European Lawyers in Lesvos gGmbH (“ELIL”) is a charitable, non-profit organisation registered in Germany and Greece. The purpose of this initiative is to give as many refugees as possible a chance to receive free individual legal advice from a lawyer.
European Lawyers in Lesvos
History
The project European Lawyers in Lesvos was originally launched by the German Bar Association (Deutscher Anwaltverein) and the European Bar Association CCBE in cooperation with Greek Bar Associations. With the 2015 massive wave of refugees in Greece, Lesvos became a hotspot where arriving people had no chance to receive any legal assistance. In July 2016, donations of the project founders enabled first legal consultations to be conducted. Meanwhile, European Lawyers in Lesvos have spread their activities on the island of Samos and on the Greek mainland (Athens and Thessaloniki) and became a non-profit and independent society. Since 2017, when the project was transformed into separate, independent charity, it has been supported by relevant European institutions, well-known NGOs and other European Bar Associations.
From its start in 2016, the ELIL team have provided free legal assistance to over 11,000 people in legal consultations to prepare people for their asylum interview, as well as have helped over 1,000 people be recognised as eligible to be reunited with their family members in other European countries. Legal assistance to children including in relation to family reunification, and the group legal information sessions are also an important part of their work.
The European Lawyers in Lesvos gGmbH is governed by the Board where the DAV is currently represented by Dr. Annette Mutschler-Siebert, Board member of the DAV. She replaced the former President of DAV, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ewer who was sitting on the ELIL Board until 2021.
Our articles about the project and the situation on Lesbos:
Please support the project!
ELIL looks for volunteering lawyers
In frames of the project, Greek and other European lawyers who are experts in the field of asylum and migration law provide individual and free legal advice to refugees in Greece. Their work is driven by the belief that every asylum seeker should be able to receive free, high-quality assistance from an independent, experienced lawyer before their asylum interview.
You can learn more and apply to volunteer by visiting https://www.europeanlawyersinlesvos.eu/volunteer-with-us-german
The following criteria must be met:
- minimum stay of three weeks
- expertise in the field of immigration and asylum law
- good English language skills
The European Lawyer in Lesvos project also offers training positions to legal trainees within the framework of the elective station.
We have posted a vacancy for this in the box on the right.
Donations
The European Lawyers in Lesvos gGmbH urgently needs additional funds so that more voluntary lawyers can come to Greece to continue the work. It receives no funding from the EU or the Greek government and all donations go directly towards helping the organisation support more refugees.
Would you like to support? Visit the website https://www.europeanlawyersinlesvos.eu/donate. There you can simply donate via PayPal. Or you can transfer your donation to the following account:
Recipient: European Lawyers in Lesvos gGmbH
Bank: Deutsche Bank, Otto-Suhr-Allee 6-16, 10585 Berlin
IBAN: DE95 1007 0024 0088 9998 00
SWIFT/BIC: DEUTDEDBBER
Purpose: Donation to ELIL gGmbH
Thank you very much for your support!
For more information about ELIL please visit https://www.europeanlawyersinlesvos.eu/
