Age is a fundamental part of the child’s identity. It is an essential element in determining special procedural guarantees, safeguards and special reception conditions. Therefore, where the age is unknown, or there are ‘substantiated doubts’ about the declared age, a child-centred age assessment plays a vital role in accessing child-related rights and guarantees. It serves as a starting point for ensuring rights, appropriate reception conditions and procedural guarantees for unaccompanied minors in the asylum process. Several international and European institutions and organisations have been making resolutions and statements on age assessments. National legislation also specifically recognises the special rights of minors and the procedure to conduct an age assessment in order to ensure the best interests of the minors.

The Age Assessment Procedures on Lesvos: A Dead Letter Report delves into the legal framework - domestic and European - on age assessment and analyses the various policies in place in relation to age assessment procedures in Greece on the recognition of minors, particularly on Lesvos. 

Between 2020 and 2023, different practices were observed, but in all moments, severe procedural infringements were reported, which inevitably led to violations of the fundamental rights of minors. Before 2021, for a minor, getting through an age assessment was utterly difficult, and when the age assessments occurred it would be after months of waiting, and the process suffered several procedure violations, such as no adequate provision of information, no notification of the age assessment, incorrect and/or incomplete assessments, systematic use of X-ray, the lack of notification of decision of the age assessment procedure and no respect for the principle of presumption of minority. 

During the first six months of 2021, the age assessments were suspended on Lesvos. In June 2021, the Junevile Unit for the age assessments from Athens came to Lesvos and conducted the majority of these assessments. When this Team left the Island, many of the previous procedural infringements returned, in particular, the lack of respect for the principle of presumption of minority. Finally, from 2023, as soon as a minor arrives at the CCAC of Lesvos and there are doubts about their age, they are referred to an age assessment. Nonetheless, many of the problems observed during the age assessment, namely no adequate provision of information, incorrect and/or incomplete assessments and lack of guardians, continue to be verified in practice. 

On this International Day of Education, it is important to raise awareness of the scope of these violations for minors and the consequences that it has for them, including non-access to education and inadequate support following their arrival in Greece. 

Therefore, Fenix calls on the Greek Government and Greek authorities to respect the rights and safeguards afforded to minor children and to guarantee that the age assessment procedures are conducted according to the provisions of the law and with respect to the dignity and safety of the minors. 

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