Capacity and occupancy of the asylum reception system: December 2023 Centre Capacity Occupancy at end of December 2023 Islands Lesvos CCAC Samos CΑCC Chios CCAC Leros CΑCC Kos CΑCC Mainland Greece Epirus Central Macedonia East Macedonia & Thrace 8,000 5,390 3,650 3,890 1,014 1,082 2,150 2,192 2,923 3,360 Mainland (per region, as per MoMA publication) 3,199 Not available Not available Not available Not available 1,790 5,314 1,463 Peloponnese Attica West Greece Thessaly Not available Not available Not available Not available 707 3,903 484 126 Grand total Total not available (17,737 reported for island CCACs) 32,900 Source: National Coordination Centre for border Control, Immigration and Asylum, National Situational Picture regarding the Islands at Eastern Aegean Sea (31/12/2023), 1 January 2024, available at: https://migration.gov.gr/en/statistika/; MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2023 International Protection | Appendix A, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yc2stzh7, table 4. 1.2 The islands and accommodation in the hotspots Immediately after the launch of the EU-Türkiye Statement on 20 March 2016, Reception and Identification Centres (RIC) –the so-called “hotspot” facilities– were transformed into closed detention facilities due to a practice of blanket detention of all newly arrived persons.951 Following criticism by national and international organisations and actors, as well as due to the limited capacity to maintain and run closed facilities on the islands with a large population,952 this practice was largely abandoned shortly afterwards. As a result, before the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent establishment of the new CCACs, islands RICs were mainly operating as open reception centres, similar to mainland camps (with the exception of mainland RICs of Orestiada, Diavata and Malakasa). In March 2020, following the breakout of the global COVID-19 pandemic, those residing in RICs and camps became subject to disproportionate restrictions of their freedom of movement in the context of measures aimed at restricting the spread of the virus.953 These restrictions continued being renewed up 951 952 953 AIDA, Country Report Greece: 2016 Update, March 2017, available at: https://bit.ly/3J8Qw23, p.100 et seq. UNHCR, Explanatory Memorandum to UNHCR’s Submission to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on developments in the management of asylum and reception in Greece, May 2017, available at: https://bit.ly/3Qhsk0O, p. 10. Although measures for the general population have largely fluctuated throughout the year, also depending on the epidemiological actualities of each location, residents of RICs and camps have been consistently subject to a horizontal restriction of their movement between 7pm-7am, with representatives of families or groups only allowed exit from the respective facilities in order to cover essential needs, as per consecutive Joint Ministerial Decisions issued since 21 March 2020. Amongst others, see HRW, Greece Again Extends Covid-19 Lockdown at Refugee Camps, 12 June 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3fmYncl. 191