Please help us continue to provide vital free legal assistance to asylum seekers in Moria refugee camp, Lesvos, Greece.
The vast majority of the thousands living in Moria refugee camp on Lesvos fled Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq and came to Lesvos in search of safety and protection from war and persecution. More than half of them are women or children, including over 400 unaccompanied minors.
Everyone in Moria must go through a long, complex and ever-changing asylum procedure. This is a legal procedure and, without access to a lawyer, asylum seekers often do not know their rights or understand the process and criteria applied when their asylum applications are assessed. They are therefore significantly disadvantaged when they attend their asylum interview. They may also unnecessarily spend months longer than they should in Moria.
European Lawyers in Lesvos (ELIL) is an independent charity. Our team of Greek asylum lawyers and volunteer European asylum lawyers provide free, independent legal assistance to asylum seekers on Lesvos. Through our work, we seek to ensure that every asylum seeker can exercise their rights.
In the last two years, we have provided free legal assistance to over 8,700 people and we urgently need additional donations to ensure our work can continue.
Our work has a real impact and can change the course of people's lives: of those we have assisted, 74.5% have been granted asylum, compared to an average of 46.5% in Greece.
We are the largest provider of legal assistance to asylum seekers on Lesvos and the only one that focuses on providing one-on-one legal consultations to prepare asylum seekers for their asylum interview or be reunited with family members elsewhere in Europe.
We have helped over 2,700 people with physical or mental injuries, illness or trauma be recognised as vulnerable, meaning they have been able to leave Moria and move to the Greek mainland. We have also helped over 800 people be recognised as eligible to be reunited with their family members in other European countries.
The need for legal assistance on Lesvos is greater than ever, and growing, with new arrivals from Turkey almost every day.
There is no state-provided legal aid and so the only way an asylum seeker can receive assistance with their asylum application is through an organisation like ours.
With additional funding, it will be possible for more lawyers and interpreters to join the team. This will enable us to help more people – meaning more people will be granted asylum, more people will be reunited with their families and more ill, injured or traumatised individuals will be recognised as vulnerable and able to leave Moria/Lesvos.
As our organisation is volunteer-based, our operational costs are low. A donation of €25 enables our team of practising and experienced European asylum lawyers to provide one-to-one legal assistance to people in need. We are not funded by the EU or the Greek Government.
We are extremely grateful for all donations.
Please help us protect human rights and uphold the rule of law by donating using the button below.