Erika Kalantzi

Erika Kalantzi past and current roles include Attorney-at-Law at the High Court of Greece 1990-1996: legal counselor at the Greek Council for Refugees 1998-3/2001: participation – representing UNHCR’s office in Athens - to second instance committee for the regularization of illegal migrants in Greece. 2000-2008: participation to second instance committees for the examination of submissions filed by rejected asylum seekers. 1998 till 2015: editing of the Yearbook of Refugee and Aliens Law (issued by the Publisher Ant. N. Sakkoulas in Greece).

Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid

Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid was founded in December 2018 to respond to the dire lack of legal representation and information available to refugees on the island of Lesvos, Greece who were escaping their war-torn homes. Fenix fights for the basics: legal assistance, empowerment through information, and the agency of refugees to navigate their own future. We seek to replace charity with empowerment. 
Our field team is based in Lesvos and is made up of lawyers, psychologists, translators, and protection officers. We provide information to refugees about their rights under international law, help present family reunification claims, assist with interview preparation, and facilitate the acquisition of documents and medical and psychological assessments. As part of our daily work in the field, we help refugees navigate the day-to-day frustrations that are part of their daily lives and the often-changing asylum process. 

Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid website

Greek Council for Refugees

The Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) is an NGO founded in 1989 to support refugees, stateless persons and asylum seekers in Greece. Through various psychosocial and legal services, it helps them to find protection and integrate in Greece. It is the only non-governmental, non-profit organisation that deals exclusively with people seeking asylum in Greece. Moreover, it is registered in the records of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity on account of its charitable work and expertise. It is a member of the European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and an implemented partner of UNHCR. 

Greek Council for Refugees website

Greek Forum of Refugees

The Greek Forum of Refugees is a multinational grassroots network of refugee communities, individuals and professionals working to support asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons. Involving 9 refugee communities, GFR intends to put the expertise of refugees at the forefront of the debates and solutions on their inclusion process. Its mission revolves around:

•Advocating for a holistic approach to integration
•Defending the rights and protecting the freedoms of refugees and asylum seekers
•Encouraging self-organisation and participation of refugees and their communities
•Informing refugees and asylum seekers of their rights and obligations
•Networking at different levels

Greek Forum of Refugees website

HIAS Europe

HIAS Europe stands for a world where refugees find safety, opportunity, and welcome. Guided by Jewish values and history, we manage humanitarian programming worldwide and support European Jewish organisations and activists in their efforts to welcome and integrate refugees. We add a Jewish voice to discussions on humanitarian, development and forced migration issues, especially vis-a-vis the European institutions and European governments.

HIAS Europe website

Katerina Komita

Katerina Komita is a lawyer before the Supreme Court of Greece specialized in human rights. From 2011 until 2021, she had been a member of the Legal Unit of the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) specialized in vulnerable cases. In this context, for seven years she had been the coordinator of the multidisciplinary project Prometheus (provision of holistic services for the recovery from the consequences of torture suffered by asylum seekers and refugees on a legal, social, psychological and medical level). She has contacted the ENS research Statelessness Index-Greece [years 2019, 2020 and 2021 (ongoing)]. Additionally, she has more than 15 years of experience as a journalist.

Konstantinos Tsitselikis

Konstantinos Tsitselikis is Associate professor at the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki, Greece), lecturing human and minority rights and international law. He has worked for the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the UN, the EU in human rights and democratisation field missions. In the past years he has conducted research on minority foundations of the Greek Orthodox minority in Turkey and the Muslim minority in Greece [W. Thrace and the Dodecanese islands].