Legal aid activities are key to promoting the respect to the rule of law and ensuring that its application is consistent with international obligations; ensuring the observance of legal safeguards for persons in need of international protection in relation to their asylum status; administrative treatment and access to other basic rights and procedures; and identifying legal issues or gaps that can be addressed through strategic litigation. In the Greek national context, where free legal aid provision schemes are inadequate, the provision of free legal aid to asylum-seekers and persons in need of international protection continued to be a key protection activity for UNHCR’s operations in Greece.
In 2019, UNHCR and its partners the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) and Metadrasi assisted some 10,500 asylum-seekers and persons in need of international protection with counselling and legal representation on asylum procedures and other issues related to accessing rights. Among these beneficiaries, over 300 people were assisted under the UNHCR’s Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry of Migration Policy, at the appeal stage of the asylum procedure, in accordance with the minimum EU legal standards.
Free legal aid supported by UNHCR, continued to include the following activities:
- Legal counselling and representation for asylum-seekers, persons in need of international protection and beneficiaries of international protection in detention or open reception facilities, including where IOM operates as a site management support (SMS) actor, as well as for urban population, including through UNHCR’s ESTIA accommodation scheme. Activities include representation before the competent authorities regarding their asylum procedures, family reunification, child protection, protection of sexual and gender-based violence survivors, as well as other relevant administrative procedures and access to rights
- Representation before courts for flagrant violations of human rights or for strategic litigation purposes, including civil, penal and administrative proceedings.
- Provision of legal assistance at second instance. UNHCR provided legal assistance at second instance (a State obligation under EU standards), in cooperation with the Roster of Lawyers of the Asylum Service. In addition, UNHCR organized trainings for the lawyers of the Roster of the Registry, in cooperation with the Asylum Service, and continued implementing a capacity building programme for the Roster of the Lawyers of the Asylum Service through its implementing partner, GCR.
UNHCR legal assistance programme were covered mainly through GCR, but limited legal aid was also provided through accommodation partners in order to cover the needs for legal counselling, as well as limited representation, in particular for persons at heightened risk, as well as unaccompanied or separated children. Furthermore, UNHCR provided legal representation through GCR to residents in open reception facilities where IOM operated as an SMS actor and provided legal counselling upon referral from IOM legal counselors.