1. Detention of New Arrivals The exact procedures for new arrivals remain relatively unknown to lawyers and other actors on the island because of a lack of access to people upon arrival. Based on our experience working on Kos since January 2021 and consulting with other lawyers working on the island, we have identified at least two scenarios that occur when someone arrives on Kos. In most cases, people undergo reception and identification procedures conducted by RIS. In our experience, RIS issues an order restricting freedom of movement to everyone who undergoes this procedure. However, we cannot confirm that this is the official policy because RIS files are not available without legal authorizations and can be difficult to access even with an authorization. New arrivals are also issued a return decision by the authorities, based on their unlawful presence on Greek territory. In our experience, the authorities issue this return decision in some cases before the reception and identification procedures and, in other cases, after the procedure, although in the latter scenario the person is already an asylum seeker under Greek law. In other instances, new arrivals do not undergo the reception and identification procedures at all and, consequently, RIS never issues them a restriction of movement order. However, because it is difficult for lawyers to access new arrivals, we cannot state with certainty why certain people do or do not undergo reception and identification procedures. However, the 2020 AIDA report on Greece notes that “applicants arriving from islands other than Kos and Rhodes e.g. Symi, Megisti, Kastellorizo are immediately directed to the pre-removal detention centre, without undergoing reception and identification procedures in the RIC,” a practice that we have also observed on Kos.103 2. Detention of Asylum Seekers Although the PRDC opened in 2017, January 2020 was a turning point for the detention practices on Kos. Prior to January 2020, the majority of asylum seekers who arrived on Kos were not detained and instead accommodated in the RIC, a so-called ‘open camp,’ meaning that, although their movement was restricted to the island, they could enter and leave the camp freely.104 However, the detention practices on Kos changed dramatically after the new asylum law went into effect in January 2020. Starting in January 2020 the authorities began detaining all new arrivals in the PRDC with the exception of unaccompanied minors (formally recognized as such),105 pregnant women, and parents with babies younger than six months old. This practice has historically included vulnerable asylum seekers as well as families with minor children over six months old. In April 2021, the authorities released all families with minor children from the PRDC without warning or decision explaining the reasons for their release. However, it is unclear whether this was a onetime practice or will be the policy moving forward. Otherwise, when asylum seekers arrive on the island of Kos, they are issued a detention order upon registering with the authorities and detained automatically in the PRDC, regardless of their specific needs or whether there is space in the RIC. 103 AIDA, Country Report: Greece (June 2021), 202, available at: https://bit.ly/3mMob7c. 104 Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, asylum seekers who lived in the RIC could enter and exit the structure freely. Since March 2020, restrictions restricting residents of the RICs across Greece from leaving for all but a few exception reasons have been in place. During the period documented in this report on Kos, residents of the RIC have only been able to exit the RIC with special permission from the police once per week. 105 This is the formal policy of the PRDC, however Equal Rights has represented one client who was in the age assessment procedure – meaning that the authorities had doubts as to his age – and was detained in the PRDC. This violates Art. 75 (e) of L. 4636/2019, which establishes that individuals in the age assessment procedure should be treated as minors until proven otherwise. 14 DETENTION OF MIGRANTS ON THE ISLAND OF KOS