Refugee Legal Aid in Athens

Hi everyone,

From the 25th to the 31st of August, I’ll be taking part in a volunteer-led legal aid trip to Athens with Global Brigades Legal Empowerment, a non-profit organisation tasked with providing refugees, displaced people, and asylum seekers with legal support.

To join the rest of the team, I have to reach a donation goal of £1200. A small portion of this goes towards my accommodation, emergency insurance, and transportation whilst in Athens, but the rest will fund the pro-bono legal clinics, translators, and support staff we will be working with and facilitating whilst we’re there.

A team of lawyers from the Greek Council for Refugees will be working with us in these clinics to provide asylum seekers with the following:

On our trip, we will also be facilitating educational workshops for the residents of a shelter for unaccompanied minors - during these sessions, we aim to inform them of their rights and obligations during the asylum procedure.

The last official statistic for the number of refugees in Greece was 160,761 in 2022 - by mid 2024, this has likely risen to over 190,000. Given the Greek government’s continuous attack against human rights groups which work with refugees and asylum seekers (as reported by the Human Rights Watch), the aid Global Brigades and the Greek Council for Refugees aims to deliver is vital. Every day, an increasing number of people risk their lives to reach a place deemed safer than their home country, and if they make it, they are still by no means safe - they must navigate further challenges, whether these be legal, social, or economic. Any donation will help reduce these obstacles to leading a secure and fulfilled life, which we all deserve equally.

We appreciate any support you can offer.

Thank you,

Ellie!!!