Reports on ELIL - Legal Assistance at EU borders

Project Report | Dec 30, 2025
End of Year Report

By Olivia Alvano | Communications and Fundraising Manager

Our work over the past months has continued to demonstrate both the vital importance of free, independent legal assistance and the increasing difficulty of providing it in the current European context.

From August to December, ELIL supported over 2,000 people in Greece and nearly than 2,500 people in Poland.

In Greece, arrivals continued to rise, reaching 43,954 people in 2025. Throughout this period, our teams in Athens, Thessaloniki, Samos and Lesvos worked in a fragmented system marked by postponed interviews, barriers to registration, misdirected notifications and detention linked to difficulties accessing the asylum procedure. Our lawyers supported applicants to register their asylum claims and challenge unlawful detention resulting from procedural barriers. We assisted families to access secure housing, identified victims of trafficking and referred them to the appropriate protection mechanisms, and supported individuals in age assessment procedures, including accessing safe accommodation for those identified as minors. Across all locations, we continued to respond to a wide range of legal needs, including assisting applicants to communicate with the asylum authorities, navigate online platforms, and access the state legal aid system for appeals. Alongside this, our teams remained present in community centres and continued to provide legal assistance from the legal container in the camp on Lesvos.

The broader context in Greece remained unstable. The government’s suspension of asylum for arrivals from North Africa, introduced earlier in the year, ended in October, but its impact continues to be felt through prolonged detention and restricted access to procedures. New legislation on returns and age assessment has raised serious concerns about due process and safeguards for children. At the same time, several organisations reduced their presence, increasing gaps in legal assistance and interpretation.

In Poland, ELIL continued to confront serious violations of the right to seek asylum at the border with Belarus. We remain the only organisation with lawyers permanently present at the border, supporting people denied access to the asylum procedure and facing detention or deportation. As winter conditions slowed new arrivals, our work focused on advancing long delayed cases, challenging border guard inaction before domestic courts and preparing litigation before the European Court of Human Rights.

We also continued to assist refugees from Ukraine in Warsaw. With over 1.85 million Ukrainians registered in Poland, the need for legal assistance remains high. At the same time, many shelters have closed and access to financial support and long term residency options is being reduced. Our team continues to support refugees navigating these changes, alongside an increasingly diverse group of applicants seeking protection.

Across both countries, the trend remains clear. Arrivals continue while legal safeguards are weakened and political hostility toward refugees and migrants deepens.

Yet the presence of legal aid continues to make a decisive difference. Families have been reunited. Detention has been overturned. Children and survivors of violence have accessed protection. Each outcome reinforces the essential role of independent, free legal assistance.

With your support, we will continue to defend the right to asylum in courtrooms, camps and border zones.

The ELIL Team

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Sep 11, 2025
Summer report from ELIL

By Lara Stauss | Communications and Fundraising Manager

Our work over the past 3 months has reminded us of both the huge impact of free, impartial legal assistance and of the mounting challenges of the providing it in the current European context.

From May to July, ELIL supported nearly 3,000 people in Greece and more than 1,300 in Poland. Almost one in three were children, including many unaccompanied or separated minors. Behind each number is a person navigating an increasingly restrictive and ever changing system.

In Greece, the context is fragmented and unpredictable: interviews cancelled without notice, notifications misdirected, applicants detained en route to registration. Our teams in Athens, Thessaloniki, Samos and Lesvos have stood alongside applicants through these complex procedures, providing clarity and ensuring applicants are aware of their rights. Our interventions secured releases, prevented wrongful deportations, and moved family reunification cases forward despite systemic delays. Across all sites, we continued to accompany unaccompanied children, survivors of human trafficking, and families at risk of eviction from the camps.

At the same time, the broader context in Greece has become more restrictive. The government suspended asylum for arrivals from North Africa, forcing many into closed detention centres. We are already representing people detained under this law, including an unaccompanied minor. Major NGOs have scaled back operations, leaving gaps in interpretation and services.

In Poland, our lawyers confronted similar violations to the right to seek asylum, after the Polish government suspended the right to claim asylum at the border with Belarus. This had a huge impact on our work, since we are the only NGO with lawyers permanently present at the border. In response to this change, the only way for our applicants to access asylum was by taking cases to the European Court of Human Rights. ELIL has represented over 80% of all such cases nationwide. In Warsaw, our work with Ukrainian refugees continues, alongside support for an increasingly diverse range of applicants.

Across both countries, the trend is clear: protections are shrinking while needs grow. Arrivals in Greece have already surpassed 26,000 this year, and political hostility toward refugees and migrants is deepening across Europe.

Yet amid these challenges, we are reminded of what is possible when legal aid is present. Families have been reunited. Children and survivors of violence have found safety. Vulnerable applicants have secured protection. Wrongful detentions have been overturned. Each success demonstrates that independent, free legal assistance remains a lifeline.

With your support, we will continue to defend the right to asylum - in courtrooms, camps, and border zones.

The ELIL team

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May 19, 2025
Report from Greece and Poland

By Helene Bauwens | Fundraising Manager

As Europe’s asylum landscape shifts, we continue to confront urgent challenges and moments of hope. Over the past months, our team at ELIL has seen how fragile asylum protections can be. In Poland, a deeply troubling case made this painfully clear: an unaccompanied child, represented by ELIL, was forcibly returned to Belarus, despite an explicit order from the European Court of Human Rights. This breach of international law underscores a pattern we’re seeing across our work: the erosion of fundamental rights, especially for those most vulnerable.If you want to read more, you can find our press release here.

Yet amid this harsh reality, we’re also reminded of what’s possible when legal assistance is available and accessible.

At the end of 2024, a mother living in a refugee camp in Greece called our duty phone. She was raising three children alone, and desperately trying to reunite with her husband and teenage son in another EU country. She believed the family reunification process had already started. In fact, it hadn’t.

Our team immediately got to work. We helped her gather the necessary documents, contacted her family, clarified procedures, and ensured every step was completed on time. Weeks later, her application was approved. Earlier this year, the family was reunited.

This is what independent, free legal assistance can achieve: protection, dignity and family unity.

Your support helps us continue this work. Since the start of 2025, we’ve assisted over 3,100 people, 2,000 in Greece and 1,100 in Poland. We’ve worked in complex and shifting contexts.

Across all locations, funding cuts are threatening the future of legal assistance Major NGOs are scaling down or closing programs. Meanwhile, new political developments are putting even more pressure on the system.

Despite it all, our lawyers remain resilient and ready. Together with you, we’re standing up for the right to asylum, even when it’s under threat.

Thank you for being part of this work.

The ELIL team

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