The registration of initial asylum claims on the islands is no longer conducted by the RAO, but by the RIS. Concerns are raised regarding wrongful registration of newcomers’ data, especially the incorrect recording of the date of arrival157 as the time spent in quarantine area/waiting area for registration and identification procedures to start is not included in the “restriction of movement” decision. Incorrect records were often found in the dates of birth, names spelling and country of origin. As of 26 January 2020, in the context of implementing the IPA and following the visit of the Minister for Migration and Asylum,158 all the newly arrived persons on the island of Kos were immediately subject to detention in the Kos Pre-removal Detention Facility (PRDF), except persons evidently falling under vulnerability categories. By the second half of 2021, this practice was not as generalised as certain groups of newcomers were not held in detention upon arrival. From September 2021 until December 2021, the maximum detention period was reduced from 18 months to 12 months. In January 2022, it was further reduced to 6 months. On September 2021, the practice of automatic detention upon arrival stopped, and new arrivals were placed in the RIC undergoing reception and identification procedures, after the end of the mandatory quarantine upon arrival.159 RIS however continued to consider individuals transferred from Rhodes to Kos PRDC until the first months of 2022, as illegally staying third country nationals and refused to register and offer Reception and Identification procedures to inter-island arrivals. As they were not accepted to the CCAC in case they were released, they were exposed to high risks of homelessness and destitution. By the end of 2022, the so called ‘inter-islands arrivals’, were also subject to detention without access to the services that should be provided within the scope of Reception and Identification Procedures. Procedures followed on the islands amid the COVID-19 outbreak In addition to those who arrived during March 2020 and who were subject to the Emergency Legislative Order suspending the access to the asylum procedure (and accordingly where not transferred to RICs but detained and transferred to mainland), those who arrived after April 2020 on the Greek Islands were subject to a seven or 14-day quarantine to prevent the potential spread of the virus, prior to their transfer to RICs in order to undergo reception and identification procedures. In some cases, the quarantine was extended beyond 14 days. As specific places/sites were not available to that end, individuals subject to quarantine had to remain at the point of arrival in a number of cases, i.e. at isolated beaches or in other inadequate locations, inter alia ports, buses etc.160 The degrading treatment of the new arrivals was publicly criticised by the Association of Doctors of the Public Health System of Lesvos 161. Since 8 May 2020, a dedicated site for these purposes has been in operation on the island Lesvos. 162 In 2021, designated containers inside the RIC of Mavrovouni in Lesvos were in use for the preventative quarantine of newcomers, apart from the site in Megala, Therma. In Samos, designated containers inside the RIC in Vathy were also used for the isolation of new arrivals. In Kos, new arrivals remained in a separate area of the PRDF for the quarantine period. Significant criticism has been raised regarding the conditions in the quarantine sites. Another cause of concern relates to the fact that newcomers received no information/ decision regarding their confinement 157 158 159 160 161 162 Equal Rights Beyond Borders, HIAS Greece & RSA, ‘THE STATE OF THE BORDER PROCEDURE ON THE GREEK ISLANDS SEPTEMBER 2022’, 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3AtPXLu, 13. Press Release, Ministry for Migration and Asylum, 26.01.2020, available at: https://bit.ly/39Z2Myk (in Greek) and TVXS, ‘Οι πρώτοι μετανάστες σε κλειστό κέντρο στην Κω, την ώρα που ο Μηταράκης επισκέπτεται το νησί - Πανηγυρίζει ο Βορίδης’, 26 January 2020, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3oMEj6W. Equal Rights Beyond Borders, HIAS Greece & RSA, The state of the border procedure on the Greek islands, September 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3AtPXLu, 31. In.gr, Παρατημένοι σε παραλίες εν μέσω κοροναϊού πρόσφυγες που φτάνουν στη Λέσβο, 4 April 2020, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/2WqQ7zJ. Association of Doctors of the Public Health System of Lesvos, ‘ΝΕΕΣ ΑΦΙΞΕΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΤΡΑ ΑΠΟΜΟΝΩΣΗΣ’, 29 April 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3tZbtTr. Capital.gr, Μυτιλήνη: Λειτουργεί από το πρωί η ‘καραντίνα’ των νεοεισερχόμενων προσφύγων και μεταναστών, 9 May 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/2WsrtPm. 47