All Included

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  • Letter from Choucha 2015

    Dear All,

    Choucha refugee camp that was officially closed by the responsible UNHCR leaving hundreds in limbo at the camp till date,at the Tunsian-Libyan border, since 2011. We would like to update you about our situation, though there is not much to be updated about: we are still displaced in the deserted remote camp. All plight not to be forgotten, though the camp was officially closed by the UNHCR, there are people still leaving in it.

    The situation in Choucha calls for urgent intervention, since we are suffering mental,physical psychological violations and torture, that reduces human power of concentration in the middle of nowhere. Extreme cases speak for themselves: a Sudanese is laying in Choucha after three major surgical operations that involved the spinal cord and his urine system, being abandoned in the camp without medical attention (negligence)and other several consequent cases denied. Moreover, we lack running water, sewage, food, and we are forced to beg alimentation on the main street heading to Libya. We believe every sane mind today knows that hunger is the world’s n. 1 health threat, that kills more people than any disease or virus that has ever been discovered. It is better for things to be stated with a direct factual basis. We are being placed in a life threatening situation.On the other side, we cannot go back to our countries of origin because of the individuals risk of persecution (same reasons we put forward in our requests for asylum to the UNHCR).

    Local integration is not a solution to Choucha for several reasons:
    .The general climate of discrimination and racism that many of us have to face,as demonstrated by several complains and testimonies had gone through without attention.

    . Lack of asylum/refugee system,that,even if its been enacted today Choucha is not supposed to be the experiment for the practise,hence many will remain under the impairism of past experience.
    .It has severally been stated officially to us in meetings with members of the government,choucha is not and has never been a priority topic of discussion and as human,we are the victims suffering and living the situation without any impact or support from the government,knowing fully well that the camp is situated in the middle of nowhere,the deserted remote geographical location chosen for the camp (6/7 km away from the day to day troubled border,putting us in a dangerous position).
    · Some of us were arrested in 2014 three consecutive times for exercising our legitimate rights of demonstrating,the authority and all human rights defending groups failed to help us,putting into consideration that our lives in Choucha for all these years is on hold,neither were we showing pleasure during all these process.Protesting against these decisions/situation that has existed all these years long,without suitable durable solution to end our plights.
    · Demographic arc of instability,i.e,political,economic E.T.C.
    Our appeal to the Tunisian government as host of Choucha refugee camp, hence its easy to perceive in all given statements  “that our demand for resettlement to a safe third country with effective system of asylum/refugee protection”, “not local integration in Tunisia”,as a proposed plan/program,human right leagues/experts,activists and the civil society,IS to urge the camp responsible UNHCR,under whose authority the camp was  established to accomodate the victims,consequence of the Libyan 2011 crisis and with whom our legal cases were registered and the International Committee upon the agreement/s with which the camp was enacted and closed, as well the essence base of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights were made.
    Our struggle is instigated by our own suffering and our own experience,It is a struggle for the rights to live with human dignity in harmony with equal rights and justice,fair opportunities,to be accorded resettlement,not confined to Choucha open detention.
    Our Demand And Appeal To UNHCR And The International Committee
    .To be accorded resettlement to a safe third country counting with effective system of refugee/asylum protection.Not local integration.
    For all these reasons given,we call on your support of our course and demand.

    Remaining forgotten refugees at choucha/Unhcr camp of Libyan/Tunisian border

  • Verslag presentatie Traoré Bakary over landroof in Mali

    Maandag 13 april 2015, Plantage Dok Amsterdam

    Eerder op de dag was Bakary al bij de Vluchtgarage, een gekraakte plek waar veel uitgeprocedeerde vluchtelingen woonden. Ze moesten er vandaag uit. Ook tijdens de avond werd het nog druk overlegd en met tenten gesleept. Uiteindelijk hebben de migranten een veldje bij de Amstel bezet.

