conditions, and they were not provided with basic hygiene products and clean clothes. Similarly,
on 23 June 2025, the ECtHR granted interim measures for 13 unaccompanied children detained
in the “safe zone” of the CCAC of Leros, ordering the authorities to urgently provide clothing,
hygiene items, medical care, and to relocate the children to safe and appropriate accommodation.
Despite these interim measures, by the end of June 2025, more than 400 UAM were still residing
in unsuitable conditions, also amounting to de facto detention, in the island CCACs and mainland
RICs. at 6,222 referrals of unaccompanied children were received by the SGVP in 2024, marking
an 23% increase compared to the same period in 2023 (5043).
❖ Access to the labour market: a survey conducted under the coordination of UNHCR between
2022 and 2024, highlighted lack of knowledge of the language, lack of documentation and the
inability to find legal employment, lack of knowledge on how to find employment, lack of day care
for the children as the most encountered problems in accessing the labour market.
❖ Access to education: for accompanied children, access to education still varies widely
depending on the reception structure, notably due to transportation problems. On the other hand,
a study on the 2023-2024 school year found that almost all unaccompanied children were not
attending school, even if they were enrolled, especially in secondary school.
Detention of asylum seekers
❖ Detention statistics: 5,167 were asylum seekers detained in pre-removal centres throughout
2024.
❖ Detention under the ground of readmission to Türkiye despite lack of reasonable prospect:
During 2024, despite the fact that no readmission to Türkiye has taken place for over four years,
and the lack of reasonable prospect of readmission to Türkiye, third-country nationals, including
asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected as inadmissible on the basis of the safe
third country concept, remained detained for prolonged periods.
❖ Detention of applications having already asked for asylum though the online platform:
asylum seekers, even when they have asked for asylum online by booking an appointment to
present themselves before the authorities, remain in legal limbo until their appointment, and are
notably not protected from arrest, issuance of a removal decision and pre-removal detention. This
practice, which was widespread until the end of 2023, was ruled unlawful by regional courts. As
a result, this practice was more limited during 2024.
❖ Automatic detention in lieu of Reception and Identification procedures: National legislation
provides that newly arrived persons should be initially subjected to reception and identification
procedures prior to any assessment of the possibility to impose detention measures. However,
during 2024, and in particular in the first half of 2024, newly arrived persons arriving in locations
where no RICs/CCACs were in operations (for example Crete, Kalamata) were frequently subject
to automatic detention in mainland PRDCs instead of undergoing Reception and Identification
procedures. This practice was in particular applied to newly arrived persons belonging to low
recognition rates nationalities (e.g., Egyptians).
❖ De facto detention: Other forms of de facto detention such as detention pending transfer to RICs,
de facto detention of those arrived in Athens Airport transit zone and detention in the case of
alleged pushbacks continued to occur during 2024 according to information received by GCR.
❖ Places of detention: At the end of 2024, there were 7 active pre-removal detention centres
(PRDC) in Greece, with a total capacity of 3,336 places. In addition, police stations and other
holding facilities were also used for prolonged migration detention, despite the fact that, as the
ECtHR has found, these facilities are not in line with the guarantees required under Article 3
ECHR, notably given “the nature of police stations per se, which are places designed to
accommodate people for a short time only”.
23
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