❖ No time limit or any re-examination at regular intervals is provided for the geographical restriction imposed; ❖ No effective legal remedy is provided in order to challenge the geographical restriction imposed by the Minister of Citizen Protection, contrary to Article 26 of the recast Reception Conditions Directive. The remedy provided under article 112(1) (formerly introduced by the amended Article 24 L 4540/2018 in December 2018) remains illusory, since an individual cannot lodge an appeal pursuant to the Code of Administrative Procedure in the absence of an individual, enforceable administrative act. In addition, no tailored legal aid scheme is provided for challenging such decisions (see Regular Procedure: Legal Assistance). A fortiori, no legal remedy to challenge said restriction is provided by the new Asylum Code that replaced the IPA. During 2021 and in line with the legal framework in place at that time, the geographical restriction was inter alia lifted in the following cases: ❖ Persons granted international protection; ❖ Applicants exempted due to the applicability of the family provisions of the Dublin Regulation; ❖ Vulnerable applicants for whom appropriate support could not be provided within the area of restriction, though GCR is aware of several cases of vulnerable applicants for whom the restriction was not lifted, even though neither special reception conditions nor special procedural guarantees could be applied, not least, due to diverging practices between locations (also see Lift of geographical Restriction). Relevant data for 2022 has not been provided, even though it was requested by GCR. Yet based on data published by the MoMA on the number of people transferred from the islands to the mainland during the year, it could be presumed that the geographical restriction might have been lifted in the case of at least 7,363 persons (see Conditions on the Eastern Aegean Islands). 715 The specific data published by the MoMA does not include any additional information on the status or potential vulnerabilities of the people transferred (or any more specific breakdown whatsoever). Yet based on highly limited statistics issued by the RIS on people registered as vulnerable during the first 3 quarters of 2022, it could also be presumed that amongst those having their geographical restriction lifted, there might have been 1,314 UAM, 64 persons with disabilities, 14 elderly people, 121 pregnant women/women who had recently given birth, 426 single parent families, 1,086 victims of physical abuse, and 121 victims of trafficking.716 This might have been the case if the specific data, which concerns applicants registered as vulnerable by the RIS in the first 3 quarters of 2022, specifically concerns people registered on the islands, who actually had their geographical restriction lifted, which is something that is not clarified in the data issued by the RIS. Nevertheless, in all cases the lifting of the geographical restriction does not necessarily amount to an immediate change in living conditions or the actual departure from the islands. For instance, in a case documented by RSA, an elderly woman who had her geographical restriction lifted in August 2020 with a view to her Dublin transfer remained under inappropriate living conditions on in the RIC of Lesvos for six months. She was only placed in suitable accommodation after repeated complaints to the Ombudsman and an interim measure request to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). 717 Similarly, in another case handled by GCR concerning a vulnerable family of 5 living in highly unsuitable conditions in the RIC of Lesvos, with the spouse in advanced pregnancy, and one of the children with a serious medical issue that could not be addressed on the island, the geographical restriction was lifted in March 2021. Yet the family was not allowed to leave until 5 months later, after consecutive interventions by GCR’s lawyer inter alia to the Greek Ombudsman in August 2021. The reasoning provided by the administration to the 715 716 717 MoMA, Briefing Notes: International Protection, Annex A, December 2022, available (in Greek) at: https://bit.ly/41W5ZsN. MoMA, General Secretariat for the Reception of Asylum Seekers, Reception and Identification Service, R.I.Cs & C.C.A.Cs Directorate, Registered TCNs/stateless persons per category of vulnerability 2022 (1/1/2022 30/9/2022), available at: https://migration.gov.gr/statistika/. RSA, ‘Refugees unprotected against COVID-19 risks in Greece’, 12 March 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3JAmF0R. 155