Lesvos,526 and for all Palestinians in Lesvos, Chios and Kos. It should be noted that, in Kos, all Palestinians coming from Syria were being examined on admissibility and safe third country grounds.527 During 2023, and approximately since September 2023, asylum seekers from countries with over 95% recognition rate (i.e., applicants from Palestine, Yemen, Sudan) had been granted refugee status on the basis of their administrative file, without undergoing an asylum interview, in application of article 82 para. 7 of the Asylum Code. The same practice was applied during 2023, in Fylakio Evros, for asylum applicants of Yazidi origin; they have been granted refugee status on the basis of their administrative file.528 However, in Lesvos, a malpractice has been observed with regard to Eritrean nationals. Specifically, individuas who have stated being Eritreans but who had resided most of their life in Ethiopia have been falsely registered as Ethiopians. It has been observed by legal actors that FRONTEX assessed them as Ethiopian nationals and not as Eritreans contrary to their statements. Legal aid actors observed the following:529 526 527 528 529 530 ¨ The applicants underwent a nationality assessment during their interview at RAO Lesvos, during which they were asked questions regarding Eritrea which they could be reasonably unable to answer (since applicants claimed that they left their country of origin when they were very young, lost their parents, etc). ¨ In some cases, two interviews were conducted: RAO called the applicant for a 2nd interview during which they informed him/her that RAO, based on the first interview including a nationality assessment, rejected his/her claim as Eritrean national, concluded that he/she is Ethiopian and then asked the applicant whether he/she wanted to submit an application to change their nationality. ¨ It appears that the Estimated Nationality during the identification procedure functioned as an irrebuttable presumption and could only be disputed if original documents had been provided. Some negative decisions claimed that: “The applicant did not provide the [Asylum] Office with an original identification document or other document in support of her [/his] claims in the context of the examination of her [/his] application for international protection. Her [his] administrative file contains a screening report No [XXXXXX] addressed to the Commander of the Lesvos RIC, where it is marked as Estimated Nationality after Screening, ETHIOPIA, as resulting from the identification procedure.” ¨ In some cases, while the Asylum Service accepted that the applicant was born in Eritrea, it rejected the nationality claim (as not internally credible due to the lack of information provided/inability to answer the questions regarding Eritrea) and held thereafter the asylum application unfounded. ¨ Another decision rejected an asylum application as manifestly unfounded, according to article 93 par. 2 d, on the basis that the applicant provided false information regarding his nationality and tried to mislead the authorities. ¨ In some cases, where lawyers asked Lesvos RIS for copies of their cleints’ files, there was no report to be provided regarding the nationality assessment.530 Information obtained during the Lesvos LAsWG meeting, 3 May 2022. Information obtained during GCR’s mission to Chios and visit to Chios RAO, 24-26 May 2022, from the GCR lawyer operating in Kos and legal actors operating in the field in Lesvos. Information provided by Fylakio RAO and GCR lawyer based in Alexandroupoli. Information obtained during Lesvos LAsWG meetings. Information acquired during Lesvos LAsWG meeting of 28- November 2023. 114