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CommemorAction in Zarzis/Tunesia 2022
Joint Statement calling for the dismissal of UNHCR’s special envoy Vincent Cochetel

On Tuesday, 6 September 2022, while families of the disappeared and deceased at EU borders came together for a protest action in Zarzis, Tunisia, Vincent Cochetel, the UNHCR’s special envoy for the Western and Central Mediterranean sent out a tweet:
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“Grieving for the loss. But the same mothers had no problem encouraging or funding their children to embark on those dangerous journeys. Like in Senegal, symbolically prosecuting parents for putting at risk their children could trigger serious attitudinal change on death journeys.”
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Blaming mourning mothers, some of whom have searched for answers for over a decade, and even calling for their criminalisation through ‘symbolic prosecution’ is simply outrageous. In this joint statement, we want to denounce Mr Cochetel’s words in the strongest of terms. Mr Cochetel sent his tweet as a response to a ‘CommemorAction’, a large gathering in Zarzis that brought together the families of the disappeared, local fishermen, as well as activists from Africa and Europe. While the mothers, who are deeply traumatised, were publicly demanding answers, Mr Cochetel insulted them by making them responsible for their sons’ disappearance.

Grieving for the loss. But the same mothers had no problem encouraging or funding their children to embark on those dangerous journeys. Like in Senegal, symbolically prosecuting parents for putting at risk their children could trigger serious attitudinal change on death journeys. https://t.co/lRAwT4MRWA
— vincent cochetel (@cochetel) September 6, 2022

Some of the mothers and sisters of the disappeared have responded to Mr Cochetel:
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Jalila Taamallah (mother): It is the visa and border system that has put migrants in danger, not their mothers. It is the fault of migration policies that cause the deaths of people crossing the Mediterranean. Therefore we will continue to participate in the demonstrations for freedom of movement. You can’t kill our demand for truth and justice.

Hajer Ayachi (mother): It should be a shame to accuse mothers and sisters of missing migrants who have lost their loved ones of being responsible for their deaths. We have been fighting against governments since 2011 to show that it is migration policies that endanger the lives of our sons, not us. Every time the authorities deny their responsibility our sons die for a second time.

Gamra Chaieb (mother): We, the mothers of the disappeared, consider it a great shame that we are given the responsibility for the death of our sons. Our sons are victims and so are we, without any response from the governments and the visa system. They are the criminals, they pushed our sons to leave because they were in misery and then they abandoned us. My son left because he was sick with cancer. He just wanted to get well and live for his family and his little daughter.

Samia Jabloun (mother): I believe that this man is sick because never a mother pushes her son to immigrate. He is not humanitarian, he does not feel our pain, the policies of the “third world countries” are responsible and also the European Union which takes advantage of the wealth of these countries and makes them poor, for this reason the young people are unemployed, the poverty which pushes them to immigrate to improve their standard of living.

Awatef Daoudi (mother): If our children go to sea it is to do good to their families because in their country they are badly treated and badly paid and there is always segregation. Those who have money have the power and can do whatever they want even for visas, these are the businessmen and politicians, but most of the young people do not have rights and that is why they throw themselves into the water. In both cases, either at sea or in their country, they are dead. But unfortunately it is a shame that our government does not want to keep our young people well.

Nourhene Khenissi (sister): Before attacking the mothers of the disappeared, it would have been better if you had criticised the Tunisian and Italian states, especially the European Union, because it is the first and last cause of all these tragedies. And know that freedom of movement and travelling is a right for every human being.

Besbes Sarra (sister): It’s not true what he wrote about the mothers of the missing migrants, there are no families who throw their sons into the sea which represents hell and danger. So you don’t have the right to judge the feelings of the family because the relationship between the mother and her son is not just a word but it is more than that. You have to know that especially the relationship between all the members of the family is intimate because the son for the mother replaces the father, for the sister the brother represents the second father and all the supports of life, for the father the son represents the person who is the first responsible for the family during his absence and for the brother he is the help and the power. Finally, it is important to know that if a member of the family is absent, the whole family will be devastated.

Rania Abdeltif (sister): The mother will not put her son in danger, on the contrary, the mother wants her son to always be by her side, but the young people did not have a chance in their country, so they decided to emigrate to improve the life of their family. The mothers will never abandon their children, they are now fighting for their missing children. The feeling of a mother or sister losing her son or brother is a very painful feeling that no one will understand unless they live it.
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Instead of blaming the EU border and visa regime, instead of denouncing the deadly migration policies of Europe, Mr Cochetel chose to blame the victims, turning them into perpetrators. This is unbearable and we are astonished: how can such a person remain in the position of a high-level official at the UNHCR?

We acknowledge that Mr Cochetel has apologised and we also appreciate that the UNHCR has apologised for the statement of their special envoy. Nonetheless, and not least as Mr Cochetel has made unacceptable remarks already in the past, we believe that this is not enough. We call on the UNHCR to take action and to dismiss their special envoy or for Mr Cochetel to resign.

Importantly, we believe that the UN agency’s problems are not solved through the dismissal of an individual. The UNHCR as a whole has deep institutional flaws and has time and again failed those it claims to protect. The behaviour of the UNHCR toward vulnerable groups in places such as Libya and Tunisia, and the appalling response of their staff to refugee protests there, highlight some of the many severe shortcomings of this UN agency.

Déclaration

Mères / parents et familles des disparus Marocains

Les mères de famille, et les amis des personnes disparues candidates à la migration informel ont reçu avec une grande surprise et un grand regret le tweet déclaration du 6 septembre de M. Vincent Cochetel, le Rapporteur spécial des Nations Unies sur les migrations. Méditerranée central et occidental , de tenir les mères responsables des tragédies des noyés et des disparus en mer, au lieu de critiquer et de blâmer son institution Le HCR et d’autres institutions telles que l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM), et de parler de leurs démarches discriminatoires et racistes pour ces institutions, qui ont été démontrées par la crise ukrainienne et qui ont n’a pas le courage de condamner les politiques européennes meurtrières, a lancé des accusations contre les familles dans un geste étrange du genre.

Cette déclaration indique que le respect du droit international et international humanitaire n’existe pas dans son dictionnaire, car il représente une instance internationale dans laquelle les droits de l’homme sont censés être respectés, et qui tant vers ces déclarations pour criminaliser les mères et les familles, et pour légitimer le comportement des pays du Sud à l’égard du ce dossier des disparus, ainsi les pays du Nord, dont l’Europe, fuient ses responsabilités morales et politique à l’égard de ce dossier résultant des politiques européennes téméraires et meurtrières, légitimant l’externalisation et militarisation des frontières, en pompant encore des milliards d’euros pour équiper et armer l’Agence européenne Frontex, cette agence dont les violations et les crimes ne vous sont pas cachés, alors que les mères vous semblaient le petit mur auquel vous accrochez un piquet à ces crimes.

