19/09/2025 – 10/10/2025

• A boat carrying migrants has sunk off the coast of Lesvos, leaving one woman dead and 17 people rescued, according to a report by Greek City Times on 5 October 2025.  

• The Aegan Boat Report statistics for the period of 22-28 September show that within that timespan, 22 boats carrying 642 people were stopped or pushed back by Greek  police, and 523 people were registered on the Greek islands.  

• As reported by InfoMigrants on 23 September 2025, 145 migrants were rescued within a 24 hour timespan south of the island of Gavdos, close to Crete. According to UNHCR, arrivals to Crete have risen by 300 per cent compared to last year, and those reaching Gavdos or Crete make up over one third of all arrivals to Greek territory.  

• Greece has received extensive criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups on its new deportation regulation, which is described as the strictest in the EU. As Al Jazeera reported on 25 September 2025, under the new law, penalties for ‘unauthorised residence’ have increased, and asylum seekers with rejected claims are forced to wear ankle monitors and given 2 weeks to return voluntarily. The new law does not exempt children, leading Federica Toscano from Save the Children to state: “We always claim that it’s not legal to put children in detention. The law is not aligned with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child “. 
• On 19 September 2025, Greece temporarily suspended the rejection of asylum applications due to a lack of holding capacity for people denied asylum. The measure had been enabled by Law 5226, which enforces a policy of ‘return or prison’ for people whose asylum claims had been rejected. Between January and June 2025, Greece issued 16,590 asylum rulings were issued, of which 4,719 were rejections. Greek authorities have said the stop is merely a temporary administrative measure.