Safe Areas for unaccompanied children
In Malakasa, Drama and Kavala our teams give children travelling alone 24-hour protection, shelter, psychosocial and legal support.
The Malakasa Reception and Identification Centre is one of the main points of entry for unaccompanied children reaching Greece. In April 2024, under IOM coordination, Vela Greece took over the running of its Safe Area — a guarded, child-friendly space where children arrive, settle and begin the process that leads to long-term accommodation.
Our teams — child protection officers, psychologists, social workers, lawyers, educators and cultural mediators — are there around the clock. We provide case management, Best Interest Assessments, individual and group psychosocial support, legal information on asylum, non-formal education, Greek and English classes, creative and sports activities, hospital escorts and school enrolment.
Malakasa has operated under extreme pressure: in 2025 it hosted over 400% more children than originally planned, driven by mass arrivals on the Central Mediterranean route. From April 2024 to August 2026, 3,363 unaccompanied children from 23 countries — mainly Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Bangladesh and Pakistan — passed through our care.
In October 2025 we extended our work to the Controlled Access Facilities in Drama and Kavala under IOM's project “Strengthening protection systems for children and women applicants and beneficiaries of international protection”. In Drama, 121 unaccompanied minors were supported until the project closed on 30 June 2026 — 87 took language courses and 74 were enrolled in school.
Continuity at Malakasa has been secured through consecutive funding — MERIMNA III (2024–March 2025), MERIMNA IV (April–October 2025) and the National Development Programme (October 2025–August 2026) — without a single day's interruption of services.
