camps may increase critical protection risks, including sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and child protection concerns.’828 In several cases in 2021, asylum seekers and refugees residing in mainland camps continued to protest against substandard living conditions, their ongoing exclusion from the Greek society, and the new policy of excluding those not eligible for reception conditions from the provision of food, amidst severe delays in the distribution of cash assistance. In October 2021, residents of Nea Kavala camp protested by obstructing entry to the camp, while calling to for food not to be cut. As stated,’[o]ur children go to school without having eaten; is this humanitarian?’.829 Small tensions were reported in April, amid a protest in Skaramangas camp which was scheduled to close without, reportedly, the residents being informed of where or if they would be transferred and how their housing needs would be met after the camp’s closure.830 In the same month, residents of Oinofyta camp barred entry to the camp for at least two days, protesting for the ongoing rejections of asylum claims lodged by Kurdish nationals, on account of the Greek Asylum Service’s persistent application of the “safe third country” concept in the case of Türkiye. As inter alia stated, ‘We have no other solution […] For three months they are not providing us with cash assistance, the situation is very difficult. But the most important issue is that for the past two-three months approximately 150 Kurdish nationals from Syria, amongst whom families, women, and children, had their asylum applications rejected. We explained in the asylum interview our situation in Türkiye. It is not safe at all’.831 Protests were also reported in 2022, yet to the extent GCR can be aware, these were mostly related to the closure of Elaionas camp and the termination of ESTIA. For instance, in June 2022, Elaionas camp residents addressed an open letter to the Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum, The Mayor of Athens, the IOM Chief of Mission in Greece and Greek civil society more broadly. In the letter, they inter alia demanded an end to the closure of Elaionas camp. As noted: ‘Here we brought our hope of being able to start a new life, for us and our children, in peace. But the Greek authorities do not see in us human beings forced to flee: they see in us a problem to hide, taking us away from the eyes of Greek citizens, closing us in camps far from the cities, far from the rest of the society.’ With their letter, they called in June 2022 the Greek community to a demonstration, starting from the gates of the Elaionas camps to the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum.832 In November 2022, refugees in Elaionas camp protested again, calling for the site to not be closed and for procedures to be speeded-up. As stated, by a woman from Somalia, ‘The municipality wants to transfer us from here, but where can we go? We have children that go to school, we have people that work in the city. Why do they want to remove us from here and where can we go?’.833 In November 2022, in the context of an eviction operation from ESTIA, as part of which the (former) residents were to be transferred to Katsikas camp, it was also reported that ‘the vast majority of refugees refused to enter the bus that had arrived to take them to the Katsikas camp, in Ioannina, and remained outside the building shouting slogans’.834 Last but not least, since March 2020, asylum seekers residing in mainland camps, RICs and CCACs have continued to be subject to a further and disproportionate restriction of their movement, in the context of measures aimed at countering the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though such measures have for months been lifted for the rest of the population, they remain in application to facilities hosting refugees and third country nationals more broadly, with the last decision for 2022 issued on 31 December. Similar to previous such decisions, the latest one for 2022 inter alia maintains that exit from refugee-hosting 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 UNHCR, Policy on Alternatives to Camps, 22 July 2014, UNHCR/HCP/2014/9, available at: http://bit.ly/1DAf2kz, 4. alter thess, ‘Ten days without food – Refugee protest in Nea Kavala’, 13 October 2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3JLctlW. Efsyn, ‘Refugee Protest in Skaramangas’, 12 April 2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3qE9XpW. Efsyn, ‘Oinofyta: The refugee facility is closed – Protest on the mass rejection of Kurds’, 24 November 2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3JIAaeD. Europe Must Act ‘Eleonas Camp/ Athens: Open Letter by Camp Residents’, June 2022. Euronews, ‘Migrant protest in Elaionas – they call for the accommodation facility to not be closed’, 4 November 2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3La4CP8. Kontranews, ‘ESTIA programma: new refugee evictions – they are sending them to an accommodation facility’, 15 November 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3AswLNY. 173