METAdrasi’s legal aid department provides specialized assistance to asylum seekers entering from the eastern Aegean islands of Chios, Samos and Leros, especially in vulnerable cases and people with increased needs for international protection.
The programme is implemented through the locally based lawyers on the islands of Chios, Samos and Leros, who have a permanent presence within the Closed Controlled Access Centers of the islands, as well as through the lawyers of the coordination team in Athens. Cases continue to be supported, where feasible, at each subsequent stage, even after the departure of the applicants from the eastern Aegean islands.
Cases are identified through the uninterrupted presence of the lawyers within the aforementioned structures on the islands, but also through referrals from public and private bodies operating in Greece and abroad.
The team of lawyers is supported in its work by METAdrasi’s appropriately trained interpreters.