La jeunesse perdue du Sud migre à la recherche de la liberté, de la dignité et de la justice qui lui étaient avortés dans son pays, et que la politique de votre institution n’a pas approuvée après avoir volé son rêve dans son pays en pillant les richesses, en appauvrissant les peuples, en alimentant guerres et conflits dans les pays du Sud, et établir un système injuste dans la liberté de circulation à travers l’ère du régime des visas injuste et inéquitable.

Ainsi, les mères, familles et amis des personnes disparues candidates à la migration informel au Maroc confirment ce qui suit :
- Condamnant ces déclarations, qui touchent aux sentiments et aux sentiments d’injustice que nous ressentons après l’absence de nos proches, même si l’élément d’excuse que vous avez présenté ne cachera pas que vous ne serez jamais partisan des questions de droits de l’homme les plus simples et que votre naturel la position est simplement sur la touche.
- Cessation immédiate de la duplicité et de l’hypocrisie de vous et de vos institutions, ce qui a été confirmé par la crise ukrainienne.
- Les mères de famille, et les amis des personnes disparues, candidates à la migration informel et bloquées aux frontières, ont insisté pour savoir, clarifier la vérité, rendre justice et révéler le sort de ceux qui ont disparu à la lumière de ces politiques et frontières meurtrières .
- Appelant les organisations et réseaux de défense des droits humains à condamner ces propos honteux et racistes,
- Le fait que ces déclarations honteuses à notre encontre ne feront qu’augmenter la détermination et lutte des mères des familles, et des amis des disparus et leur détermination à lutter pour la connaissance et l’élucidation de la vérité sur le sort de leurs enfants et la justice. des politiques d’immigration meurtrières et nous renouvelons notre soutien aux luttes, à la lutte et à la fermeté des mères de famille, des familles et des amis des disparus dans les pays d’Amérique centrale.
Et notre lutte continue pour que nos enfants révèlent toute la vérité et justice.
1. Groupe des disparus Marocains 2002.
2. Collectifs des mères des disparus Marocains en Libye 2017-2018-2019.
3. Collectif des jeunes Marocains bloqués et détenus en Libye.
4. Collectifs des familles des disparus Marocains en Algérie.
5. Groupe de travail sur la disparition Association d’aide des migrants Maroc.
6. Collectifs des mers et parents des disparus en méditerranée 2018 au 2022.
7. Collectifs des mères des disparus en Atlantique 2020/2021/2022.
October 10, 2022
Front-Lex

Taking the EU to Court

The First Legal Action v. Frontex :

Press Release (Adobe Acrobat Document 234.6 KB)

Full Document (Adobe Acrobat Document 841.8 KB)

https://www.front-lex.eu//

Taking the EU to Court

EU migration policy aims to stem migration flows from Africa at all costs. With a 90% decrease in arrivals to EU soil, this policy is highly successful.

It is also genocidal. The costs in human lives and rights are unprecedented: 20,000 deaths in the Mediterranean and 50,000 survivors in “concentration camps-like conditions” in the past 5 years. And counting.

EU migration policy constitutes a flagrant breach of all the international and European law frameworks regulating migration and borders: refugee, human rights, maritime and criminal law.

For the first time since WWII, European institutions, governments and officials are committing countless crimes against humanity.

These atrocious crimes are targeting the most vulnerable population on earth: civilians in need of international protection.

Front-Lex reinstates the Law at Europe’s borders by holding the EU, its Member States and their officials responsible.

Through legal actions and public trials, we will seek to terminate EU migration policy, provide remedy for its victims, and hold the culprits to account.

Front-Lex is organising a civil tribunal in Brussels in 2022 on the liabilty of the European Union, its institutions, agencies and members, and of individual politicians responsible for crimes against humanity at EU-borders: Asylum and Migration Tribunal. Please join!!

March 1, 2021
Accaparement des terres au Mali : prêt fatal – le BMZ perd du terrain

voir aussi: Bulletin d’info n° 26 (octobre 2020)

En septembre 2014, l’entrepreneur malien Modibo Keita a reçu un prêt de 16,8 millions d’euros de la part de la Banque africaine de développement (BAD) pour construire une usine alimentaire à Ségou. En principe, c’est une bonne chose, pour que des pays comme le Mali puissent devenir moins dépendants des importations de produits alimentaires. Cependant, une ombre plane sur l’investissement : l’usine transformera entre autres les céréales cultivées sur les terres que Modibo Keita a prises aux villages de Sanamadougou et Sahou, à soixantaine kilomètres de là.

Réunion de village à Sanamadougou, mars 2015 [Photo : David Brown]

Dans ce contexte, Afrique-Europe-Interact, ainsi que les deux villages, ont déposé une plainte officielle auprès de la BAD en 2015. En outre, notre réseau a contacté le ministère fédéral allemand de la coopération économique et du développement (BMZ), car l’Allemagne détient 4,1 % des parts de la BAD et a donc son mot à dire. Les premières réactions ont été plutôt modérées. Mais en 2016, la BAD a lancé un processus d’examen officiel, ce qui est extrêmement rare.

Deux missions d’enquête d’une semaine au Mali ont suivi, menées par des équipes de la BAD et composées d’experts internationaux. En février 2018, la BAD a confirmé les allégations des villages : après que l’État malien avait signé un contrat de bail avec Modibo Keita pour 7 400 hectares en 2010, la confiscation de 886 hectares de terres a effectivement eu lieu, y compris de graves dissensions au sein des villages. Il a également été révélé que la direction de la BAD a violé ses propres directives en matière d’octroi de prêts. En effet, la BAD n’aurait pas dû se concentrer uniquement sur l’usine lorsqu’elle avait envisagé d’accorder le prêt. Elle aurait plutôt dû se pencher sur la chaîne d’approvisionnement en matières premières agricoles, d’autant plus que la direction de la banque a été informée du conflit foncier 5 mois avant la conclusion du prêt. Par conséquent, la banque s’est engagée à offrir une certaine forme de réparation : En novembre 2018, un “plan d’action” détaillé a été adopté, stipulant que la banque devrait au moins travailler à un compromis après coup : Selon ce plan, les villages devraient non seulement être compensés financièrement, mais aussi recevoir des terres de remplacement à proximité. En outre, Modibo Keita doit restituer une partie des terres volées, notamment parce qu’il n’a jusqu’à présent cultivé que 2 500 des 7 400 hectares qu’il a loués.

