Greece Just Made It Illegal to Help

Greece passed a law this month that turns humanitarian workers into criminals.

Ten years in prison. €50,000 fine. That's the penalty for helping a migrant enter or stay in Greece "irregularly." NGO workers face the harshest sentences — not smugglers running boat operations, but people handing out water.

The law passed February 25. The UN condemned it the next day.

When Border Security Language Does the Work

The bill is called "Promotion of Legal Migration." The penalties target anyone "facilitating irregular entry or stay." That language sounds neutral. Security-focused. Anti-smuggling.

But the highest penalties apply specifically to registered NGO workers. Not random Good Samaritans. Not family members. Aid organizations.

Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, called it "de jure discrimination." Legal discrimination. Designed that way.

Her February 26 statement said the law "criminalizes the defense of human rights" and creates ambiguity that generates "a chilling effect on humanitarian actors."

The Pattern Across Europe

Greece isn't alone.

Poland arrested a humanitarian worker in September 2023 for "heading a criminal group" organizing "illegal border crossings" at the Belarus border. She was providing aid.

Italy investigated NGOs running search-and-rescue boats in the Mediterranean, shifting from treating them as "helpers" to "potential smugglers."

The Council of Europe documented this trend in December 2019: using criminal law to restrict NGO work across member states.

Greece just made it official. The law codifies what was already happening.

The Seven-Year Precedent

Greece spent seven years prosecuting 24 aid workers before acquitting them in January 2026.

Sarah Mardini and Sean Binder were among them. Mardini is the Syrian refugee who swam her sinking boat to shore in 2015, then returned to help rescue others. She faced espionage charges.

The case was called "the largest criminalization of solidarity in Europe."

Three weeks after the acquittal, Greece passed a law guaranteeing the next group won't be acquitted. They'll go to prison.

What Changes

The law elevates transporting undocumented migrants from misdemeanor to felony. It makes providing shelter a crime if the person doesn't have legal status.

Greece issued a European arrest warrant for the founder of Aegean Boat Report on February 12, accusing him of running "a criminal organization" for documenting migrant arrivals.

Human Rights Watch noted that UN Special Rapporteur Lawlor flagged Greece in March 2023 for misusing criminal law against aid workers to a "shocking degree."

This bill makes that misuse permanent.

When the Label Precedes the Action

The law works because the framing already happened.

Once you label helping migrants as "facilitating illegal entry," providing water becomes smuggling. Rescue becomes trafficking. Shelter becomes harboring.

The definition of who deserves help shifts from "people in danger" to "people with papers."

Lawlor's statement warned this creates discrimination "by design." Not as a side effect. As the purpose.

When helping becomes illegal, the law has already decided who's worth helping.

Greece just wrote that into statute.