As the number of refugee and asylum-seeking children arriving in Greece increased throughout 2024, 758 the number of applications for international protection lodged by unaccompanied minors before the Asylum Service in a year, from November 2023 to November 2024 rose as well, reaching 4.013 (of which 34 are subsequent applications). Only 986 unaccompanied children received positive decisions at 1st instance during the 11 months of 2024.759 As some decisions spill over from previous years and the number of negative decisions is not publicly available, nor was this number shared by the Greek authorities despite GCR’s request, one cannot estimate the actual scale of children left with no protection status. In early April 2021, the Ministry of Migration and Asylum and UNHCR, in collaboration with IOM and the NGOs Arsis, METAdrasi and the Network for Children’s Rights, launched a mechanism to rapidly identify unaccompanied children who are homeless or live in insecure conditions and transfer them to safe accommodation. The National Emergency Response Mechanism (NERM), which in accordance with L. 4939/2022,760 is part of the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons and Institutional Protection, and includes a telephone hotline available Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 22:00 and Saturday from 11:00 to 19:00 (multiple languages available) for identifying and tracing children in need, 761 and Info Desks / Mobile Units in Athens and Thessaloniki, together with emergency accommodation facilities. It is, therefore, considered an integral part of UASCs protection in Greece. 762 According to GCR’s observations, the new mechanism is very responsive to requests addressed both by NGOs and by UAMs themselves. According to the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons and Institutional Protection since the beginning of NERMs operation in 2021 until 31 August 2024, the NERM received 9,121 referrals of homeless unaccompanied children (UAC) and those in precarious living conditions from local authorities, citizens, and the children themselves. From its operationalisation until the end of 2023 4,437 children were placed in age-appropriate accommodation. 763 According to MoMA’s answer in Parliament,764 the Secretariat plans to expand NERM’s competence beyond UASCs, offering also support to vulnerable persons who are homeless or at risk -an already long-awaited development given the lack of state social support services even for the local population. E. Subsequent applications Indicators: Subsequent Applications 1. Does the law provide for a specific procedure for subsequent applications? Yes No 2. Is a removal order suspended during the examination of a first subsequent application? ❖ At first instance Yes No ❖ At the appeal stage Yes No In some cases 3. Is a removal order suspended during the examination of a second, third, subsequent application? ❖ At first instance Yes No ❖ At the appeal stage Yes No A “subsequent application” is an application for international protection submitted after a final decision has been taken on a previous application for international protection, including in cases where the 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 See Save the Children, Child migrant arrivals in Greece quadruple this year, July 2024 available here. See also European Parliament briefing, Child migrants: Irregular entry and asylum, November 2024, available here, and Save the Children and GCR, Child migrant and refugee arrivals in Greece double in 2024, as children report alarming camp conditions, December 2024, available here. See MoMA’s statistics for November 2024, APPENDIX Α, available here (tables 7f and 11e). Article 66ΛΓ. Ministry of Migration and Asylum, Σε λειτουργία ο εθνικός μηχανισμός για τον εντοπισμό και την προστασία ασυνόδευτων παιδιών σε επισφαλείς συνθήκες, 6 April 2021, available in Greek here. Ministry of Migration and Asylum, Special Secretariat for the Protection of UAMs, National Emergency Response Mechanism. A safety net for unaccompanied children identified in precarious living conditions, November 2022, available here. See more at Greece: National Emergency Response Mechanism (see here) and project’s annual report of 2023 here. See relative answer of deputy Minister Mrs Voultepsi, March 2024, available in Greek here. 151