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

Maria Dimitrakopoulou 171 governing hotspots as outlined above does raises a number of important questions. In particular, whilst people who arrive on the Greek islands have the right to apply for asylum, there is a range of fundamental rights concerns in the hotspots, fo- cusing on three sections: access to asylum procedures, detention and adequate reception conditions. VII. Access to asylum procedure New arrivals to the hotspots are afforded access to asylum procedures as ‘a pre- requisite of the right to international protection’. 86 The Asylum Procedures Direc- tive requires that member states provide new arrivals at the external borders who may wish to apply for asylum with information on doing so, in a language they un- derstand. 87 States are obliged from International and European law to provide the procedural rights to information about international protection and an individual assessment of the claim, without discrimination. 88 Nevertheless, provision of information remains a persistent issue in the hotspots. Information gaps are partly due a lack of interpreters and mediation services for less common languages and may hinder access to international protection as po- tential asylum seekers may not be able to comprehend all the information pro- vided or be able to express their protection needs. 89 The Asylum Procedures Directive 90 as well as European Law comprise the provision of legal assistance to asylum seekers at the appeals stage. 91 Although, legal assist- ance is a significant legal safeguard against the refoulement of those in need of safe third country and first country of asylum concept, UNHCR, March 23, 2016, http:// www.unhcr.org/56f3ec5a9.pdf. 86. FRA, Opinion of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights on fundamental rights in the ‘hotspots’ set up in Greece and Italy, 29. 87. Articles 8(1) and 19. 88. Article 3 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (adopted 28 July 1951, entered into force 22 April 1954) 189 UNTS 137 (Refugee Convention); Article 18 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU); separate opinion of Judge Pinto de Albuquerque to Hirsi v. Italy, Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy, European Court of Human Rights, Appl. No. 27765/09. 23 February 2012, 71 89. ECRE, The implementation of the hotspots in Italy and Greece - A study, 25; Interview with UNHCR Rom e, 31 August 2017. 90. Aricle 21 91. Article 47 CFREU provides a right to an effective access to a remedy in case of a negative asylum decision. See also FRA, Opinion of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights On fundamental rights in the ‘hotspots’ set up in Greece and Italy, 23.