The case concerned Afghan unaccompanied minors who arrived in Greece between September and December 2019 and claimed not to have had access to information regarding the asylum procedure, that they did not have access to interpreters and were wrongly registered as adults and not provided with the safeguards for unaccompanied minors. They complained before the ECtHR that they were accommodated in unsuitable locations in poor conditions. The applicants complained that despite the interim measure adopted by the ECtHR, the Greek Government failed to place them in suitable accommodation within a reasonable time.

They complained before the ECtHR of inhuman or degrading treatment for the living conditions. The court noted that lived either in “protective custody” in appalling conditions, as homeless, or in substandard housing for periods of between one and a half and five months. The court noted that the applicants were registered as minors and placed in living conditions appropriate for their age only after the court allowed interim measures. The court found a violation of Article 3 of the Convention and found that ‘the delays in placing the applicants in shelters were caused by shortcomings in the procedures for the registration and age assessment of asylum-seekers, which prevented the applicants from appropriately communicating information about their age and personal situations and which cannot be attributed to them.'

The court stated that the Government did not submit any proof to counter the applicants' allegations that they did not have access to information, interpretation and that the procedure for age assessment has been correctly followed.

The court concluded that ‘the treatment to which the applicants were subjected, as homeless unaccompanied immigrant minors, exceeded the threshold of severity required to engage Article 3 of the Convention.'