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Suspension of financial assistance to asylum seekers in Greece since May 2024

Greek law stipulates that all asylum seekers residing in the country’s refugee camps are entitled to financial assistance to cover their daily needs. However, in recent months, this payment has been suspended for all recipients due to issues in the management of relevant funding by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.

Specifically, no asylum seeker has received this assistance since May 2024. After submitting a formal inquiry to the Ministry on behalf of four cases represented by Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), we received an official response confirming that the last payment was for April 2024. Payments have since been halted due to a lack of allocated funds. According to the Ministry, once the funds are released, payments will be made retroactively.

The cases we represent, for which we inquired, involve individuals residing in various camps across the country (Ritsona, Corinth, Thermopylae). These include a single woman, two single men, and a family with children, all of whom are entitled to the assistance under the law.

The suspension of financial assistance has severe consequences for asylum seekers living in refugee camps. Without this minimal support, they struggle to meet even their most basic needs. Additionally, many are unable to afford the necessary travel costs to access crucial services located in cities, particularly in Athens—such as the asylum service, mental health care, and specialised hospitals. According to the legislation, the allowance is intended to cover essential needs such as “food, clothing, footwear, personal hygiene, telecommunications, travel within the place of residence, and basic school and medical expenses.”

The law provides that this monthly allowance ranges from €75 for a single person to €210 for families of four or more. While modest, this amount is vital for covering daily essentials, especially given the significant gaps in services and resources within the understaffed refugee camps.

These issues include a shortage of healthcare personnel and doctors to meet basic medical needs, a severe lack of interpreters, and significant shortcomings in the reception conditions provided (accommodation, food, essential necessities). Additionally, transport services from the camps to urban centres, even for necessary appointments with the Asylum Service or medical providers, have been suspended again due to mismanagement of the relevant programme. RSA documented all these concerns in a detailed report published in June 2024.


The report highlights the systematic issues surrounding the payment of financial assistance, which are also linked to significant delays in processing applications and the fact that payments are not made retroactively. Statistics indicate that most asylum seekers (approximately 60%) residing in camps and entitled to financial assistance do not actually receive it. Moreover, according to data from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum for the first half of 2024, of the 15,100 individuals residing in camps who were entitled to financial assistance, only 6,505 received it, while 8,595 did not, despite their eligibility (resulting in a 43% receipt rate).

However, the ongoing complete suspension of financial assistance payments to all asylum seekers – an obligation under the law – presents a new and extremely serious challenge to meeting people’s basic living needs. This issue has been emphasised by numerous civil society organisations. We urge the immediate resumption of cash assistance payments, the retroactive disbursement of those that have not been paid since May, and the prompt payment of cash assistance to asylum seekers right after the registration of their asylum claims.

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