continued to condemn many to extended asylum procedures while being stranded in appalling reception conditions on the islands. In September, the Greek Council of State, the highest administrative court in the country, rejected the final appeals of two Syrian refugees, against previous decisions declaring their asylum claims inadmissible on the basis that Turkey was a safe third country. This decision could result in the first forcible returns of Syrian asylum-seekers under the EU-Turkey deal. By the end of the year, 684 individuals were returned to Turkey from the Greek islands (1,485 in total since the EU-Turkey deal became effective). Out of those, five were Syrian nationals in detention who did not challenge their return after their claims were found inadmissible at second instance. In October, NGOs, including Amnesty International, documented instances in which Syrian asylum-seekers were automatically detained upon arrival as the authorities expected them to be shortly returned to Turkey, under the EU-Turkey deal. Greek authorities discriminated against asylum-seekers of certain nationalities. Due to the EU-Turkey deal, many of those with nationalities of countries prejudged to be producing “economic migrants” rather than “refugees” were automatically detained and expected to be returned to Turkey. EU RELOCATION SCHEME The EU relocation scheme continued to be one of very few formal options available, for those eligible, to safely leave Greece and move elsewhere in Europe. However, asylumseekers who arrived in Greece since the EUTurkey deal came into effect, were arbitrarily excluded from the scheme. A total of 21,703 asylum-seekers had been relocated from Greece to other European countries, out of the 66,400 that were foreseen to be relocated under the scheme. RECEPTION CONDITIONS Security continued to be a main concern in many of the remaining refugee camps, in particular in overcrowded “hotspots” on the islands. 178 In June, the three refugee camps in the Elliniko area in the capital Athens – which housed around 1,000 refugees and migrants, including many children – were evacuated. The majority of refugees and migrants were transferred to alternative camps. The conditions in the Elliniko camps, which occupied two former Olympic sites and the arrivals terminal of an unused airport, had been appalling and unsafe. NGOs had raised serious concern regarding security in Elliniko, especially for women and girls. Many women reported verbal harassment and being at risk of sexual and gender-based violence. In January, three men died within one week in Moria camp on the island of Lesvos. Their deaths were suspected to be linked to carbon monoxide poisoning from makeshift heaters used to heat their tents. By the end of the year, the investigation into the deaths had not been concluded. Following these deaths, the Greek authorities transferred thousands of vulnerable asylum-seekers from the islands to the mainland. However, in August, rising numbers of people arrived on the islands and reception facilities returned to being overcrowded. The authorities had not been able to provide reception conditions on the islands that met minimum standards under EU law by the end of the year. The use of urban accommodation for asylum-seekers, largely flats, increased. By the end of the year, there were around 18,000 asylum-seekers and refugees staying in flats and other urban accommodation rather than in camps. The majority of those living in the urban accommodation were in mainland Greece; there were fewer than 1,000 asylum-seekers living in flats on the islands. UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN In September, the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture criticized the continued and routine detention of unaccompanied migrant and refugee children. As of 15 December, there were 2,256 unaccompanied children waiting to be placed in shelters, including 74 detained in police stations. Amnesty International Report 2017/18