Photo © Sarah Booker
We are a group of UK volunteer immigration lawyers who with the support of ILPA (Immigration Law Practitioners' Association, charity no 1155286) and in conjunction with a Community Centre in Athens, have set up the Athens Legal Support Project, a 4 month pilot from 10 April-28 July 2017 to provide legal advice and support to refugees and Greek lawyers. In the current crisis Greek lawyers are incredibly overstretched and the majority of refugees do not receive advice or representation prior to receiving the initial decision on their claim. If their claim is refused there is an exceedingly long delay in processing appeals. Some of us have already spent time working in Greece and have seen first-hand the desperate need for legal support.

For the duration of the project we will send 2 experienced immigration lawyers to Athens every 2 weeks to assist in preparing the first stages of the asylum claim; to train and build capacity for Greek lawyers; and to develop remote support services. We will be relying heavily on local interpreters, without whom we simply won’t be able to provide effective assistance.

This project is voluntary, so without your support we will be entirely self-funded. For lawyers travelling to Greece this means we will be giving up annual leave and taking time away from our practices.

-Our urgent priority is to fund Greek interpreters. We need 2 interpreters per day for the 3 month duration of the project. At a cost of about €70 per day, we need to raise in the region of £9,000.

-Any funds remaining will be put towards flights, accommodation and subsistence for volunteer lawyers, the costs of which will be kept to a minimum, but allowing £450 per lawyer for the duration of the project amounts to £11,000. ILPA is also assisting to fund accommodation.

For the duration of the project we need to raise close to £20,000. For phase 1, to cover costs to the end of April, please help us reach our initial target of £6,000!