ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ: ΕΞΕΛΙΞΕΙΣ ΣΤΟ ΠΕΔΙΟ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΤΑΣΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΟΚΛΗΣΕΙΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

168 The ‘hotspot’ approach: key findings from Greece VI. Hotspots: outstanding policy and legal questions There is no overarching legal framework for the hotspot approach. Nevertheless, the approach is regulated by the international and regional human rights law, no- tably the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (CFREU) and European Con- vention on Human Rights (ECHR), the CEAS, in particular the Asylum Procedures Directive 71 , Reception Conditions Directive 72 and Qualification Directive 73 , and the national legal system 74 . As already mentioned, hotspots were conceived as a policy response to deal with an emergency situation. Their location within frontline States reflects a geograph- ical reality and the need to establish some degree of orderly migration manage- ment. The starting point for consideration of these issues is the EU-Turkey state- ment of March 18, 2016. Particularly, to implement the EU-Turkey statement, Greece has adopted a containment policy on its Aegean islands which has led to the adoption of a practice of mandatory detention. Thus, asylum-seekers are is- sued an international protection card which can restrict their movements to a part of the Greek territory, upon a decision by the director of the Greek Asylum Service. The hotspot facilities on the islands were turned into detention centres and all in- dividuals arriving after 20 March 2016 have been automatically de facto detained. 75 The practice of mandatory detention has been applied indiscriminately even to individuals belonging to vulnerable groups, i.e. unaccompanied children, families with infants, persons with disabilities etc. 76 71. Directive 2013/32/EU on common procedures for granting and withdrawing the status of international protection (recast). 72. Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted (recast). 73. Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection (recast). 74. Greece, Law No. 4375 of 2016 on the organization and operation of the Asylum Service, the Appeals Authority, the Reception and Identification Service, the establishment of the General Secretariat for Reception, the transposition into Greek legislation of the provisions of Directive 2013/32/EC. 75. The implementation of the hotspots in Italy and Greece, a study, AIDA REPORT, last updated: 26/09/17 http://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/greece. 76. GCR, Submission on the execution of ECtHR judgment on the case MSS v. Belgium and Greece, May 2016, available at: http://www.gcr.gr/index.php/en/publications-