Equal Rights Beyond Borders is currently representing many beneficiaries in Vial, and we have received serious complaints from them regarding their living conditions, which are exacerbated by the absence of any kind of cash assistance. People in Vial, particularly those who are extremely vulnerable and have an increased need for access to medical care or specific diets, have shared their concerns with us. They state that they have been left alone without the proper, specified support that the camp authorities are obliged to provide for dignified and focused reception conditions for vulnerable people.
One of our beneficiaries survived the deadly shipwreck in February 2026[1]. After spending more than 40 days in intensive care, he arrived at the Chios Reception and Identification Center. He now struggles to walk and lives with constant pain. He has also been told that he may be unable to work for the next two years.
He survived internal bleeding, multiple fractures and emergency surgeries. Yet after surviving the sea, another struggle began on land.
He cannot access the nutrition and medical support required for his recovery inside the camp: the food distributed there aggravates his condition following abdominal surgery, and he reports that the medical care available consists primarily of painkillers.
Since April 2024 thousands of asylum seekers in Greece have reportedly been left without state-provided cash assistance following its suspension, intended to cover basic daily needs.
Greece has suspended financial assistance for asylum seekers[2], leaving many people unable to pay for transportation, medicine, hygiene items, communication, or essential nutritional needs.
The consequences are severe for people living in isolated island camps such as Vial in Chios. Cash assistance is often the only way to purchase food that is suitable for their medical conditions, as well as transportation to hospitals, phone credit to contact lawyers or relatives, and hygiene products and clothing.
Without it, vulnerable people would be entirely dependent on inadequate camp provisions and the informal support of other residents, who also live in precarious conditions.
The survivor's experience in Chios illustrates how the suspension of cash assistance intersects with broader structural failures in reception conditions.
“they told me you should go with your payment but i don’t have any money.”
“I asked the doctor in the camp for medication and they gave me that much syurop for only one time using. they behavior is shameful”
After his arrival at Vial, the Ippokratis programme supported his transportation needs to Chios General Hospital for his frequent follow-up appointments, fulfilling the purposes of the project as described in the official IOM website:
“The project provides for the provision of medical, nursing, and psychosocial support services to residents of the regional services of the Ministry of Health”[3].
Moreover most of the vulnerable cases with severe medical needs normally get transferred to the mainland. Our client’s request though for transfer to the mainland, where healthcare services may be more accessible, remains unresolved.
Ippokratis unofficial reply to the beneficiary for the cessation of supporting his transfers to the Hospital was that they didn’t have budget for him anymore and that he had to pay with his own expenses. A shipwreck survivor who is unable to work due to health issues and has never received cash assistance was asked to pay for basic access to hospital.
Despite repeated requests, the CCAC authorities had not responded to our request to transfer him to the General Hospital of Chios for his follow-up appointments.
As a result of this situation, he missed two important hospital appointments.
The cash suspension
Following a formal inquiry[4], addressed to the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum, reported that the Ministry officially confirmed the suspension of cash assistance payments after April 2024 because of funding issues. Asylum seekers have not received regular cash assistance payments since then.
The financial assistance programme, funded through the European Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF)[5], is not a discretionary benefit. Under both Greek and EU law, asylum seekers residing in reception facilities are entitled to material reception conditions that ensure an adequate standard of living and safeguard their physical and mental health. The monthly allowance is intended to cover basic necessities including food, hygiene products, transportation, telecommunications, clothing, and essential medical expenses.
Yet in practice, thousands of asylum seekers have been left without even this minimal support for months.
Official data showed that during the first half of 2024, only 6,505 out of 15,100 asylum seekers entitled to financial assistance actually received it, leaving approximately 57% without support despite their eligibility[6].
Warning about the suspension of payments have been repeatedly done has left many unable to purchase medicine, hygiene products or food compatible with medical conditions.[7]
Which obligations is Greece breaching?
The conditions described raise questions about whether Greece is meeting its obligations toward asylum seekers. Under European and international human rights standards, states must ensure adequate living conditions, access to healthcare and special protection for vulnerable people. These obligations do not disappear because a person entered the country irregularly.
Indeed, under Directive 2013/33/EU (Reception Conditions Directive)[8], EU Member States must provide asylum seekers with material reception conditions, including healthcare and financial assistance sufficient to guarantee subsistence and protect physical and mental health. Greece implemented these obligations through Law 4939/2022, Article 59[9], which expressly provides for healthcare access and material assistance, including cash assistance (“οικονομικό βοήθημα”).
That said, another series of principles are threatened as the right to human dignity[10] and to non-discrimination[11], rights that EU Member States seem to have increasingly difficulties to apply potentially leading to degrading treatment[12].
Conclusion
The prolonged suspension of financial assistance places Greece in breach of its obligations under the EU and National law[13].
Denying people the means to access food, transportation, medicine and basic necessities can amount to abusive conditions, particularly when authorities are aware of the vulnerability of those affected.
In island camps already criticized for terrible conditions, isolation and inadequate medical services, the withdrawal of cash assistance deepens exclusion.
The suspension of assistance by Greece must also be understood within the wider European policy framework of migration deterrence: across Europe’s external borders, restrictive asylum policies have normalized the idea that hardship will discourage arrivals. In practice, however, these policies do not stop displacement from war, persecution or economic collapse.
When people recovering from violence cannot access adequate treatments the issue is no longer administrative. It has become a matter of human dignity and human rights.
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[1] ‘Chios shipwreck: at least 15 people died and 25 were injured. Independent and transparent investigations are required’, ERBB, 6 February 2026, available at: https://equal-rights.org/articles/176
[2] https://www.rescue.org/eu/press-release/joint-statement-provision-cash-assistance-asylum-seekers-greece-must-resume# Joint Statement of NGOs on 09.03.2026
[3] https://greece.iom.int/el/ippokratis-i-parohi-iatrikon-kai-psyhokoinonikon-ypiresion-pros-toys-diamenontes-stis-domes-filoxenias-armodiotitas-ypiresias-ypodohis-kai-taytopoiisis
[4] ‘Suspension of financial assistance to asylum seekers in Greece since May 2024’, Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), 2025, available at: https://rsaegean.org/en/suspension-of-financial-assistance-to-asylum-seekers-in-greece-since-may-2024/.
[5] European Commission, Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) 2021–2027, Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, available at: https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/funding/asylum-migration-and-integration-funds/asylum-migration-and-integration-fund-2021-2027_en
[7] ‘Joint statement: provision of cash assistance to asylum seekers in Greece must resume immediately’, Refugee Legal Support, 28 February 2025, available at: https://refugeelegalsupport.org/post/joint-statement-provision-of-cash-assistance-to-asylum-seekers-in-greece-must-resume-immediately.
[8] ‘Directive 2013/33/EU (Reception Conditions Directive)’, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), available at: https://fra.europa.eu/pt/law-reference/directive-201333eu-european-parliament-and-council-26-june-2013-laying-down-6.
[9] ‘Article 59 – General rules on material reception conditions and healthcare’, Law 4939/2022 (Greece), available at: https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/4939/2022/arthro/59.
[10] Art.1, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, https://fra.europa.eu/en/eu-charter
[11] Ibid, Art. 21
[12] Ibid, Art. 4
[13] Material Reception Conditions (Υλικές Συνθήκες Υποδοχής)’, Ministry of Migration and Asylum (Greece), available at: https://migration.gov.gr/en/ris/ylikes-synthikes-ypodoxis/.