Les équipes d’enquête de la BAD ont continué à venir au Mali en 2019 et 2020 pour déterminer si des progrès avaient déjà été réalisés. Ce faisant, la BAD a une fois de plus promu son propre plan d’action. Et il l’a fait avec du succès. Toutes les parties concernées ont donné leur accord, à savoir les villageois (et avec eux Afrique-Europe-Interact), le gouvernement malien, l’administration responsable et Modibo Keita. Mais rien ne s’est passé. Les villages ont perdu une récolte après l’autre, de plus en plus de gens ont dû partir. Entre-temps, en novembre 2020, la direction de la banque a exprimé son intérêt pour des discussions avec Afrique-Europe-Interact. Le fait est que la direction doit tenir ses promesses, les spécifications du plan d’action sont contraignantes. Une conférence téléphonique de 4,5 heures a suivi, au cours de laquelle Afrique-Europe-Interact a de nouveau intervenu en faveur du respect du plan d’action de la BAD comme objectif minimum.

Il est d’autant plus incompréhensible que le BMZ ait clairement perdu son élan sur cette question. De 2015 à 2017, il y a eu beaucoup de communication. A cette époque, Afrique-Europe-Interact a organisé plusieurs campagnes de démonstrations et de lettres, le LINKE a posé des questions orales au Bundestag. Mais depuis, il y a une période de silence radio : nos lettres de 2018, 2019 et 2020 sont restées sans réponse – au début de 2020, avec beaucoup d’effort, nous avons réussi à obtenir un appel téléphonique. A cet égard, nous demandons explicitement au BMZ de s’accrocher, car des années de retardement sont une stratégie courante des sociétés agroalimentaires et des administrations corrompues pour démoraliser les personnes concernées. Mais cela ne devrait pas se produire : Tout d’abord, parce que les villages ne peuvent pas survivre sans champs. Ensuite, parce que les conflits fonciers sont l’une des portes d’entrée par lesquelles les groupes djihadistes au Mali, entre autres, parviennent à s’établir parmi la population – même s’il faut souligner que les deux villages prennent explicitement leurs distances avec les djihadistes. Troisièmement, parce que le processus a été jusqu’à présent tout à fait fructueux. Le fait que la BAD a critiqué ses propres prêts et s’est engagée dans de vastes activités au Mali a probablement déjà eu un effet préventif. En clair, nous supposons que l’accaparement de terres ailleurs a pu être empêché de cette manière.

Note : Ce texte a été publié dans le journal de l’AEI en décembre 2020. Le numéro complet peut être téléchargé en format PDF à partir du lien suivant (seulement en allemand) : Journal de l’AEI décembre 2020

et sur le site de AEI

January 23, 2021
Asylum and Migration Tribunal (AMT)- a civil society Tribunal

(Brussels 2021/2022)

The Asylum and Migration Tribunal (AMT) is an ambitious new project:

An initiative taken by refugee organisations and outraged individuals.

Since the numerous protests against the homicidal European deterrence policy towards refugees – rightly called Europe’s disgrace by some – have remained ineffective, we shall be forced to take legal action against those responsible.

The European Union, its members and associates, their governments, ministries, responsible policy makers, and functionaries should be held accountable for their crimes against refugees in the Mediterranean and at the EU borders.

This project is inspired by the International Monsanto Tribunal in The Hague 2016, which reunited hundreds of participants from different continents. Witnesses, victims, and experts described the violation of workers’ and consumers’ rights, the health injuries as well as the damage to Nature this multinational corporation has caused by spreading its toxic chemicals all over the globe through criminal activity. This tribunal attracted considerable attention. A small group of five renowned and recognised expert judges unanimously agreed on a legal opinion, which constitutes a precedent in the fight against the crimes of a multinational corporation.

Numerous scientific studies confirm what is already obvious: refugees are forced to choose dangerous routes because legal and safe pathways are blocked.

Countless injuries and deaths have been recorded by NGOs as well as official international agencies.

When the European Union and its members withdrew their sea rescue efforts, many rescue organisations documented the violation of human rights and the failure to provide help for persons in distress at sea facing mortal danger. This is one of the main charges for the Tribunal.

Technical investigations have recently brought to light concrete evidence for physical injuries, repression, and other violations, made known by journalists and social media. Furthermore, there is growing evidence and criticism of the complicity by European states and institutions in human rights abuses by buffer states like Libya, to where EU border control has been externalised.

For the Tribunal, we want to assemble a group of renowned judges from European countries in order to hear expert reports, statements by refugees, and their advocates’ pleas.

The possible charges (failure to help, accessory to murder, violation of sea rescue regulations, human rights abuse etc.) will be thoroughly examined by lawyers and experts beforehand.

The experts’ assessment and the final legal opinion of the judges will provide a legal basis for subsequent trials.

The Tribunal will also rehabilitate aid agencies, sea rescuers, and refugee workers who have been wrongly criminalised. Assistance is a human duty, not a criminal offence.
Preventing people and civil organisations from giving aid, on the other hand, is inhuman. Those responsible must be held accountable.

We will create a European documentation centre and connect organisations and individuals working in the Mediterranean or at the external borders in order to share their knowledge and experience.

Our goal is to collaborate with righteous members of the European Parliament willing to actively support our cause.

Front-Lex

Plantage Doklaan 12

NL-1018 CM Amsterdam

The Netherlands

https://www.front-lex.eu/

info@front-lex.eu

twitter: @LexFront & @AsylumTribunal

Wanting to subscribe to newsletter, send a mail to: info@front-lex.eu

Questions or comment, write to: info@front-lex.eu

complaint in 2019 at the International Criminal Court in The Hague: EU Migration Policies in the Central Mediterranean and Libya (2014-2019) by Omer Shatz and Juan Branco

November 27, 2020
24-hour protests all over Europe against the new European Migration Pact

sunday 15 nov. – monday 16 nov.
Museumplein in Amsterdam & Neude square in Utrecht center

The locations will be transformed into a (refugee) camp for 24 hours from Sunday the 15th of November 13.00 until Monday the 16th of November 13.00.

Two weeks after the overcrowded Moria camp in Lesvos burnt to the ground the European Union presented the so-called New Pact of Migration and Asylum which turned out to be a justification of putting even stronger borders and establishing a new dehumanizing system based on exclusion and deportation of refugees. It comes as a slap in the face of asylum seekers and refugees still suffering violence and injustice along our borders.

