NERM is supported by UNHCR (expert support), EUAA, IOM and the European Commission Its operation
on the ground is carried out through NGOs Arsis, METAdrasi and the Network for Children’s Rights. 1144
The Mechanism also includes a 24/7 telephone hotline for identifying and tracing children in need, which
is available in six languages. The hotline provides guidance to children, citizens, local and public
authorities on steps and actions to be taken from the point of identification of an unaccompanied child
until their timey inclusion in emergency accommodation. 1145
The total number of referrals of unaccompanied children received by the SGVP in 2025 was reported at
4,440, while the number of those resolved, either through placement in a dedicated shelter or cancelation
after verification stood at 4,846.1146 At the same time, the number of accommodation in spaces,
specifically designated for unaccompanied minors remained stable, reaching a total of 1,900 places by
the end 2025.1147 Of those, almost 91.8% (1,745) were long-term accommodation (including SILs), while
the rest (155) were temporary/emergency accommodation under the relevant mechanism established by
the MoMA in April 2021.1148
Nevertheless, challenges remained regarding the proper identification of UAM upon arrival, and
consequently, cases where UAM have been accommodated alongside the adult population continued to
be observed in 2024, at least on the islands, currently 1149 For the situation of UAMs see also the chapter
on Guarantees for Vulnerable Groups.
The lack of appropriate care, including accommodation for unaccompanied children, in Greece has been
repeatedly raised by human rights bodies. 1150
Moreover, in the case of T.K. v. Greece (Application no. 16112/20) of 18 January 2024 represented by
Refugee Law Clinic Berlin (Germany) and supported by I Have Rights (Samos), the ECtHR held that there
has been a violation of Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR in the case of an unaccompanied child on Samos,
whose wrong registration as an adult and the failure to correct his age violated his right to respect for
private and family life (Article 8 ECHR). Moreover, according to the Court, the living conditions of the
applicant amounted to inhumane and degrading treatment, in violation of Article 3 of the ECHR.1151
On 3 October 2024, the ECtHR convicted Greece for violation of Articles 3 (prohibition of inhuman and
degrading treatment) , 5(1) (right to liberty and security) and 5(4) (right to apply to a court) of the European
Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), for the violations suffered in 2019 by two unaccompanied minor
1144
1145
1146
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
Interreg Europe, National Emergency Response Mechanism (NERM) in Greece, 16 November 2023, available
at: https://tinyurl.com/2ryp53cs; see also, European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN), National Emergency
Response Mechanism¸available at: https://tinyurl.com/mvv8ntvp.
See European Commission: Greece: National Emergency Response Mechanism | European Website on
Integration,available at: https://tinyurl.com/bd8aa8ys, see also, UNHCR, Greece launches national tracing and
protection mechanism for unaccompanied children in precarious conditions, 6 April 2021, available at:
https://bit.ly/3uBRICI.
SG for Vulnerable Persons & Institutional Protection, Status updated: Unaccompanied Minors (UM) in Greece,
1 December 2025, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/mus9dfbz.
Ibid.
Data provided by the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons & Institutional Protection on 1 January 2025.
GCR & Oxfam, Lesbos Bulletin: Update on Lesbos and the Aegean Islands, by the Greek Council for Refugees
& Oxfam, March 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3YEXp0H, p. 5.
-Indicatively see: UNHCR, Lone children face insecurity on the Greek islands, 14 October 2019, available at:
https://bit.ly/36XQ6pf. In 2019, in the context of his visit to the Lesvos, the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees stated he was ‘very worried about children, especially children travelling alone…[who] are the most
exposed to violence and exploitation”, while Human Rights Watch inter alia noted that “the lack of prompt
transfers [from the islands] put vulnerable people, including people with invisible disabilities and children, at
higher risk of abuse and violation of their rights”, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding
observations on the combined fourth to sixth reports of Greece, 28 June 2022, available at:
https://bit.ly/3xTHfYR, and UN Human Rights Office, Council of Europe, New complaint registered concerning
Greece, 21 December 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/2SG0FpF European Committee of Social Rights,
Decision on admissibility and on immediate measures in the case International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
and European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) v. Greece, Complaint No. 173/2018, 23 May 2019,
available at: https://bit.ly/39clrGj.,
I Have Rights, European Court of Human Rights Condemns Greece’s Treatment of an Unaccompanied Child
on Samos, 18 January 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/44dJNNg.
231