Author
On 10 June 2022, L 4939/2022 (Asylum Code) replaced the former L 4636/2019 (IPA – Articles 1-112 and 114) which incorporated the relevant EU (recast) Directives (Directive 2013/33/EU, Directive 2013/32/EU and Directive 2011/95/EU).[1] L. 4939/2022 constitutes a codification of legislation on reception, international protection of third country nationals and stateless persons, as well as on temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and was incorporated as per the provisions of P.D. 80/2006 (A΄ 82), following the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382. The Asylum Code also incorporates L 4960/2022 on the National Guardianship System and Framework of Accommodation of Unaccompanied Minors (UAMs),[2] which entered into force on 22 July 2022 and which replaced former -and never implemented- L. 4554/2018 on guardianship.
Under the Asylum Code, the Reception and Identification Service (RIS) within the Secretariat General of Reception of Asylum Applicants under the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (MoMA) is defined as the authority responsible for reception.[3] The Special Secretary for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors (SSPUM), which was established under the MoMA in February 2020,[4] competent for the protection of UAM, including for their accommodation, and also for the guardianship of UAMs, was abolished in June 2023. Its responsibilities (under Article 39 of P.D. 106/2020) were transferred to the new General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons and Institutional Protection (GSVPIP) established with Article 6(1) of P.D. 77/2023 (A’ 130/ 27.6.2023),[5] falling under the competency of the Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum.[6] The new General Secretariat is also competent for the National Emergency Response Mechanism, according to Article 66ΛΓ Asylum Code added with Article 39 of L. 4960/2022.
With regard to the composition of the reception system, a substantial change occurred in 2022, when the EU-funded ESTIA accommodation scheme was terminated. ESTIA provided rented housing to vulnerable asylum applicants in the context of reception. The scheme, which since January 2021 had been operating under the sole responsibility of the MoMA,[7] was terminated at the end of 2022, amidst increased concerns for former residents, such as families that had already started the integration process and children who were enrolled to school, who upon exiting ESTIA, were frequently left to their fate or on the streets or forced to interrupt their education (school).[8] The programme’s termination, which had been announced by the MoMA in February 2022,[9] also signified the transformation of Greece’s reception system into one exclusively modelled on camp-based accommodation, with very few exceptions concerning in particular UAM (e.g., shelters and SILs). Since then, island CCACs and mainland camps, remained the dominant forms of reception.
During the first 9 months of 2025, the RIS registered a total of 35,711 persons, the majority of whom (59% or 21,059) were registered at border areas, and in particular the Fylakio RIC (5,094), and the CCACs of Samos (4,911), Kos (3,038), Leros (2,809), Lesvos (2,606) and Chios (2,601). Of the rest (14,652), the majority were registered in the mainland RIC of Malakasa (7,875), followed by the RIC of Diavata (4,799), and by mobile units of reception and identification in the Controlled Temporary Accommadtion Facilities of Serres (1,029) and Sintiki (949).[10]
Of the total of those registered (35,711,) close to 78% (27,854) were male and 22% female, most of whom (22,943) between the ages of 18 to 34. Slightly more than 1 in 5 of total registrations concerned minors (7,369), mostly bellow 14 years of age (4,471), while close to 25% of all cases (8,895) were registered as vulnerable. These concerned priarmily victims of torture (3,495), followed by UAMs (1,914), and single-parent families with minors (1,800).[11]
The majority of those registered were from Afghanistan (9,542), Sudan (5,842) and Egypt (5,705), followed by Syria (1,925), Bangladesh (1,757) and Iraq (1,728). A total of 123 persons were registered as stateless.[12]
[1] For the history of legislation, see AIDA Update 2023 for Greece, p. 174, available here.
[2] L 4960/2022 National Guardianship System and Framework of Accommodation of UAMs and other provisions under the jurisdiction of the MoMA.
[3] Article 1(ιστ΄) Asylum Code.
[4] Article 1(3) P.D.18/2020, Gov. Gazette 34/Α/19-2-2020.
[5] P.D. 77/2023 (A’ 130/ 27.6.2023), available here.
[6] MoMA, Webpage of the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons & Institutional Protection, available at: https://tinyurl.com/2sspd4xx.
[7] See, e.g., MoMA, Press Release on ESTIA 2021, February 2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3uwgpjX.
[8] EfSyn, Ανέστιοι πρόσφυγες χωρίς το ESTIA, 24 December 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3YYaWjw; News24/7, The government threw mothers with underage children on the streets, 10 December 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3lFktO2 and GCR, Evictions, Homelessness and setbacks to integration, 30 November 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3S9uwHz.
[9] MoMA, ESTIA II to be completed in 2022, 22 February 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3iGewf1.
[10] MoMA, Registered Third-country nationals/stateless persons in Regional Units (CCAC / RIC) of Islands and Fylakio of the RIS for January – September 2025 and Registered Third-country nationals/stateless persons in Regional Units (RIC/MURCT) in Mainland of the RIS for January – September 2025, both available at: https://migration.gov.gr/en/statistika/.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.