Organised by MiGreat, SOS Moria, Europe Must Act, We Gaan Ze Halen

Amsterdam: https://www.facebook.com/events/s/tent-demonstration-amsterdam/636302340369813/?ti=icl

Utrecht: https://www.facebook.com/events/2770698106521519/?active_tab=about

Do you want to participate during the demonstration? Great! We have created a Google Form registration so everybody can reserve a specific timeslot to demonstrate with us. Doing so will create the possibility for everybody to join this 24hour demo and simultaniously create a safe situation corona wise 🙌🏼
Each timeslot covers 2 hours of the demonstration and focusses on a specific topic. More information about each timeslot will be revealed in the next days towards Sunday. For now we can already promiss 2 speakers per hour on the timeslots on Sunday the 15th from 13.00 – 18.00 and Monday the 16th from 11.00 – 13.00 ✊🏼
https://www.facebook.com/events/2770698106521519/?active_tab=discussion

More information:
Europe Must Act https://de.europemustact.org/post/our-wave-of-solidarity-will-grow?fbclid=IwAR2cHp7qikUbCQWDdZ46ijfTswpZSCIOoDC4KDnCHb5B2whN69U5sbW1hPw
Walk of Shame https://walk-of-shame.eu/joint-statement/?fbclid=IwAR2O9UyLS3lqGeFGuqY4c3WfwinEYyfB_9elznckJ_usJEl8FmKINRv9srk

Art of Shame

Sorrow by EP
July 10, 2020

The Children of Moria by Linda Zwart
May 26, 2020

Human voices by Hanna Bubień
July 18, 2020

November 9, 2020
From Sudan to the Netherlands, an 11 year journey

During the Corona lockdown, we interviewed Ibrahim, a Sudanese asylum seeker who lives in Amsterdam. In this article, he shares the story of his journey from Sudan to the Netherlands.

31/10/2020 / Amsterdam Alternative #033 / Text: Ibrahim*, allincluded.nl (Vincent de Jong, Gabrielle Fradin)

My name is Ibrahim and I’m originally from Sudan. Before leaving, I worked for ten years as a taxi driver in both Sudan and Cairo, Egypt. I had two cars and was renting one out to a friend. I wanted to go to Europe to get a better life and be able to support my family, my mother and my four sisters.

In 2009, at the age of 26, I decided to leave Sudan. I paid around 5000 euros to the smugglers to get me to Greece. I got in touch with them through a friend of mine. I first went to Istanbul where I stayed for a day before taking the bus to Izmir where the boat to Greece was going to leave.

In Izmir, the smugglers, a group of Turkish men, drove us to a nearby beach in the middle of the night. They pumped up the dinghy (an inflatable boat) and gave us a life jacket each. As we entered the boat, everyone had to hand over their telephones. One of the Turkish smugglers drove the boat. His job was to drop us off and return to Turkey. About 40 people shared this dinghy made for 10. As I was the last one to step on the boat, I found myself squeezed besides the boat engine and the petrol-filled jerry cans. There were passengers from many different countries: Sudan, Libya, Morocco, Ghana, Algeria and Afghanistan.

image: Gabrielle Fradin

For the crossing, different people payed different prices. I know some people from Syria who paid 18,000 euros to come to Europe. In general though, it’s around 1,500 euros per person, adding up to 60,000 euros for a dinghy with 40 people. Smugglers make a lot of money!

We left Turkey around midnight. It was January, it was cold, rainy and the sea was very rough. After a while on the water, I saw that petrol was leaking from the jerry cans and realised that we probably wouldn’t have enough petrol to make it to Greece. On top of it, there was quite a lot of sea water splashing in the boat and, as it mixes with petrol, it can cause serious caustic wounds on your skin. I was in a terrible spot, next to the engine. The skin on my legs was burning so much but I couldn’t move as the boat was overcrowded. I had to hold on to the sides with both hands. Moving would mean to fall in the sea. And I can’t swim! I just sat there for 3 or 4 hours, as my left leg was getting completely burned.

We ran out of fuel and the engine stopped. Everyone started to panic. Some people were screaming. At that point, it felt like there was no way we could make it to the other side. We were still very far away. We felt trapped in the middle of the sea, in the freezing cold. We eventually managed to take the smuggler’s phone and contact Greek emergencies.

Some time passed. In my memory it was like a scene from the movie Titanic: I was about to drown when the hand of a Greek coastguard appeared. He saved me and brought me back to life. Then I lost consciousness again. Next thing I know, I was safe on the coastguard’s boat. I think ten of us drowned that day. As I recovered on the Greek boat, I saw the Turkish smuggler being beaten up by the Police.

We arrived on the Greek island of Samos, and I was directly taken to the hospital where I stayed for almost three months to heal and recover. My skin was very badly burnt during the crossing and looked like that of a cooked fish. During my recovery, my skin came off layer after layer. I went through three operations in the first three weeks. It took me two months to start walking again.

I decided to leave for Athens as soon as I could. At that time, getting the ferry to the mainland was still possible without much trouble2. I contacted my sister in Sudan to transfer money for the second part of my journey: from Greece to the Netherlands where friends told me to join them. I paid 500 euros for a fake passport and a plane ticket from Athens to Paris. I was so excited to leave Greece!

Everything ran smoothly afterwards. I arrived at the airport in Paris and took the metro to the city centre. I stayed there one night before taking the train to Amsterdam. I didn’t have much time to see Paris. I hope one day I can return and visit the Champs Elysée. When I arrived in Holland, I immediately started an asylum procedure at Aanmeldcentrum Ter Apel, in the North.

After staying one and a half years at several asylum camps, I got a letter notifying me to leave the country because I had lost the asylum procedure. The immigration service did not believe that I was Sudanese. As I didn’t really understand what the content of the letter meant, I went to the police station myself where, to my surprise, I got arrested and taken to the Zeist Detention Centre. I stayed there for six months. This was in 2011. In this period, the Immigration Service brought me to three different embassies: Sudan, Chad and Egypt. They needed a laissez-passer, a one-way travel document, from an embassy to deport me. As these attempts failed, I was released after six months of detention. During this time, I worked hard to learn Dutch, watching the soap Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden every day. I was convinced I had to understand the language.

Oona Raisänen

Then, I joined We Are Here, a group of undocumented asylum seekers, at the squatted Vluchtkerk in Amsterdam. In 2013, after being stopped by the police for an ID check, I was taken back to the Zeist Detention Centre for three months. This second time in prison was really difficult. I felt very stressed and annoyed as I was detained for no other reason than the fact that I didn’t have papers. Then, the court decided in favour of my release as the police had stopped me on the basis of racial profiling.

As I came out, I joined We Are Here again at the Vluchtflat squat. Together, we lived in most areas of Amsterdam. Over the course of eight years, we got evicted from 15 different locations! Constantly moving got too stressful after a while and being a stuck together in this situation didn’t make it easier either. I left the group in 2018. It’s pretty hard to look back at that time as most of my friends from the We Are Here group have papers now. It feels like it’s all down to luck really.

At a certain point, a Sudanese friend of mine asked me if I wanted to cross the Channel to England on a dinghy for 500 euros. I told him I had taken enough risks. He is in Great Britain now.

For three years, I have a passport and my birth certificate from the Sundanese embassy. I’m doing the procedure for the fourth time but this will be the last. I can’t go on like this for the rest of my life. If I don’t get asylum within the next six months, I will go back. It’s really difficult but it feels like I’m wasting my life just waiting for something to happen.

