Equal Rights Beyond Borders

Our organization is difficult to divide into projects. The work at our locations is interlinked. We therefore dare to provide you with a brief description of the organisation.
In Chios, our legal aid services focus on counselling in the first instance procedure, on appeals against unlawful rejections and on family reunions within the framework of the Dublin III Regulation. This includes informing asylum seekers about the hotspot procedure and the EU Turkey Deal, providing legal assistance in the asylum procedure and taking action against unlawful deportations to Turkey on the basis of the EU-Turkey Deal.
Asylum seekers who are eligible for family reunion under the Dublin III Regulation are exempted from the border procedure and therefore not subject to the scheme of return to Turkey. Our presence in Chios allows us to identify these cases as early.
We accompany these persons through the entire process of family reunification, also through our office in Athens. This is particularly important because Germany has rigidly tightened its rejection practice in this area – 60 % of the take charge requests sent by Greece are rejected by Germany. We also take action against illegal rejections by way of (strategic) litigation. Both with regard to "our own" cases and with regard to those forwarded to us by Greek colleagues. The possibility that we have been offering since 2018 has been used extensively. On the one hand this was our aim. On the other hand, it brings us to our capacity limits. But we are also seeing, that this support is more than needed. The Dublin procedure takes place mainly between Member States and largely without the involvement of applicants. People often do not even know that their family reunion has been decided negatively with the result, that  the asylum procedure must take place in another Member State, often in Greece. Legal assistance is the exception alongside this procedures. One is left with the suspicion that the German administration has the impression to act in a legal vacuum, without any supervision of the rejections issued. At a time when the call for the "harshness of the rule of law" is getting louder and louder, it seems to be forgotten that the rule of law actually means that every state action is subject to law and justice. In our daily work we encounter rejections that can be described as creative. But which actually separate families permanently. The list of examples of the absurd legal opinions is long. The reunification of an unaccompanied minor who is homeless in Greece is rejected on the grounds that the transfer has a negative impact on the child's well-being. In another case, the necessary written consent of a wife was sent by fax. The German Asylum Service states that it did not receive the fax. It would also have been sent from a Greek number. It actually was sent from a German number. And in the obligation to prove, whether a fax did not arrive, is the authority.
For a long time, the assumption had prevailed that the Dublin family reunion procedure can not at all be subject to judicial review. In December, March and April, we were now able to positively establish the justiciability of a total of four cases and force their legal transfer to Germany. However, these are first instance decisions. They are not binding. It is therefore our aim to address this structural problem before the highest courts as well.
Additionally, we cover cases of substantive asylum law, with a special focus to unaccompanied minors. We are also dealing with cases of administrative detention and other fundamental human rights violations.
In Berlin, we research and advocate for the rights of people who are subject to the EU Hotspot Approach, the EU-Turkey Deal and illegal administrative practices preventing family unit, as well as on (Dublin) readmissions and deportations.
Legal analysis enables us to advocate for the rights of asylum seekers, and to enforce their rights in individual cases.
Since the project was launched, we have established Equal Rights as a first legal information actor and have a wide network and a close cooperation with Greek and German organizations.
The support of Greek colleagues is a question of European solidarity. The Hotspots are a project of the European Union. Hence, EU agencies support the Greek authorities with stuff and resources. We support the legal advice and the civil society on site. And thus the asylum seekers – to ensure that legal protection does not degenerate into a question of resources!