Chapter III. PLEDGES Greece pledges to: • Work closely along with its partners in the European Union, the UNHCR and the United Nations, as well as third countries of origin and transit, to strengthen cooperation in the area of refugee protection, including in emergency situations, such as the displacement caused by recent events in North Africa and the Middle East. In this context, it will work together with other EU member states towards a Common European Asylum System in the framework of the Stockholm Programme. • Fully cooperate with neighbouring states and international and regional organizations to assist and provide shelter to asylum-seekers and refugees. • Continue to ensure the full and inclusive interpretation of the 1951 Convention refugee definition, in particular by increasing the capacity and expertise of the administration to undertake quality refugee status determination and by issuing policy guidance to asylum adjudicators. • Continue to respect the principle of non-refoulement, including by ensuring that persons in need of international protection and other groups with specific needs are identified and granted access to the territory where their needs can be assessed and addressed. • Continue to grant to all minor refugees access to education and the national health system. • Continue to ensure that refugees who are victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance have access to an effective remedy (including legal assistance). • Remedy the weaknesses of the asylum management system and the reception conditions, caused by the constant mixed migration flows, through the implementation of a three-year National Action Plan in close cooperation with the European Commission, the EU partners, EASO and international stakeholders such as UNHCR, IOM and NGOs. The components of the Action Plan, which aims at easing pressure on the overburdened asylum system and improving the condition of irregular migrants and asylum-seekers, include: - Reform of asylum procedures and creation of a new professional specially trained and skilled Asylum Service. The creation of a flexible administrative mechanism, decentralized throughout the country, assists the rapid review of asylum requests. As a result the international protection recognition rate, which was extremely low in the past, has already reached an average of 12.35%. Additionally, the backlog of some 46,000 asylum requests pending for years at the second instance has already been reduced to 38,000. 77