    Naast de presentatie van Bakary was er ook een tentoonstelling over Falea, een bedreigd gebied in Mali vanwege de uraniumwinning in de Falea-regio. De intentie van het Falea-Mali-Comité is de exploitatie te voorkomen zodat de natuurlijke rijkdommen de plaatselijke bevolking en toekomstige generaties ten goede komen: http://www.falea-mali-comite.nl
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    Afrique-Europe-Interact (AEI)
    De avond begon met een korte presentatie over Afrique-Europe Interact door Emmanuel Mbolela, een vluchteling uit Congo die nu in Nederland woont. Hij heeft een boek geschreven over zijn reis (Mein Weg von Congo nach Europa). Sinds hij in Nederland woont is hij actief bij All Included en Afrique-Europe-Interact.
    Afrique-Europe-Interact is een transnationaal netwerk dat zelforganisaties uit Mali, Togo, Marokko, Oostenrijk, Tunesië, Duitsland en Nederland samenbrengt. Het vraagt aandacht voor de migratie-problematiek en eerlijke ontwikkeling. Een groot project van Afrique-Europe Interact was een karavaan in 2011 van Bamako naar Senegal met veel activisten uit Europese en Afrikaanse landen onder de leus “pour la libre circulation et le développement équitable”. Tijdens deze karavaan van bussen werd nogmaals duidelijk dat landroof (land grabbing) een belangrijke reden is dat veel mensen uit Sub-Sahara op de vlucht slaan. Dit onderwerp is daarom een speerpunt geworden van Afrique-Europe-Interact. En daarom is Bakary ook uitgenodigd om naar Europa te komen om over landroof in Mali te praten. Drie weken geleden waren activisten vanuit Duitsland in Mali langs geweest om te zien hoe het er daar aan toe gaat. Een verslag van hun bevindingen vind je hier: http://afrique-europe-interact.net/605-1-Appelle-Vorschau.html
    Een ander onderwerp waar Afrique-Europe Interact (AEI) zich mee bezighoudt, is de situatie van sub-Sahara vrouwen in Marokko die ook te maken hebben met seksuele intimidatie. In Rabat/Marokko heeft AEI een veilig opvanghuis voor vrouwen opgezet.
    Afrique-Europe-Interact is op zoek naar meer actieve leden in Nederland om directe verbanden tussen de sociale beweging in Nederland en diverse Afrikaanse landen te verbeteren (contact via All Included).

    Bakary Traoré
    Bakary is opgeleid tot leraar. Hij heeft jaren als leraar gewerkt voor 40 euro per maand. Dit was te weinig om van rond te komen en daarom heeft hij besloten weer terug te gaan naar het land van zijn ouders en boer te worden. Zijn land ligt in Office du Niger, een gebied dat is geïrrigeerd sinds 1932 toen Mali nog een Franse kolonie was. Hij is nu de derde generatie op dat land. Sinds die tijd hebben ze geen onafhankelijkheid gekend.

    Office du Niger
    Office du Niger is een geïrrigeerd gebied van zo’n 100.000 hectare aan de rivier de Niger. Oorspronkelijk was er een plan voor 1 miljoen hectare. Het moest de graanschuur van Mali worden en landbouwgewassen gaan exporteren naar Frankrijk. Ook wilden de Fransen er katoen produceren. Rijst en rietsuiker zijn na 1959 geïntroduceerd. Met deze exportgewassen werd de koloniale tijd voortgezet. Een deel van het land is op dit moment niet in gebruik en het irrigatiesysteem is verwaarloosd. Dit heeft ook gevolgen voor de productie. Er wordt nu bijvoorbeeld rijst vanuit Thailand geïmporteerd.

    In het gebied zijn 70.000 boeren met kleine stukjes land. Nog eens 50.000 boeren hebben geen land. Veel kleine boeren raken hun land kwijt, terwijl er nog veel ruimte is in het oorspronkelijk geplande gebied om het landbouw areaal uit te breiden. (Hierbij moet wel worden gelet op de effecten van watergebruik op de rivier Niger.

    Office du Niger is ook de naam van het organisatie die het in het gebied voor het zeggen heeft. Het is een semi-autonome staat binnen de staat waarvan het management is aangesteld door de regering. De voorzitter van het Office du Niger is altijd een lid van de regeringspartij en dit geldt ook voor de lagere ambtenaren. Dit zorgt ervoor dat ook alle boeren de partij moeten steunen als ze niet in de problemen willen komen.
    Office du Niger is de eigenaar van alle grond. Boeren bezitten dus niet hun eigen grond, maar krijgen steeds slechts een contact voor een jaar. Zelf voor hun huis hebben ze geen eigendomspapieren. Dit zorgt voor onzekerheid voor de boeren. De belangrijkste kanalen worden onderhouden door de staat, door het Office du Niger en door de kleine boeren. Boeren betalen belasting voor het onderhouden van het irrigatiesysteem. Als ze niet op tijd het volledige bedrag betalen verliezen ze hun contract en dus hun land. Vaak komen de grond en de huizen terecht bij corrupte ambtenaren en hun vrienden.

    Coordination Paysans au Office du Niger
    Toen de karavaan van Afrique-Europe-Interact in langskwam is de boerenvakbond Coordination Paysans au Office du Niger (COPON) opgericht. Sindsdien strijdt deze organisatie voor de rechten van de boeren in dit gebied.

