Grantee Partners

ELIL’s team of full-time Greek lawyers and volunteer European asylum lawyers has been providing legal support to people on the move on Lesvos (since 2016) and Samos (since 2020). They work to uphold the rule of law and defend human rights by providing access to free, independent legal assistance. Thousands of people on the move have been transferred from the Aegean islands to the Greek mainland in recent months and face an increasingly strict and complex asylum framework, often with little legal support. With the support of the Stiftungsfonds Zivile Seenotrettung, ELIL is beginning a new project to provide legal assistance on the mainland.

Lesvos and the Aegean islands are a laboratory for toxic European migration policies. Lesvos Solidarity counters this with the Advocacy Hub project: the goal is to expose the increasingly repressive and divisive migration system and increase coordinated pressure to force political change. The project aims to create a one-stop shop for networking, strategic action and community mobilization. Actors on the Greek islands are jointly mobilized for change against an aggressive and determined government.

The Pomegranate Project is an initiative designed and implemented by, for and with women. It provides a holistic protection and empowerment model for female refugees, with particular priority given to those at risk of and/or survivors of gender-based violence. The project includes safe housing, psychosocial support, case management, and income-generating opportunities to develop and strengthen the skills, resources, and resilience of affected individuals. The predominantly Greek team also helps build support networks and solidarity between displaced women and the Greek community.

With a team of Greek and international lawyers, interpreters, legally trained volunteers and founding members, the Legal Centre Lesvos works to defend the rights of migrants. Since August 2016, the Legal Centre Lesvos has been providing free and individual legal advice, legal representation and support to migrants arriving on the Greek island via the Mediterranean Sea. Beyond this direct support, the organization works on documenting human rights violations, strategic court cases, and advocacy work to hold the Greek government, EU member states, and European institutions accountable.

The organization Healthbridge Medical focuses on filling current gaps in care on the ground - be it general medical care, medical translation services or the care of complex medical cases. The team consists of people on the move, as well as other physicians and medical staff.

Aita Mari is a rescue ship managed by the basque NGO Salvamento Maritimo Humanitario (SMH). The Aita Mari was recently adapted to Italian requirements and is now operating again to rescue people leaving from war and violence in their countries of origin. The ship has a capacity for 120 people on deck and is equiped with a small clinic, a rescue and medical crew.

The medical care situation on the Greek islands for people on the move has for many years only existed due to small NGOs tirelessly trying to help against all repressions on the spot. The capacities and possible medical services have always been limited, and the situation has deteriorated massively due to the pandemic. Building on the experience of the first mobile hospital for North-East Syria, CADUS is building an even greater mobile concept of a modular hospital, which can react quickly and flexibly to the medical emergency on site.

Kitrino's Healthcare is a British NGO that provides medical care for people on the move on Lesbos. Kitrinos has been active in Greece since 2015, and has been running a clinic in Moria where patients with chronic diseases were treated since 2018. In addition, Kitrinos is responsible for the medical care of a large group of mothers and children in the UNICEF Tapuat School, which has been converted into an emergency shelter since the fire. Kitrinos supports vulnerable patients in their asylum process and with access to better care from UNHCR. Kitrinos has lost much of its equipment and materials in the Moria fire, while the medical needs of people on the move have grown. The Corona Pandemic also means that translators (most of whom are people on the moves themselves) and volunteers now need more support.

The situation faced by people on the move who have to live on the greek island of Lesvos is becoming increasingly acute. At the same time, medical NGOs working on site lack the means to provide urgently needed support. Therefore, civilfleet-support helps with ordering material and medicine and takes care of the transport to the island.

Since July 2020, the team of Alarme Phone Sahara (APS) organizes with great commitment every Saturday a community kitchen for migrants in Agadez/Niger. The network APS is a cooperation between associations, groups and individuals in the Sahel-Sahara region and Europe with headquarter and office in Agadez. The community kitchen is a practical response to a situation in which many migrants and people on the move are stranded in Niger, struggling to survive in very precarious conditions. The global corona crisis has exacerbated this situation even more. For the APS team, the kitchen is an important location to come into exchange with the migrants on site. Moreover, it strengthens solidarity within the different migrant communities.