psychosocial support, GCR received the following reply from the MoMA: ‘we will never again accommodate refugees in apartments, but only in camps’. After consistent effort by GCR’s Social Unit, the applicant was ultimately placed in ESTIA. Yet this was the last time a GCR beneficiary was accepted to accommodation other than a camp, despite the fact that there have since been several more applicants with similar vulnerabilities, which on several occasions have been accentuated and/or resulted from past traumatic experiences in Greece’s camps, where (amongst others) GBV incidents continue being reported to this day.767 In a slightly hopeful development, in January 2023 it was reported that the MoMA would initiate an informal, even if severely limited (up to 500 places), alternative accommodation scheme within the first quarter of 2023, aimed at covering the needs of severely vulnerable applicants. 768 Yet GCR is not aware of any development on this front up to April 2023. ESTIA II accommodation scheme: September-November 2022* Type of accommodation Capacity Total number of reported places 10,363 Resident population during reporting period 1,843 Reported occupancy rate 18% * Last publicly available data for ESTIA since the programme was terminated in December 2022. Source: MoMA, ΕSΤΙΑ 2022 Factsheet – September/October/November 2022, 30 November 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3YPrj2f Between September-November 2022, the ESTIA II accommodation programme operated in 1,683 apartments and 76 rooms found in 9 buildings, in 19 cities throughout Greece. Out of the total of 10,363 places reported by November 2022, 404 were reported on the islands of Crete and Tilos, as the programme had been terminated on the rest of the islands by November 2021. In total, 93,000 individuals have benefitted from the accommodation programme since the start of its implementation in November 2015. Out of the 1,843 people reported to be accommodated under the programme between SeptemberNovember 2022 –which is also the last reporting period for which public data are available– 781 were beneficiaries of international protection. During the same period, 42% of all residents were children, while the clear majority of those accommodated continued being families with children, primarily from the DRC (23%), Afghanistan (20%), Syria (11%), Iraq (9%), and Iran (5%). 769 1.3 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.770 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, 771 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, albeit similar to mainland camps. 767 768 769 770 771 Information inter alia acquired from the Lesvos Inter-Agency Coordination Meeting of 27 March 2023. Ta Nea, ‘From ‘ESTIA’ to social housing’, 6 January 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3AeHziJ. MoMA, ΕSΤΙΑ 2022 Factsheet – September/October/November 2022, 30 November 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3YPrj2f. AIDA, Country Report Greece: 2016 Update, March 2017, available at: https://bit.ly/3J8Qw23, 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/3IN3hPk, 10. 164