General Secretariat for Reception of Asylum Seekers

The General Secretariat for the Reception of Asylum Seekers was established by the first article of the Presidential Decree 18/2020 (ΦΕΚ 34/Α/19-2-2020) and reports directly to the Minister of Migration and Asylum. The General Secretariat has the following main responsibilities:

It drafts and submits to the Minister of Migration & Asylum the Action Plans of the General Secretariat.
It supervises the implementation of strategic goals that relate to the operation of the Reception and Identification Service, such as procedures of reception, identification and accommodation for third-country nationals who are applicants of international protection in Greece.
It initiates and develops meaningful collaborations to further develop the planning, monitoring and implementation of reception procedures for asylum seekers.

The mission of the General Secretariat for the Reception of Asylum Seekers is to establish humane and respectful reception conditions that abide with international laws for third-country nationals in Greece. Its role also is to seek and provide the necessary material means that enable the implementation of its mission.

The General Secretariat for the Reception of Asylum Seekers acts in collaboration with the Ministry, the Government and the leadership team of R.I.S., and undertakes initiatives to reform and improve the national reception system for asylum seekers. It also initiates collaborations with competent services and stakeholders and seeks funding for innovative projects in key areas of interest.

Stellina Siarapi has been the General Secretary since March 2024 .

Stellina Siarapi

Ms. Siarapi was born in 1994 in Chalkida. From July 2023 until February 2024, she worked at the Secretariat General of the Prime Minister. From September 2021 until June 2023, she was Special Advisor in the office of the Minister of Citizen Protection. From January 2021 until August of the same year, she was Advisor for Demographic Policy and Family at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. In 2020, she was a member of the National Council for Gender Equality. From July 2019 to January 2021, she was Special Advisor in the office of the Minister of the Interior. From February 2017 to September 2018, she worked as a Researcher at the Institute for Democracy Konstantinos Karamanlis specializing in Research and International Communication. From September 2018 to the July 2019 elections, she worked in the Strategic Planning of the New Democracy. From 2014 to 2016, she worked as a Researcher at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of Peloponnese.

In 2017 she graduated with honors from the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of Peloponnese. She completed her internship at the Center for Security Studies of the Ministry of Citizen Protection (2015-2016). She has attended the following educational programs remotely: Women Leadership Program (2021) Yale School of Management, Strategic Communication (2020) George Washington University, Jean Monnet Module "Moving the EU Forward" (2016) at the University of Athens. She speaks excellent English.