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Thank you for your interest in supporting Fenix — our work would not be possible without the donations of people like you. Each package also comes with a downloadable certificate, perfect for giving as a gift to loved ones.
Community Package:
Aside from direct interactions with clients, Fenix engages with other NGOs and refugee communities to build their capacity and understanding of the needs of the populations we support. Such sessions can range from advising non-legal NGO actors on the asylum process, such that they can better refer and signpost their clients for legal aid and other services, to running tailored training sessions on Safeguarding and SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) based asylum claims. With this package, you are choosing to support legal workshops, protection training, and tailored programs designed according to the specific needs of camp residents and local actors.
Office Package
Protection Package:
The protection team supports the most vulnerable people in camp. Fenix assesses their situation and refers and advocates for them to receive the services they need, such as medical attention or mental health support. There is a significant ‘protection gap’ for asylum seekers on Lesvos and beyond - in other words, access to basic services such as medical care, mental health support, adequate accommodation, and education is not ensured. Without protection teams, basic rights are not upheld, and vulnerabilities not recognised or responded to, leading to increased risk of further harm. By choosing this package, you’re helping to reduce this gap by enabling our team to support asylum seekers in attending medical appointments, accessing safer accommodation, and receiving official documentation of vulnerabilities to support their asylum claims.
Mental Health Package:
We are convinced that a simplistic approach to legal aid in humanitarian crises is insufficient and dehumanizing. Violence in transit or in their countries of origin, coupled with undignified living conditions and intense uncertainty surrounding the asylum process means that severe mental health challenges are incredibly common. With this package, you are choosing to support our mental health and psychological support team in delivering a holistic plan of action for the wellbeing of our clients, including individual and group sessions as well as emergency stabilisation and psychiatric care for those experiencing acute mental health crises. Moreover, Fenix organises weekly support groups for women and interpreters from the refugee community. Our groups aim to create a sense of community and provide participants with self-help tools for everyday coping and empowerment. Being able to connect with others who have similar lived experiences, and to share those experiences in a safe, trauma-informed setting, is one of the most powerful ways for people to break down stigma, build communities, and take agency over their own narrative.
Legal Package:
With this package, you support our central mission. In a context of ever-changing regulations, policies and practices, accessing legal information is crucial in alleviating the uncertainty inherent in the asylum process. In Lesvos, asymmetry of information is the rule, with bureaucratic barriers preventing many asylum seekers from accessing the information necessary to realise their rights, a phenomenon made worse by language barriers. In a survey conducted by Fenix of people that arrived in Lesvos and were interviewed in 2021, only 25% of respondents received any kind of information before their asylum interview, whilst 90% of those surveyed, expressed their wishes to have had access to info from a qualified actor before their interview. For many of our cases, the work of local lawyers is crucial, as they can navigate the Greek asylum system like no other, and for this reason our Greek and international lawyers work together at every stage of the process. With this package, you choose legal representation, as is every person’s fundamental right.
Holistic Legal Aid Package:
Holistic legal aid is at the very heart of what we stand for here at Fenix. Legal representation, on its own, is not enough to provide access to a dignified asylum system. Mental health and psychological support in the form of group spaces and individual sessions, coupled with information sessions and a protection team who advocates for people to receive the services they need, all come together alongside our strategic impact litigation work and capacity bridging activities. As a whole, our services seek to not only ensure a just outcome for those navigating the asylum process, but also to equip people with resources, tools and information. In doing so, our clients are meaningfully empowered to make their own decisions and access their rights, and the barriers that prevent them from having real and effective access to the right to seek asylum can be successfully navigated. By choosing this package, you are choosing multidisciplinary, integrated legal aid.
About Fenix Legal Aid
Fenix was founded by 5 young professionals who believed that a holistic approach to legal aid is necessary in humanitarian contexts. Today, Fenix has over 45 staff members who provide legal, protection and mental health services to people who are seeking international protection. Fenix has partnerships with law firms and universities around the world that provide remote research, advocacy and litigation support. Our vision is a just and equitable European asylum system that treats people with dignity, upholds their rights, and offers them the information, tools and knowledge to navigate their own lives and futures. Our multidisciplinary team of volunteers combines experience in international, European and refugee law, psychology, social work, anthropology, gender, cultural mediation, child protection, trafficking, FGM, advocacy and communications, human rights and women's rights and field work in refugee camps worldwide.