A/HRC/50/31 of persons”.85 Nevertheless, Croatia has continued to remove asylum seekers to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, both informally and as part of bilateral readmission agreements concluded with its neighbours. 86 Migrants in the Balkans and Central Eastern Europe continued to face widespread pushback and chain pushback practices at most borders, 87 including at the borders between Hungary and Serbia, Romania and Serbia, Serbia and North Macedonia, and North Macedonia and Greece.88 50. In March 2020, Cyprus signed an agreement with Lebanon to legalize “turn-backs” of migrants trying to reach the island by boat. In some cases, families were reportedly separated after migrants were brought ashore in Cyprus due to medical reasons, while their families were returned to Lebanon.89 51. In Estonia, the Act on Granting International Protection regulates safe third country and safe country of origin determinations, and imposes procedural guarantees in law, including the possibility to challenge the designation of a country as “safe” in relation to a particular applicant;90 however, it is the Police and Border Guard Board that establishes the list of safe third countries, which is not available to the public and hinders oversight. 91 52. In 2021, the Government of Greece issued two joint ministerial decisions making a series of safe third country designations. Most notably, JMD 42799 of June 2021 designated Turkey as safe for nationals of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic, who constitute the most populous groups of asylum seekers in Greece. The decision applied retroactively to asylum seekers on Greek territory and resulted in a 126 per cent year-on-year increase in the rejection of asylum applications on admissibility grounds.92 Across Greece, over 6,400 asylum applications were considered inadmissible based on the safe third country concept – almost half of all applications.93 The sole exceptions to the rule have been unaccompanied children under the age of 15 and children victims of human trafficking, torture, rape or other forms of severe psychological, physical or sexual violence. 94 Several submissions to the Special Rapporteur indicate that Turkey has not agreed to readmit any asylum seekers from Greece since 2020. Therefore, the designation of Turkey as a safe third country resulted in legal uncertainty for asylum seekers, most of whom will remain in Greece without any legal status or access to any protection and related services and benefits.95 Additionally, there has been an increase in the detention of rejected asylum seekers; on the island of Kos, which hosts the only pre-removal detention centre in the Eastern Aegean islands, rejected asylum seekers are reportedly automatically detained despite the lack of a prospect of removal.96 53. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that in 2021 over 32,000 migrants were forcibly returned to Libya, where they are at risk of extensive abuses and human rights violations by both State and non-State actors, potentially amounting to crimes against humanity. 97 Migrants are allegedly intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard in the framework of the renewed deal between Italy, the European Union and the Government of Libya to reduce 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 12 See submission No. 1 by the Border Violence Monitoring Network. See Council of Europe, “Report to the Croatian Government on the visit to Croatia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)”, CPT/Inf (2021) 29; and Centre for Peace Studies, “Report on Illegal Expulsions from Croatia in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic”, 2022. See Protecting Rights at Borders, Doors Wide Shut, July 2021. See also submissions by the Border Violence Monitoring Network and by the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association. See European Council on Refugees and Exiles, 8 October 2021, available at: https://ecre.org/cyprusfamilies-separated-by-pushbacks-to-lebanon-cyprus-calls-for-greater-solidarity/. Directive 2013/32/EU, art. 38. See submission by the Chancellor of Justice of Estonia. See submission by the International Rescue Committee. Ibid. See submission by Greece. See, e.g., submissions by Turkey, the Greek Council for Refugees, HumanRights360 and HIAS, and the International Rescue Committee. See submission by Equal Rights Beyond Borders. See submission No. 2 by Médecins sans frontières; see also OHCHR, “Libya: Evidence crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since 2016, UN report finds”, 4 October 2021. See also A/HRC/49/4, paras. 45–54.