I have seen more than enough. My mind is very tired. Still, I try to cope by putting out there what I feel inside. I find that this is very important for my mind, to feel a bit better. That’s all I do. I also pray a lot.

I’ve now been in a difficult situation in the Netherlands for eleven years, that’s a very long time. How do I look back on those years? I don’t think it should be possible for everyone from Africa to come here. And yet I have come. Live isn’t always straightforward. I tell my story to give something back after receiving solidarity from some Dutch people. And perhaps to make other people think. I don’t want to feel anger. I have to deal with my life. Anger is a problem. I don’t want a problem. I just want to live.

1) The name has been changed to protect his identity
2) Unlike today when migrants are forbidden to leave the Greek islands without official permission.

November 6, 2020
Free the El Hiblu 3 – dismiss the trial immediately! Resisting illegal push-backs to Libya is not a crime.

[Fr] en dessous

FREE El Hiblu 3! – the site

The Rescue – A flimsy raft, more than 100 souls, and three teenage heroes—or are they pirates? (Zach Campbell / The Atavist Magazine 2019)

Appeal to stop the criminalisation of three young migrants in Malta.

In late March 2019, a rubber boat with 108 people on board, was escaping the Libyan coast and trying to reach Europe. Coordinated by an airplane of the Eunavfor Med operation, the people in distress were found and rescued by the merchant vessel El Hiblu 1.

During the rescue the captain of the El Hiblu 1 reassured the people that they would reach a port of safety in Europe. Following the order of European authorities, the crew tried to return them to inhumane conditions in Libya, from which they had just escaped.

When the rescued passengers realised they were being returned to Libya, they began to protest. Collectively they were able to prevent being pushed-back. The crew re-directed the El Hiblu 1 and steered north towards Malta.

Nobody was injured during this protest, nothing was damaged. When the Maltese military stormed the vessel in Maltese territorial waters, they expected “pirates” or “terrorists”, but they only met humans who were seeking help and hoped for a safe place.

Three of the 108 rescued passengers – 15, 16, and 19 year-old teenagers – were arrested as the ring leaders of the protest and accused of several crimes, including terrorism. They were immediately detained, taken to a high security unit, and then imprisoned in Malta for seven months. They were eventually released on bail in November, 2019.

Having been released on bail, the three have to register every day at the police station. They continue to face a severe prison sentence if they are found guilty of the charges. Clearly, the Maltese state is trying to make an example of the three, in order to deter others from similarly resisting push-backs to Libya.

The three teenagers were acting as translators and mediators during the protest on board. Their imprisonment and prosecution constitutes a deep injustice. Instead of being prosecuted, the “El Hiblu Three” should be celebrated for their actions in preventing the return of 108 precarious lives to Libya.

As signing organisations and groups, we demand the immediate dismissal of the trial.

We agree that protesting illegal push-backs to Libya is not a crime.

We demand the end of all illegal returns to Libya and mass human rights violations resulting from Europe’s collaboration with the so-called Libyan coastguards.

We will continue to work toward corridors of solidarity and the fair relocation of refugees and other migrants in welcoming cities all over Europe.

[Fr]

Libérez les trois détenus du El Hiblu – annulez le procès immédiatement !Résister à des refoulements illégaux vers la Libye n‘est pas un crime.

Appel pour mettre fin à la criminalisation de trois jeunes migrants à Malte.

LES EL HIBLU 3! – le site

Fin mars 2019, un bateau en caoutchouc avec 108 personnes à bord, s’échappait des côtes libyennes et essayait de rejoindre l’Europe.

Suite à la coordination d’un avion de l’opération Eunavfor Med, les personnes en détresse ont été retrouvées et secourues par le navire marchand El Hiblu 1.

Pendant le sauvetage, le capitaine du El Hiblu 1 a rassuré les personnes à bord en leur disant qu’elles atteindraient un port de sécurité en Europe. Suivant l’ordre des autorités européennes, l’équipage a tenté de les renvoyer dans des conditions inhumaines en Libye, dont ils venaient de s’échapper.

Lorsque les passagers secourus ont réalisé qu’ils étaient renvoyés en Libye, ils ont commencé à protester. Collectivement, ils ont réussi à empêcher qu’ils soient repoussés.

L’équipage a redirigé le El Hiblu 1 et s’est dirigé vers le nord, vers Malte.

Personne n’a été blessé lors de cette manifestation, rien n’a été endommagé. Lorsque les militaires maltais ont pris d’assaut le navire dans les eaux territoriales maltaises, ils s’attendaient à des “pirates” ou des “terroristes”, mais ils n’ont rencontré que des humains qui cherchaient de l’aide et espéraient débarquer dans un endroit sûr.

Trois des 108 passagers sauvés – des adolescents de 15, 16 et 19 ans – ont été arrêtés en tant que meneurs de la protestation et accusés de plusieurs crimes, dont celui de terrorisme.

Ils ont été immédiatement détenus, emmenés dans une unité de haute sécurité, puis emprisonnés à Malte pendant sept mois. Ils ont finalement été libérés sous caution en novembre 2019.

Ayant été libérés sous caution, les trois personnes doivent se présenter tous les jours au poste de police. Ils sont toujours passibles d’une lourde peine de prison s’ils sont reconnus coupables des faits qui leur sont reprochés.

Il est clair que l’État maltais essaie de faire un exemple des trois, afin de dissuader d’autres personnes de résister au fait d’être ramenés en Libye.

Les trois adolescents ont joué le rôle de traducteurs et de médiateurs pendant la manifestation à bord. Leur emprisonnement et les poursuites engagées contre eux constituent une profonde injustice. Au lieu d’être poursuivis, les “Trois du El Hiblu” devraient être célébrés pour leurs actions qui ont empêché le retour de 108 vies précaires en Libye.

En tant qu’organisations et groupes signataires, nous demandons l’annulation immédiate du procès.

Nous sommes d’accord que protester contre les refoulements illégaux vers la Libye n’est pas un crime.

Nous exigeons la fin de tous les retours illégaux en Libye et des violations massives des droits de l’Homme résultant de la collaboration de l’Europe avec les prétendus garde-côtes libyens.

Nous continuerons à œuvrer en faveur de couloirs de solidarité et de la réinstallation équitable des réfugiés et autres migrants dans des villes d’accueil dans toute l’Europe.

March 11, 2020
“privatized push-backs” – Legal Case against Italy with the UN Human Rights Committee

GLAN has filed complaint against Italy with the UN Human Rights Committee on behalf of an individual whose journey from Libya was intercepted in the high seas by the Panamanian merchant vessel, the Nivin. The complaint is the first submitted to an international human rights forum aimed to the phenomenon of “privatized push-backs”, whereby EU coastal States engage commercial ships to return refugees and other persons in need of protection back to unsafe locations in contravention of their human rights obligations.

