Human rights organizations in Greece condemned a new law for its alleged violation of international and EU legal protections for asylum-seekers in a joint release on Wednesday. The law bars individuals who arrive in the country from North Africa from applying for asylum for three months, and mandates the deportation of all such individuals to the country from which they came without registration.

The right to seek and apply for asylum is protected by Article 14 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and is enshrined in EU law by Article 18 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. In addition, Article 2 of the 1951 Refugee Convention prohibits states from discriminating against refugee applicants based on their country of origin. For the right to seek asylum without discrimination to operate effectively in practice, asylum seekers must be afforded due process that fairly evaluates asylum claims individually.

Article 79 of Law 5218/2025, which was passed by the Greek parliament on July 11, imposes a complete suspension on asylum applications for individuals who arrive by boat from North Africa “illegally.” The wording of the law appears somewhat contradictory, since under international law, it is legal to flee a country based on a well-founded fear of persecution and apply for asylum upon arrival in a different state.

In addition, the law orders border authorities to deport all individuals who arrive from North Africa back to the state from which they came, which appears to impose a system that discriminates against asylum seekers who arrive from North Africa. This could violate the 1951 Refugee Convention’s prohibition of discrimination against asylum seekers and may violate the international legal principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits states from deporting individuals to a state where there is a real risk of harm.

As a member state of the EU, Greece is subject to the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum, which mandates that states must allow asylum seekers to individually apply for asylum in the EU. Law 5218/2025 appears to violate the Pact due to the blanket policy of deporting all individuals who arrive from North Africa.

The new law has faced criticism from civil society organizations in Greece, including the Greek Ombudsman, the Greek National Commission for Human Rights, the Union of Greek Administrative Judges, and the Plenary of Greek Bar Associations, as well as internationally from the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and UNHCR.