Equal Legal Aid

15/04/2026

🎉 Our team is honored to share that Equal Legal Aid has been named one of the five winners of the 2026 Ockenden International Prize.

This global recognition honors our work providing free, high-quality legal aid to refugees and displaced people in Northern Greece, helping secure justice, dignity, and protection for people forced to flee.

We are deeply grateful to the Ockenden International Trust for spotlighting refugee-supporting initiatives worldwide. Congratulations to all the inspiring organizations recognized this year!

🔗 Learn more about the award and our work: https://www.ockendenprizes.org/2026-prizes/equal-legal-aid-greece/

14/04/2026

Equal Legal Aid is looking for a lawyer registered to a bar association in Greece to join its team in June.

Working closely with the entire team, the lawyer will provide legal counselling and representation in asylum cases in the area of Thessaloniki as well as contribute to other relevant projects carried out by the organisation.

Status: Full-time
Location: Thessaloniki
Duration: 6 months +, based on a collaboration agreement and funding availability
Estimated start date: June 2026

More info:https://www.equallegalaid.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Job-description-Lawyer.docx.pdf

09/04/2026

📢 ELA Case Referred to the CJEU: Access to Effective Legal Remedies in the Asylum Procedure

Read our new statement (link to the statement and decision in Greek below) following a landmark development: a case litigated by ELA has resulted in a preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), raising a fundamental question about access to effective legal remedies in the asylum procedure in Greece.

The case concerns an asylum seeker whose appeal against the rejection of his application was dismissed as out of time — despite him having requested a lawyer through the Asylum Service within the legal deadline and having acted with due diligence. The delay resulted solely from the failure of a state-appointed lawyer to act, not from any unforeseeable circumstance.

In 2022, with the support of ELA, the applicant challenged the decision before the Administrative Court of Thessaloniki, which has now referred the case to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling. The question raised touches the core of procedural fairness: can access to justice be said to exist when the state itself fails to ensure effective communication and representation in the legal aid scheme?

🔹 The full statement and the decision in English and Greek are available here:

Statement – ELA Case Referred to the CJEU: Access to Effective Legal Remedies in the asylum procedureCase study / By Elaadmin ELA Case Referred to the CJEU: Access to Effective Legal Remedies in the asylum procedure READ THE STATEMENT AND the decision IN ENGLISH HERE READ THE STATEMENT AND THE DEC...

08/03/2026

Today, we reaffirm our solidarity with all women who resist, survive, and fight for dignity across borders and systems. As a legal aid organisation in Greece, we observe on a daily basis that female asylum seekers are at the apex of intersectional struggles, facing converging layers of discrimination: racism, gender‑based violence, economic precarity, and restrictive migration policies.

⚖️ A system that knows but fails to protect
Female asylum seekers recount experiences of sexual violence, such as forced and early marriage, domestic abuse, and other forms of gender‑specific persecution en route and in their countries of origin. Despite UNHCR and EU guidelines calling for a gender‑sensitive interpretation of the 1951 Refugee Convention, many asylum authorities in Greece do not meaningfully apply it within the asylum system: claims based on gender‑based persecution are frequently left unassessed, minimised, or rejected, even when the legal prerequisites for protection are met.

This is not a mere administrative gap: it is a blatant indication that women's persecution is still considered not valid enough to trigger the protection mechanisms that states have undertaken to provide. Refugee women who have fled gender-based violence face a deeply rooted culture of disbelief and retraumatisation, and are ultimately compelled to live in unsafe conditions that re-expose them to abuse.

✊ The fight must continue
On 8 March, we reaffirm our obligation to challenge the structures that exclude and disbelieve women, especially those who are racialised, poor, or seeking safety in a foreign legal system.

Legal aid organisations, practitioners, and human‑rights defenders must insist on:
🔹 consistent, gender‑sensitive asylum procedures that properly assess gender‑based persecution;
🔹 training and accountability for decision‑makers to counter stereotypes and bias;
🔹 access to specialised legal, medical and psychosocial support for female asylum seekers at every stage of the process.

Women's rights are not reserved for those who hold citizenship or secure status. 🌍

03/03/2026

Cash assistance is a legal right that has been denied to thousands of asylum seekers since April 2024. Greece has consistently denied the provision of the monthly financial support that people seeking asylum are legally owed, despite continuing to receive funding from the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) for that purpose.

For 21 months, people have had no stable income, no cash for medicine, hygiene, transport, or to cover the gaps in camp food. At the same time, many still face serious barriers to work, making cash assistance their only reliable way to meet basic needs.

36 NGOs working with asylum seekers across Greece have joined this joint statement calling on the Greek state and the European Commission to immediately resume cash assistance, including back payments, and ensure people can live with dignity while their asylum claims are processed.

👉 Read the full statement: https://www.equallegalaid.org/joint-statement-provision-of-cash-assistance-to-asylum-seekers-in-greece-must-resume-immediately-2/

19/02/2026

We’re honoured to have been invited by Unifor Canada to present our project and the Greek context of asylum and migration as part of their special webinar for the 2026 UN World Day for Social Justice.

To mark the 2026 UN World Day for Social Justice, Unifor’s International & Social Justice Fund Departme

19/01/2026

As we bring our winter fundraising campaign to a close, we would like to thank everyone who contributed to its success. Thanks to your support, the people we represent will be able to move their legal cases forward and secure a safer future.