CASE: PRIVATISED MIGRANT ABUSE

The cooperation and collaboration between Italy and Libya on migration and border control has a long history. In the framework of the 2008 Treaty of Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation, Italy carried out several naval operations intercepting irregular migrants and returning them to Libya. In 2012, after the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in the Hirsi Jamaa and Others v Italy, this direct modality of migration control was suspended. Thereinafter, the Italian government adopted strategies that increasingly involved ‘contactless’ measures, yet exercising strategic control over the Libyan Coast Guard, which has operated as its proxy to intercept migrants and bring them back to a country in which they would be subjected to extreme forms of violence and exploitation.

The adoption of a ‘closed port policy’ and the progressive criminalisation of rescue NGOs, coupled with the retreat of the European Union’s search and rescue missions at sea, left a gap in the Mediterranean. In that vacuum, only two actors remained present: the Libyan Coast Guard and merchant ships. Merchant ships became therefore unwillingly mobilised towards a modality of strategic delegation of border control, rather than one of rescue, in the attempt by the Italian government to avoid accountability for human rights violations.

[Warning: Distressing imagery] A video op-ed by the New York Times of their investigation into the increasing number of partnerships by state actors in Mediterranean search-and-rescue operations. With contributions from GLAN.

In the afternoon of November 7, 2018, the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) instructed the Nivin to rescue a distressed migrant boat and to liaise with the infamous Libyan Coast Guard (LYCG). The LYCG then directed the Nivin towards Libya, where the captured passengers staged a stand-off, resisting their illegal debarkation. Libyan security forces violently removed from the vessel after 10 days using tear gas and rubber as well as live bullets. The claimant was shot in the leg and was arbitrarily detained, interrogated, beaten, subjected to forced labour and denied treatment for months.

The legal submission made use of evidence in a report compiled by Forensic Oceanography, part of the Forensic Architecture agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London with Charles Heller as lead investigator. The report, published today, combined the analysis of multiple sources of evidence to offer a detailed reconstruction of the incident. It demonstrates that privatized push-backs have risen sharply since June 2018. The result is that seafarers are being used by states seeking to circumvent their obligations towards refugees.

The complaint sets out an argument that Italy and other states are breaching their obligations under international law by using private merchant vessels as an instrument of refoulement – the returning of refugees to where they will suffer persecution and torture. By relinquishing its responsibility to offer a port of safety, Italy violated its human rights obligations, including under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention Against Torture.

The case breaks new ground as it calls attention to the ways in which merchant vessels are being implicated in border violence. Seafarers are increasingly being compelled to take responsibility for migrants and make risky choices of their own – choices that may lead them to act illegally and result in deaths not to mention bearing the costs of imposing border control. The Nivin incident represents a further development of the externalisation of border control and a new modality of delegated containment of migrants. This policy threatens to annul fundamental rules of public international law, such as the jus cogens norm of non-refoulement; as well as the principle of disembarkation in a place of safety, recognised under customary norms of the law of the sea.

Migrants sleeping aboard the Nivin

Wider Context

In May 2018, Forensic Oceanography published its Mare Clausum report, which demonstrates that Italy and the EU have implemented since 2016 a two-pronged strategy aimed at stemming migration across the central Mediterranean. The strategy aimed to oust rescue NGOs from the Mediterranean, on the one hand, and outsource border control to the Libyan Coast Guard on the other by providing material, technical, and political support. The role of the EU and Italy in creation and maintenance of the Libyan Coast Guard is decisive as demonstrated in the SS v Italy case that GLAN filed in May 2018 in partnership with Forensic Oceanography.

This strategy has been accompanied by the progressive retreat from the Mediterranean of the EU, which narrowed the geographical scope of its missions and increasingly deployed assets that are not equipped to perform search and rescue activities. In this scenario, the only actor left at sea alongside the Libyan Coast Guard is merchant vessels. Due to the inability or unwillingness of the Libyan Coast Guard to perform duties related to search and rescue, merchant ships were called upon to contribute to filling this gap.

Between June 2018 and June 2019, a total of 13 privatized push-back attempts were recorded, a list that is most probably incomplete, as indicated by Forensic Oceanography. Much of this is related to the implementation of the Mare Clausum strategy, exacerbated by the so-called “closed ports” policy in Italy, which prevented ships that carried out rescue operations to enter Italian territorial waters to disembark rescuees.

January 6, 2020
benefiet All Included

benefiet African dinner
donderdag 12 december 2019
19u in Joe’s Garage (4 euro)
Pretoriusstraat 43, 1092 EZ Amsterdam

What’s Included?

All included is een initiatief dat strijdt voor vrijheid van mobiliteit en recht op verblijf voor migranten. In een tijd waarin globalisering een feit is moet migratie erkend worden als een deel van een package deal. All included dus. Dit betekent: geen illegaliteit, geen vreemdelingendetentie en geen gedwongen uitzettingen.

Met het verdwijnen van de nationale grenzen verdwijnt de nationale identiteit. Iedereen wordt wereldburger en ongeacht afkomst verdient eenieder gelijke rechten en gelijke kansen. Daarom ook voor migranten gelijkwaardige ‘all included’ rechten en plichten.

Allincluded.nl strijdt voor een open samenleving middels buitenparlementaire acties die ingrijpen in het politiek klimaat van assimilatie, geslotenheid en angst. Middels directe hulp aan uitgeprocedeerde asielzoekers en andere mensen zonder verblijfsvergunning worden aanklachten tegen de wantoestanden van de huidige politiek uitgedragen. Wij willen een bijdrage leveren aan het publieke debat met alternatieve visies op migratie en globalisering die uitgaat van open grenzen, solidariteit en eigen initiatief.

All Included is actief in Afrique-Europe Interact (AEI), een netwerk van Afrikaanse en Europese zelf-organisaties. AEI werkt enerzijds aan gezamenlijke projecten en acties en anderzijds aan onderlinge ondersteuning.
Iedereen welkom.

I want everything All Included

November 29, 2019
Solidariteitsactie met Sea-Watch 3 tegen mogelijke vervolging Sea-Watch kapitein Carola Rackete en voor iedereen op de vlucht naar een beter leven*
De Vrienden van Sea-Watch organiseren donderdag 4 juli 2019 een solidariteitsactie met de kapitein van de Sea-Watch 3 en eenieder die vlucht op zoek naar een beter leven.