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    Een van de speerpunten van COPON is de strijd voor het behoud van de dorpen Sanamadougou en Sahou. Deze twee dorpen zijn 300 jaar oud en de (land-)rechten van de bewoners zou via het gewoonterecht moeten zijn gewaarborgd. Zes jaar geleden doneerden deze dorpen nog 40 ton gierst aan gebieden elders in Mali die leden aan voedseltekorten . Nu zijn ze zelf afhankelijk van voedselhulp omdat veel landbouwgrond rond de dorpen is opgekocht door grote landbouwbedrijven en speculanten en boeren van hun land worden verdreven.

    Een ander onderwerp waar COPON zich mee bezighoudt is een investering door KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau), een investeringsbank van de Duitse overheid. Het gaat om een investering van 10 miljoen euro. Dit gaat ten kosten van 4 dorpen. Veel boeren uit deze dorpen hebben geen compensatie gekregen voor het verlies van hun land. Veel van het land is naar medewerkers van Office du Niger gegaan.
    Het heeft geholpen om samen met activisten in Duitsland goed te kijken naar de richtlijnen van dit financiële instituut. In de Duitse richtlijn stond bijvoorbeeld dat de steun ten goede moest komen aan kleine boeren. De Malinese regering zegt altijd dat ze internationaal geld aanvragen in naam van de kleine boeren. In werkelijkheid ging het geld echter naar projecten voor grote boeren. Dit konden ze aantonen waarna dit enige ophef veroorzaakte in Duitsland.

    COPON heeft veel brieven geschreven om aandacht te krijgen voor deze problemen. Dit was ook de reden dat activisten vanuit Duitsland het probleem in Mali gingen onderzoeken. Ze kwamen tot de conclusie dat het nog erger was dan verwacht.

    Repressie tegen Bakary
    Sinds Bakary hier mee bezig is, is hij niet meer geliefd bij de autoriteiten in Mali. Net voordat hij naar het buitenland zou gaan en Amsterdam zou aandoen voor deze presentatie werd hij gearresteerd en op een zeer vervelende manier vastgehouden. De aanleiding voor de arrestatie was een radio interview waarin hij de boeren vertelde dat ze niets van de Office du Niger en de regering moeten verwachten. Leden van COPON demonstreerden direct voor het politiebureau waar hij werd vastgehouden en er werden faxen gestuurd en getelefoneerd vanuit binnen- en buitenland. Waarschijnlijk dankzij deze druk werd hij net op tijd weer vrijgelaten om toch naar Duitsland en Nederland te komen. Bakary dankt iedereen die hem heeft gesteund.

    Volgens Bakary gaat de strijd om de lange termijn. Als een boom: je plant hem, maar je plukt er pas na jaren de vruchten van.

    Strijdbare bevolking
    90% van de 70.000 mensen in het gebied is onderdeel van COPON en ze zijn klaar voor de strijd voor hun land en hun rechten. Toen Bakary was gearresteerd waren vele boeren van plan om het politiebureau in brand te steken. Zijn broer moest met een toespraak hen over te halen dit niet te doen en te vertrouwen op de druk vanuit het buitenland. Anders zou zijn reis naar Europa waarschijnlijk niet zijn doorgegaan.

    De Nederlandse link
    In de 80er begin 90er jaren heeft ontwikkelingshulp vanuit Nederland de boeren in Office du Niger veel geholpen. Het ging vooral om de levering van materialen en de hulp bij het opzetten van lokale verenigingen van boeren. Bakary vindt het jammer dat de Nederlandse regering dit niet meer doet. Frankrijk wilde haar invloed in deze voormalige kolonie behouden. De Nederlandse overheid was tevreden met de manier waarop ze Mali steunden, maar wilde geen conflict met Frankrijk. Het waren daarna de Fransen die de boeren vertelden dat de Nederlanders niets van landbouw weten, of alleen van veeteelt. Ook de Malinese regering stelde de hulp vanuit Nederland niet erg op prijs omdat het de boeren te onafhankelijk maakte. De verenigingen waren erg succesvol met het verkrijgen van lokale macht. De Office du Niger deed er daarna alles aan om de verenigingen tegen te werken. Vaak hebben ze nu schulden. Ook deden ze aan verdeel en heers. Nu zie je veel conflicten tussen verenigingen en tussen of zelfs binnen families. Het lukt COPON echter de samenwerking weer terug te brengen.

