023 were Afghanistan (31.73%), Gambia (20.41%), Ghana (18.39%), Siera Leone (18.07%) and Iraq (17.35%), while the bottom 5 nationalities whose recognition percentage was lower than 1% were India, Nepal, Georgia, Bangladesh and Pakistan361. Out of the 5,037 decisions rejecting appeals as inadmissible, 30% (1,523) rejected them on the grounds that they had been filed after the deadline provided in the law.362 Time limits for lodging an Appeal before the Appeals Committees An applicant may lodge an Appeal before the Appeals Committees against a first instance decision of the Asylum Service rejecting his or her application for international protection.363 The appeal may be lodged against a decision rejecting the application as unfounded under the regular procedure or against the part of the decision that grants subsidiary protection. The deadline for submitting an appeal is 30 days from the notification of the decision or from the date he or she is presumed to have been notified thereof.364 The deadline is shortened to 20 days if the applicant was notified of the rejection decision while he was in detention.365 Scope of the Appeal According to Article102(10) Asylum Code, the Appeals Committees conduct a full and ex nunc examination of the asylum application.366 Based on legal precedents, Committees have the power to carry out their own assessment of the evidence and elements of the file.367 Contrary to this position, however, some Committees have declared themselves as lacking jurisdiction to examine issues such as the need of the applicant for special procedural guarantees, where the first instance authority concluded that he or she is not vulnerable.368 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 To be noted, some discrepancies seem to exist between the data provided by the MoMA under the referenced Reply, and those published on the Ministry’s website. For instance, in the first case, the number of inadmissible decisions is stated at 5,037, while in the second case, it is stated at 5,030. For the data published on the Ministry’s website see MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2023 - International Protection | Appendix A, available at: https://tinyurl.com/wn2kukaa, and for decisions on appeals, specifically table 9b. See: AIDA, Country Report: Greece, 2020 Update, available at: https://bit.ly/3BWlPJ3. MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2023 - International Protection | Appendix A, available at: https://tinyurl.com/wn2kukaa, p.16. Ibid., table 9b. Article 97(1) Asylum Code. Article 97(1) Asylum Code Article 97(1) Asylum Code Council of State (Plenary), Decision 1694/2018, 21 August 2018, para 19. 19th Appeals Committee, Decision 6219/2021, 25 May 2021, para 4; 12th Appeals Committee, Decision 56970/2021, 10 June 2021, para A.7; 11th Appeals Committee, Decision 59841/2021, 11 June 2021, para 7; 11th Appeals Committee, Decision 62800/2021, 14 June 2021, para 9; 3rd Appeals Committee, Decision 75059/2021, 18 June 2021, para II.2; 6th Appeals Committee, Decision 140330/2021, 21 July 2021, 12; 8th Appeals Committee, Decision 1592/2021, 21 July 2021, para 3; 12th Appeals Committee, Decision 233902/2021, 9 September 2021, 3. 6th Appeals Committee, Decision 2411/2019, 28 February 2020, para 10; 6th Appeals Committee, Decision 30955/2020, 18 May 2021, para II.4. 79