Waar: Spui, Amsterdam

Datum/Tijdstip: donderdag 4 juli 2019, 17.00 – 19.00 uur

Hoewel kapitein Carola Rackete in vrijheid is gesteld loopt het onderzoek nog en ze kan alsnog vervolgd worden. Het schip de Sea-Watch 3 is ook nog steeds in beslag genomen voor onderzoek door de Italiaanse autoriteiten. De VVD heeft ondertussen een voorstel ingediend voor het criminaliseren van de hulpverleners zoals van de Sea-Watch 3. Allen die mensen ‘doelbewust oppikken’ uit zee, zouden de laatste schakel zijn in de keten van mensensmokkelaars. Deze VVD ‘proefballon’ wordt 4 juli in de Tweede Kamer besproken.

De Vrienden van Sea-Watch stellen: ‘Onbegrijpelijk dat de VVD voorstelt om hlpverleners te criminaliseren die mensenlevens redden op de Middellandse Zee. Deze mensen komen vaak uit Libië, waar vannacht nog tientallen migranten zijn omgekomen die onder erbarmelijke omstandigheden opgesloten zaten in een Libisch detentiekamp, door een bombardement. Wij roepen iedereen op om steun te betuigen aan de Sea-Watch 3 op 4 juli 17 uur op het Spui tijdens de manifestatie.

Kapitein Carola Rackete voer vorige week zonder toestemming de haven van Lampedusa binnen, nadat ze tevergeefs meer dan twee weken wachtte op instructies van de betrokken autoriteiten, waaronder Nederland en Italië, om de nog overgebleven 40 geredde personen van boord te laten gaan. Door haar actie heeft ze de rechten van de geredde mensen afgedwongen om op een veilige plaats van boord te gaan. Dit is ook de zienswijze van de Italiaanse rechter, die haar gisteren onmiddellijk in vrijheid stelde.

De Sea-Watch 3 was één van de weinige schepen die nog voer op de Middellandse zee, maar dit zal vanaf 15 augustus praktisch onmogelijk worden door nieuwe Nederlandse regelgeving.

Tijdens de actie zullen de actievoerders een die-inn uitvoeren en gaan sprekers in op de huidige situatie op zee: Anne Dekker van Sea-Watch, Yusuf Adam Suali van Rederij Lampedusa/We Are Here en Mark Akkerman van Stop Wapenhandel.

De demonstranten eisen van de Nederlandse overheid:
1. Roep de Italiaanse regering op om Carola Rackete niet te vervolgen.
  Stop het criminaliseren van (steunverlening aan) vluchtelingen!
2. Laat de Sea-Watch 3, welke vaart onder Nederlandse vlag, haar noodgedwongen reddingswerk weer zo snel mogelijk hervatten.
3. Vluchtelingen welkom, vrijheid van beweging voor iedereen!
Wat:Actie in solidariteit met de kapitein Sea-Watch 3 en iedereen op de vlucht naar een beter leven

Waar: Spui, Amsterdam

Datum/Tijdstip: donderdag 4 juli 2019, 17.00 uur
July 3, 2019
benefiet Association Togolaise des Expulsés

maandag 26 augustus 19u

Joe’s Garage, Pretoriusstraat 43 Amsterdam

https://joesgarage.nl/archives/tag/all-included

Sur la situation d’expulsé-e-s, de refoulé-e-s et de “candidat-e-s à la migration” selon l’exemple de Sokodé/Togo

L’Association Togolaise des Expulsés (ATE) était fondé en 2008 à Sokodé, la deuxième plus grande ville du Togo, par des gens qui avaient été expulsé-e-s au Togo de différents pays – entre autres de l’Allemagne, de la Suisse et des Pays Bas. L’engagement de l’ATE se manifeste sous forme de soutien pratique et d’aide mutuelle pour des gens qui se trouvent dans des conditions de vie précaires après leur expulsion et aussi de la sensibilisation de la société pour des questions autour la migration et les droits des réfugié-e-s et migrant-e-s.

Depuis quelques ans, l’ATE, fondé en tant que auto-organisation d’expulsé-e-s, se focalise de plus en plus sur la situation de jeunes gens qui se fuirent actuellement du Togo ou partent en migration.
L’ATE contribue à donner un image réaliste des multiples dangers sur les trajets de migration à ceux qui veulent ou qui doivent partir.
Comme beaucoup de mouvements de la société civile africaine, l’ATE se prononce aussi contre les violations des droits humains et les crimes meurtriers sur les trajets de la migration – et contre un régime frontalier imposé par les états européens qui laisse des gens mourir dans le désert et dans la mer et qui paye d’argent aux milices libéennes et à certains gouvernements africains pour empêcher des gens africain-e-s coûte que coûte de se mettre en route vers l’Europe.

ATE est aussi active dans le projet Alarme Phone Sahara – une initiative pratique d’organisations de la société civile africaine et européenne contre les conditions dangereuses et meurtrières sur les trajets de la fuite et de la migrationà travers les pays du Sahel et du Sahara.

Plus d’info sur l’ATE et le TOGO: http://www.allincluded.nl/posts/togo-delegatie-afrique-europe-interact/

June 22, 2019
The Atlas of Migration

Facts and figures about people on the move

https://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/sonst_publikationen/atlasofmigration2019_web_190614__1_.pdf

ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG

Migration: a contested human right

Migration is not a social outlier. Every modern society and every state in the world is also a result of human mobility. The migration issue nevertheless sparks heated political debates around the globe, while opinion formation among citizens, politicians, political parties, and movements often occurs along the axes of the migration question and policies of dealing with it. The myths and images that have emerged around the social phenomenon of migration are correspondingly powerful. Among the best-known linguistic and visual representations of migration are those of streams, waves, and floods. They make migration appear threatening and render the actual migrants invisible.

The stricter the checks at sea get, the riskier the methods people use to get into the EU – with fatal consequences

The Atlas of Migration seeks to change perspectives on migration and its actors, initiate a political shift, and contribute to a more objective debate within left-wing European parties and movements. Here opinions range from the open-borders paradigm to negative attitudes towards migrants, often based on the assumption that they compete with the particularly vulnerable in European societies. The figures and facts collected show that, although migration takes place in all parts of the world, it poses no threat to the social fabric of the countries of neither destination nor origin.

Migration is a threat, however, for the migrants themselves—especially for fugitives and undocumented migrants. This is made clear by the chapters on border deaths and deadly border controls. Everyday racism and racist terror, but also institutional and political xenophobia, make travel more difficult for migrants and refugees, threatening their participation or even their lives in the countries of destination—and thus their human right to migration.

Migrants nevertheless take their fate into their own hands. This is demonstrated by the chapters on migration struggles—against racism and for the rights of immigrants and refugees. Together with non-migrants, countless solidarity movements against deportations, xenophobia, and right-wing populism as well as for the right to social participation, decent work, adequate housing, education, and health care have emerged in Europe and the world. They contribute to making the society of the many a reality.

Migration has many realities and facets. This atlas promotes a differentiated approach to migration. In the current social climate, it takes courage to address this issue calmly and to recognize that immigration pluralizes our societies in the democratic sense.

