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

172 The ‘hotspot’ approach: key findings from Greece international protection, access to legal assistance is not guaranteed and a great extent is provided especially in the islands only by NGOs. 92 In addition, the article 3 of the Refugee Convention sets out the principle of non- discrimination between refugees on the basis of nationality, providing: ‘The Con- tracting States shall apply the provisions of this Convention to refugees without discrimination as to race, religion or country of origin.’ Article 18 of the CFREU embeds this right into EU law. As we mentioned, there is an inextricable link between the emergency relocation mechanism and the hotspots. However, as explained whether or not an interna- tional protection seeker qualifies for relocation depends on his/her nationality. Arrivals from countries with asylum claim recognition rates below 25 per cent are channelled into this accelerated procedure without an admissibility assessment, notably new arrivals from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Algeria, Mo- rocco, and Nigeria. Consequently, this nationality –based approached, encourages discrimination and detention on grounds of nationality, resulting in faster proce- dures, given the lack of procedural safeguards, accelerated nature of the proce- dure and lack of legal assistance 93 . Therefore, this large numbers of protection seekers outside the scope of reloca- tion and the manner in which they are dealt with in the hotspot context appears to lack clarity. Of course, one of the central tenets of the hotspot approach is to identify, register and process migrants quickly in order to determine whether they are to be relocated, returned or else dealt with through the regular asylum proce- dure in the country of arrival. However, as some commentators have noted, speed is not typically synonymous with due care, with the result that the “hotspots’ screening procedures could result in large numbers of people being returned into unsafe or unviable situations without proper consideration of their claims. As a result, access chances for individuals from nationality groups with low recognition rates are deteriorating. VIII. Reception conditions A persistent and ongoing fundamental rights concern in the hotspots is inadequate receptions conditions, especially for vulnerable refugees and migrants. Article 17 of the Reception Conditions Directive, transposed into Greek law, requires mem- ber states to ensure that ‘material reception conditions provide an adequate 92. International Rescue Committee, ‘Lack of handover plans for the response in Greece puts asylum seekers at risk, NGOs warn’, 11 July 2017, available at https://www.rescue - uk.org/press-release/lack-handover-plans-response-greece-puts-asylum-seekers-risk- ngos-warn?edme=true. 93. AIDA, Country Report: Greece, 2016 update – March 2017, 17.