Social Work & Society ▪▪▪ A. Fili, V. Xythali: The Continuum of Neglect: Unaccompanied Minors in Greece The protection failures documented in this paper reflect a continuum of systemic failures, which have led to criticism and concern expressed by human rights organizations over the previous years (Human Rights Watch 2008; Human Rights Watch 2013; Dimitropoulou & Papageorgiou 2008). As a response to consistent criticism, recent innovations in the Greek 4 asylum and immigration policy (Law 4375/2016) regulate the procedures through which minors go while in the country. However, while solutions have been adopted in legal documents, the reality in practice fails UAM time and again, exposing them to other zones of exploitation (UNICEF 2016a). In fact, competent authorities are not ‘making meaningful efforts to give effect to legal obligations to ensure that children receive the level of protection to which they are entitled’ (HRW 2008, p. 18). The paper aims to unravel the complexities of the existing framework for the protection of minors in Greece. In doing so, it draws on a thorough analysis of relevant legal documents and a careful examination of the small body of literature on the issue and available quantitative data. It is further enriched with anecdotal empirical data collected through the authors' work in the field of minors’ protection in the third sector, as well as through informal interviews with other professionals in the field. The following section will provide a critical overview of the legislative framework as it has been shaped by recent developments while section three will identify social protection deficiencies, such as interim care and reception arrangements. The concluding section draws the above points together and highlights the issues that arise from humanitarian representations of children as powerless victims. 2 Who are the unaccompanied minors? The official data on hand indicate that the vast majority of UAM originate from countries experiencing armed conflict, oppression or abuses of human rights, or the collapse of social structures due to the coexistence of conflict and poverty, like Afghanistan and Syria. According to the National Center for Social Solidarity (EKKA), most of them are boys 5 between 15 to 18 years of age, but there is also a small proportion (around 8%) of girls . This alone, though, cannot provide an accurate picture of who these minors are. Any credible effort to form a representative image of this population hits the brick wall of the insufficiency of comprehensive statistical data. There is no central authority responsible for tracking children in need of protection, thus, leading to contradictory official sources and double counts. The only primary data are those provided by the Ministry of Citizen Protection and 6 the Ministry of Labor. Data from the former, is published periodically , and relate to the number of UAM who have been arrested and identified as underage at the border and those who have lodged an asylum application. The latter reflect the number of minors who have 7 requested to be allocated to reception centers and are distributed monthly by EKKA . However, there is no consolidation or cross-referencing of data between EKKA and the Asylum Service, inevitably leading to confusion about the reality behind the numbers. 4 Law No. 4375 of 2016 provides the institutional framework on the organization and operation of the Asylum Service, the Appeals Authority, the Reception and Identification Service, the establishment of the General Secretariat for Reception, and the transposition into Greek legislation of the provisions of Directive 2013/32/EC. The law was adopted under an urgent procedure and entered into force in the beginning of April in order to facilitate the legal reforms needed for the implementation of the EU-Turkey deal of 18 March. 5 https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/49429 6 http://asylo.gov.gr/en/?page_id=110 7 http://www.ekka.org.gr/PressOfficeForceAccountShow.action Social Work & Society, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2017 ISSN 1613-8953 ▪▪▪ http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:464-sws-1264 2