Why Legal Aid
Asylum seekers waiting for food, Moria Camp (Lesvos), August 2019
SolidariTee offers grants to legal aid NGOs to assist Europe’s most vulnerable. In the short term, legal aid
minimises the risk of an individual who has a legitimate claim to asylum from being deported unjustly and brings family members, scattered across Europe, back together again. This aid allows refugees to begin prosperous lives beyond camps, and gain rights to education, accommodation and healthcare. It’s the most empowering form of aid we can offer.
Living in a refugee camp is untenably difficult. Conditions are unsanitary, overcrowded and are often met with a lack of basic supplies, such as clothes. Pressurised circumstances and untreated trauma often leads to violence, drug abuse and further mental health difficulties. As asylum seekers currently in Greece can expect to be interviewed in 2022, thousands of vulnerable people must live in these conditions for over a year.
(Right: Conditions of Moira Camp (Lesvos), August 2019)
In 2018, 64% of asylum applications in Europe were rejected, despite the fact that over 80% of applicants come from war-stricken countries.
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Camps are riddled with misinformation. Rumours spread quickly, whilst asylum seekers are not advised on their legal rights. Given the scale of the crisis, government services are rarely able to respond quickly, and donors are becoming fatigued by the lack of improvement in the crisis. At SolidariTee, we believe that access to fair representation is a fundamental human right.
Legal aid NGOs offer the legal guidance that refugees require in order to successfully make their asylum case. Improved legal guidance speeds up the asylum process and dispels false rumours, meaning that refugees can leave camps quicker. Crucially, it ensures that highly vulnerable individuals are granted the safety and security that they might not otherwise reach.
Asylum services were not prepared to deal with the unprecedented numbers of refugees coming to Europe in 2015. Due to political disputes and the rise of far-right rhetoric towards immigration, asylum services have since remained underfunded and understaffed As a result of this, asylum seekers currently in Greece can expect to wait until 2022 for their asylum interview. This interview is of paramount importance to an asylum seeker, as it will determine whether they can remain in that country or not.
Thousands of vulnerable people must live in camp conditions for over a year awaiting their asylum interviews. And this is the best case scenario - the camps having reached capacity years ago, a large portion of the refugee population is currently homeless, sleeping in abandoned buildings and parks. Such desperate situations have led to an increase in violence, drug abuse and prostitution. No one should have to suffer this long in legal limbo, and in such troubling conditions.
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Asylum seekers homeless due to overcrowding of camps, Thessaloniki, August 2019
The European Refugee Crisis
2015 saw the largest refugee crisis on European soil since WWII. The mass influx of refugees has seen divided global politics, with outpourings of generosity and controversy towards refugees. This timeline shows just how the crisis has been shaped since 2015.
2015
2016
2017-19
2015
June
European Council agree to relocate 40,000 refugees from Italy and Greece to other EU Member States and to taken 20,000 refugees from outside the EU.
August 22nd
In one day only, 4,400 migrants are rescued off the coast of Libya
August 31st
Angela Merkel's 'Wir schaffen das' - there will be no limits on the number of asylum seekers taken in by Germany
September 13th
Germany introduces temporary controls on border with Austria.
September 22nd
120,000 refugees to be relocated in EU
April
Just under 1,250 asylum seekers die in the Mediterranean. After this, deaths in the Mediterranean continue steadily.
July
Hungary begins to build a barrier along its border with Serbia to stem flow of asylum seekers into the country.
August 27th
71 asylum seekers, including 4 children, are found dead in an abandoned lorry in Austria - they are believed to have died from suffocation
September 2nd
Death of Alan Kurdi
September 17th
Croatia closes off majority of its borders with Serbia.
November
Austria, Sweden and Macedonia introduce border controls
October 16th
Afghan man shot dead by Bulgarian border guard
December
UNHCR reports that 1 million had reached Europe by sea in 2015.
2016
January
100 black-clad masked men attack immigrants at Stockholm Central Station.
February
Both Austria and Norway break international and EU law. Austria announces that it will set a daily cap on the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter the country, and will limit daily asylum claims. Norway says they will reject all asylum seekers coming to the country.
February
French authorities start to demolish part of the 'Calais Jungle'.
April
Clashes at Idomeni refugee camp on Greece-Macedonia border result in 200 asylum seekers and 15 police officers being injured.
February
Locals protest against establishment of a screening centre; protests see petrol bombs thrown against police officers. Meanwhile, Turkey threatens to send millions of asylum seekers into Europe unless Turkey receives further funding to host the millions already in the country
February
Two Pakistani asylum seekers try to publicly hang themselves in Athens.
March
EU-Turkey deal: irregular migrants will be sent back to Turkey. Each Syrian sent back to Turkey will be replaced by a Syrian refugee resettled in the EU.
2017-19
June 2017
906 refugees are picked up off Libyan coast in one day.
May 2018
Two-year-old Mawda is shot dead by Belgian police as they were chasing a van carrying an asylum seeker.
August 2018
Sara Mardini, a Syrian refugee who saved 18 asylum seekers by swimming and pulling along their waterlogged dingy to Lesvos, is arrested for her work, along with co-volunteer Sean Binder, with a search and rescue NGO.
July 2019
Tajoura detention centre, where many aslyum seekers attempting to cross to Europe had been sent back to, is hit by an air strike. 53 are killed; 130 are injured. Questions are raised about the EU's policy of cooperating with militias to detain migrants and training the Libya Coast Guard which sends refugees back.
November 2017
CNN footage shows asylum seekers being sold at slave auctions in Libya
June 2018
Italy and Malta both deny entry to the NGO ship Aquarius. The ship has 629 people on board, including 7 pregnant women, 11 small children, and 123 unaccompanied minors.
July 2018
Italy says it will reject all foreign navy, as well as Frontex ships, which have boarded refugees at sea.
How Mobile Info Team Helps
Hover here to read Zania's testimonial.
Mobile Info Team's family reunification support allowed for Zania, along with three children, to join her husband and their father in Germany.
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You can read more about how we're helping MIT in Grant Giving
How Fenix Helps
Hover here to read an anecdote from Amanda Munñoz de Toro, the Executive Director of Fenix.
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Fenix's support in Lesvos is ensuring the reunification of hundreds of families across Europe, and asylum success of thousands.
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You can read more about how we're helping Fenix in Grant Giving
What exactly does your £10 achieve?
We've chosen to support Mobile Info Team and Fenix in 2018-19 because they're effective, efficient and sustainable. Here's how your money helps:
Mobile Info Team
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£4.50 pays for a volunteer translator in Greece for the day, who sees 30-40 individuals per day.
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£13.50 pays for a full time volunteer caseworker in Greece for the day, who sees 20-30 individuals per day.
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Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid
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£1,000 pays for a foreign attorney to join the team full time for a month
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£20 pays for all of the long term volunteers' accommodation for one night
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£300 pays for a Greek attorney to join the team for a week
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