June 19, 2019
Mediterranian migratory routes and other paths of travel (IOM)

June 1, 2019
say no to the war on migrants
Sur le non-accueil en Europe – parcours 1

Non à la guerre aux migrant·e·s from Migreurop on Vimeo

Sur le non-accueil en Europe – parcours 2

Campagne réalisée par l’agence Bonjour, avec le soutien de Thanks for Nothing

Non à la guerre aux migrant·e·s from Migreurop on Vimeo.
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What does it mean externalization policies? What is the impact
on human rights violation?
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May 25, 2019
Transnational summer camp 9th – 14th July in ZAD near Nantes & NoBorder Camp 1-4 August 2019 near Rotterdam

[NoBorder Camp 1-4 August NL underneath]

Over the last years, the flight routes to Europe have shiften from the Balkans to the Central Med, to Spain. Each shift creates structures of solidarity in new places and lets our network grow, while old structures slowly fade away. Moreover, in the last five years about two million people arrived in Europe via these flight routes. Many are still struggling against deportations and for their right to stay. Many others achieved a status and struggle for better living conditions. We call for this summer camp, to bring together different struggles to fight for freedom of movement and equal social rights. Transborder means for us to bridge structures along different flight routes and to create common strategies to fight for a society based on openness and solidarity and not on exclusion and exploitation.

Please contact us, if you have any questions: tsc2019@protonmail.com
ZAD near Nantes: https://zad.nadir.org/?lang=nl

We are looking forward to meeting you all there!

Over the last years, the flight routes to Europe have shiften from the Balkans to the Central Med, to Spain. Each shift creates structures of solidarity in new places and lets our network grow, while old structures slowly fade away. Moreover, in the last five years about two million people arrived in Europe via these flight routes. Many are still struggling against deportations and for their right to stay. Many others achieved a status and struggle for better living conditions. We call for this summer camp, to bring together different struggles to fight for freedom of movement and equal social rights. Transborder means for us to bridge structures along different flight routes and to create common strategies to fight for a society based on openness and solidarity and not on exclusion and exploitation.

We ask all of you to save the date and to plan for your participation for the full four days (plus the arrival and departure time/day). Our main aim is to create a space for a deepening exchange and for strategical discussions on the struggles for freedom of movement, for equal rights for all and for an open and solidary society. The bases for this meeting are the networking processes all over Europe and Africa, which developed and continued during the last years along the various flight routes as well as against deportations and exclusion. Thus, we will try to make it possible, that self-organized activists with a refugee and migrant background can join and we will try to invite as many of our partner groups and organizations, who are active on the African continent, as possible.

Our approach and wishes for the summer camp: In the following five points we summarize our approach for this meeting as far as we discussed it in the preparation group:

• Attendance: All participants should stay for the full four days of the meeting, which will take place from 10th in the morning to the 13th in the evening. The 9th of July (Tuesday) is planned as arrival day, the 14th of July (Sunday) as departure day (we will organize shuttles from Nantes to the ZAD area and back only on these two days). We want to avoid a disturbing fluctuation and build a summer camp community from the beginning to the end.
• Respect: All participants should take into consideration the networking nature of this gathering: to appreciate the multiplicity of starting points, methods and political priorities or at least to respect this diversity of groups and organisations.
• Exchange: We hope for a mutual interest or expect at least respect to each other. The main format of exchange and strategical discussion will be working groups and other kind of meetings, which will foster horizontal debates and in which many different people can talk (instead of big podiums with a few lengthy speakers).
• Freedom of Movement and Equal Rights: The summer camp is open to all who share the idea of freedom of movement and equal rights for everybody and who want to contribute to the struggles against deportation and exclusion.
• Activism: The summer camp is not a space to do researches or journalism and of course no place for any kind of commercial business. We will discuss and decide in the preparation process, in which way we want to document common (interim) results or also the projects and initiatives represented in the multiplicity of participants.

The Preparation of the Program as Process: We are in the very beginning of drafting the preliminary program and it should become a collective process within next months with all participants and their various interests. So far, it is clear, that we want to start on day 1 (10.07.2019) with an open space, with maps and info-tables, with a lot of informal talk and first small workshops to get to know each other, to get an overview about the participating groups and initiatives, their geographical allocations and as well as their main topics and methods. The following three days should be dedicated to a strategical exchange and we will start soon a common process to define strategical issues from various points of views and of experiences. All this has to be developed during the next months and all groups/participants are invited to contribute to this process.

We suggest to limit all workshops to the mornings and afternoons and keep the evenings free for more informal exchange, spontaneous discussions and a cultural program.

Logistical remarks and requests: We try to organize the summer camp and the preparation bilingual: in English and French. If we need translations into other languages, we will organise this together in the camp.

Please let us know from your group and network, with how many people you want to join the transnational summer camp. We need you first registration with a rough overview at least until 15th of March 2019. Also, Let us know as soon as possible, if your group or network can NOT cover traveling costs and/or you need support in visa issues.
But keep in mind: in the preparation group we are all activists on a voluntary level without any salary and given budget. We just try to collect money to make the participation possible for all friends, who are interested in this project and where the traveling costs and visa might be an obstacle.

The preparation group includes already activists from groups and networks in Barcelona, Berlin, Bern, Bremen, Hanau, Ljubljana, Marseille, Thessaloniki, Venice, Zagreb, Zurich… We want to become more transnational and let us know, if you want to join the preparation process. We will, then, include you in the mailing list for the summer camp preparation.

Please contact us, if you have any questions.
tsc2019 at protonmail.com

No Border Camp 2019 1-4 Augustus NL

No Border Network

Restricting migration is a priority for the Dutch government and the EU. The walls of Fortress Europe are rising taller, rescue-missions by aid organisations are counteracted, and refugees are locked up and deported. Thousands of people die in the Mediterranean Sea or in the desert, or they are stuck in horrible conditions. Politicians instigate hate against refuguees, while weapons-companies are in the mean time making big money on militarising borders. Rich Western countries keep fueling the reasons why people flee through unequal trade, weapon exports, causing climate change, and military interventions.

Reason enough to take action. Come to the No Border Camp in the beginning of August, for workshops, meeting people and actions on a extraparliamentary and anti-authoritarian basis. To build bridges to other intersections of struggle, like anti-racism, decolonisation, queer- and trans struggle, climate action, anti-militarisation, and the struggle of migrants themselves for their rights.

For more information or if you want to help, see no-border.nl or send an e-mail to nbc2019@no-border.nl. For financial contributions, please transfer to NL75INGB0004253090 for Ithaka, mention No Border Camp 2019 in the notification section.

The No Border Camp 2019 will take place in Zuid-Holland the Netherlands. The location will be published a week before the camp due to security reasons.

May 25, 2019