Jul 3, 2025 | Full Greece Report
Liminality Research Consortium
Executive summary
The present report is the result of a research project entitled “Transactional Sex and Health Repercussions in Forced Displacement”, which took place between December 2020 and October 2023. The research aimed to examine why, when and how refugees across sexual orientation and gender identities engage in survival strategies (including transactional sex) and the impact on their sexual and reproductive health and mental health. Data were collected in Greece (Athens) through ethnographic observation, interviews and focus group discussions. A law and policy analysis identified structural factors that facilitate TS and impact refugees’ SRH/MH.
The report identifies structural variables that constitute motivational factors for people’s strategic choices, including designing survival strategies (e.g. transactional sex). A significant increase in the structural challenges refugees face has led to their precarisation in all aspects of everyday life (e.g. accommodation, livelihoods, access to services and rights, protection, integration). In order to cope with the challenges, refugees adopt a variety of strategies, some of which can have harmful consequences, including risks for their mental and SRH. Apart from TS, which is further explored, the research recorded various survival strategies, either collective or individual, which are presented in the report and illustrate the refugees’ resourcefulness.