We are stronger together! ❤️

13/01/2026

Support asylum seekers in northern Greece and see your contribution doubled : https://donorbox.org/equal-legal-aid-2025

09/01/2026

The new Asylum Legal Bulletin covering the second semester of 2025 has been published.

Coordinated by Ελληνικό Συμβούλιο για τους Πρόσφυγες - Greek Council for Refugees, HIAS Greece and Refugee Support Aegean - Υποστήριξη Προσφύγων στο Αιγαίο, it contains excerpts from 72 decisions issued mainly in the second half of 2025.

The decisions, issued by eight legal organisations, including ELA, address key issues such as the assessment of the credibility and merits of asylum applications, the determination and verification of the nationality of asylum seekers, the criminalisation of refugees, and the use of administrative detention.

Other organisations contributed to the bulletin: Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid, Refugee Legal Support, ΜΕΤΑδραση - METAdrasi, European Lawyers in Lesvos, Legal Centre Lesvos and the Asylum Service Lawyers’ Registry.

📌 Δημοσιεύουμε σήμερα το νέο τεύχος του Δελτίου Νομολογίας Ασύλου, για το 2ο εξάμηνο του 2025.

📢 Με το τεύχος αυτό, συμπληρώνονται πέντε χρόνια από την έναρξη της πρωτοβουλίας των ανεξάρτητων οργανώσεων Ελληνικό Συμβούλιο για τους Πρόσφυγες - Greek Council for Refugees, HIAS Greece και Υποστήριξη Προσφύγων στο Αιγαίο (RSA).

👉 Στόχος της πρωτοβουλίας είναι η συλλογή και διανομή νομολογίας δικαστηρίων και αποφάσεων διοικητικών αρχών που αφορούν την προστασία των προσφύγων στην Ελλάδα.

📣 Στα πέντε χρόνια λειτουργίας του Δελτίου Νομολογίας Ασύλου, συγκεντρώσαμε και δημοσιεύσαμε αποσπάσματα 790 αποφάσεων ασύλου της περιόδου 2020 έως 2025, μέσα από το νομικό έργο μας και την πολύτιμη συνεισφορά οργανώσεων της κοινωνίας των πολιτών και δικηγόρων που δραστηριοποιούνται στον τομέα του ασύλου.

📢 Το Δελτίο συνεισφέρει έτσι στην αναπλήρωση του σημαντικού κενού στη δημοσίευση της ελληνικής νομολογίας για το άσυλο και ενισχύει την ενημέρωση της νομικής και ευρύτερης κοινότητας για τις εξελίξεις του προσφυγικού δικαίου στη χώρα.

📌 Το Τεύχος 2/2025 του Δελτίου Νομολογίας Ασύλου παραθέτει αποσπάσματα από 72 αποφάσεις διοικητικών, πολιτικών και ποινικών δικαστηρίων, Ανεξάρτητων Επιτροπών Προσφυγών και της Υπηρεσίας Ασύλου, που εκδόθηκαν κυρίως το δεύτερο εξάμηνο του 2025.

📣 Οι αποφάσεις αυτές καλύπτουν θέματα όπως η αξιολόγηση της αξιοπιστίας και της ουσίας των αιτήσεων ασύλου, η εξακρίβωση της ιθαγένειας των ανθρώπων που ζητούν άσυλο, η ποινική μεταχείριση των προσφύγων και η διοικητική κράτηση.

🙏 Ευχαριστούμε τις οργανώσεις ΜΕΤΑδραση - METAdrasi, Equal Rights Beyond Borders, Equal Legal Aid, European Lawyers in Lesvos, ARSIS - Association for the Social Support of Youth, Refugee Legal Support, Legal Centre Lesvos, Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid και The HOME Project καθώς και τις/τους δικηγόρους του Μητρώου Δικηγόρων της Υπηρεσίας Ασύλου, για τη συνεισφορά αποσπασμάτων αποφάσεων επιλεγμένων από τις υποθέσεις που υποστηρίζουν στο πλαίσιο της νομικής τους δραστηριότητας.

👉 Όλα τα τεύχη του Δελτίου Νομολογίας Ασύλου διατίθενται δημόσια, ενώ μέσα από συνέργειες με έγκριτες βάσεις δεδομένων νομολογίας ενισχύουμε τη διανομή και την προσβασιμότητα της νομολογίας σε ευρύτερο κοινό εντός και εκτός Ελλάδας.

🔗 στα σχόλια.

07/01/2026

🎯 Double your donation here: https://donorbox.org/equal-legal-aid-2025
In northern Greece, thousands of asylum seekers are forced to make an impossible choice: pay for justice, or lose their chance at protection. In a system where legal representation is often a necessity, a second appeal costs €500–700 in court fees alone, an insurmountable barrier for people living in isolated camps without cash assistance, who are struggling to access the job market. These fees don't even include legal representation, which most people cannot afford.

This is where ELA steps in.

Over the past five years, we have supported over 400 appeals and interim measures procedures, covering court fees and providing expert legal representation to fight for people's rights in administrative courts.

Right now, your €50 donation becomes €100. Your €250 becomes €500, enough to cover an entire court case.

As Greece has become a testing ground for restrictive asylum policies that have spread across Europe, winning cases here means defending individuals and the rule of law itself.
Every case we take says: asylum seekers deserve dignity, justice and their day in court.
All donations are doubled until 13 January. https://donorbox.org/equal-legal-aid-2025

06/01/2026

Happy New Year from the ELA team!
Thank you for standing with us in the fight for justice.