    Landroof op zijn Malinees
    Vier jaar nadat de Nederlandse steun stopte is het kantoor van de Office du Niger geherstructureerd. Het was hun taak boeren te helpen, het irrigatiesysteem te onderhouden en het belastinggeld te innen. Maar nu gaat het vooral om het afpakken van het land van de kleine boeren om dit door te verkopen aan rijkere mensen. Het irrigatiesysteem is verwaarloosd en de opbrengsten gaan omlaag.
    De regering doet er niets tegen omdat ze weten dat de medewerkers van Office du Niger en de boeren die van hen afhankelijk de regering toch wel steunen. De regering importeert rijst in plaats van het van lokale Malinese boeren te kopen wat wel aangeeft dat ze niet om hun eigen boeren geven. Geprobeerd is dit probleem onder de aandacht te brengen, met brieven aan ministers en de president waarin ook om voedselhulp en medicijnen gevraagd wordt. Bakary hoopte dat de regering hierdoor wel zou inzien dat het Office du Niger niet functioneert. Maar geen enkele brief is beantwoord. Ze worden als honden behandeld.

    Een ander voorbeeld dat Bakary gaf van een mechanisme waardoor boeren hun land verliezen: Office du Niger zei de boeren meer aardappels te produceren. Maar het lukte Office du Niger niet om de oogst te verkopen of om deze op te slaan. En ze konden de boeren ook niet laten weten hoe ze de aardappels opnieuw konden planten. Dit zorgde er weer voor dat boeren hun schulden niet konden betalen. Boeren moeten ook vaak een lening vragen om kunstmest te kopen. Alle boeren hebben nu een schuld. Met als gevolg dat ze hun waterbelasting niet kunnen betalen en geen contact voor hun land meer krijgen.

    De overheid verkoopt ook land dat ze niet bezitten waarna de koper de oude gebruikers/eigenaren van hun grond kan laten gooien via een rechtszaak. Wat er gebeurt hangt af van wie de beste vrienden en de meeste macht heeft. Je hebt ook verschillende soorten landrechten. De ene is meer waard dan de ander en ook dit werkt corruptie in de hand. Met geld en vrienden kun je zo land verkrijgen.

    Landroof met buitenlandse investeerders
    Er was de vraag vanuit het publiek hoe het zit met de landroof door buitenlandse investeerders en bedrijven. Dat gebeurt ook. Er is een Chinees bedrijf en er was Malibya, een groot project dat met Libisch geld was opgezet, maar dat na de val van Gaddafi in het slob geraakte. De Duitse regering betaalt aan de Afrikaanse Ontwikkelingsbank voor projecten in het Office du Niger.
    De Malinese regering ziet deze buitenlandse grootgrondbezitters niet als een probleem voor hun eigen positie.

    Amerikaans hulpprogramma
    Een Amerikaanse hulporganisatie heeft geëist dat voor het gebied waarvoor ze hulp gaven eigendomspapieren geregeld zouden worden. Elke boer kreeg 5 hectare. Een deel van het geld uit de VS voor de irrigatie gaat naar het Office du Niger, maar een deel gaat terug naar de boeren om zelf de irrigatie te onderhouden. Het project was gepland voor 20.000 hectares, met ook stukken van 10 en 30 en meer dan 30 hectare kwamen in aanmerking. De grootste stukken konden ook aan niet-Malinesen worden verkocht. Maar na de eerste 5000 hectare is het hulpprogramma stopgezet vanwege de coup in 2012.
    Office du Niger werkt dit project nu tegen en heeft de bankrekeningen van die organisaties geblokkeerd. In de regio van Bakary willen boeren dit systeem met de landrechten ook graag, maar Office du Niger voorkomt dat dit gebeurt.

    De link met migratie
    Op het moment hebben ze in Mali al te lijden onder klimaatverandering. De opbrengst van het land en de inkomsten dreigen te dalen. Het wordt bovendien ook duurder om het land te managen/onderhouden. De regering importeert rijst in plaats van het van lokale boeren te kopen. De overheid is ook betrokken bij de export. Een probleem hierbij is dat de boeren een lage prijs krijgen en de overheid de rest krijgt. Deze voorbeelden geven aan dat de Malinese regering niet om haar eigen boeren geeft.
    Als het land te duur of te slecht wordt en boeren geen keus hebben dan te vertrekken, is dit ook een soortement van landroof. De mensen kunnen echter niets anders dan boeren. Migratie vanuit het Office du Niger is een relatief recent verschijnsel. Maar nu zien veel mensen geen toekomst in het gebied. Er zal in dit gebied geen ontwikkeling komen als de boeren niet zichzelf niet kunnen onderhouden.

    Verzet in andere delen van Mali
    Ook buiten het Office du Niger wordt strijd gevoerd. Vorige week steunde COPON protesten in het katoengebied. Verschillende boerenorganisaties hebben een gezamenlijke verklaring uitgestuurd om de katoenboeren en hun twee bedreigde dorpen te steunen. De katoenboeren hebben gezegd dat ze geen katoen zullen produceren als hun eisen niet worden ingewilligd. Ze moeten zorgen dat ze winnen voor mei als het regenseizoen begint. Als ze nu geen succes hebben zullen ze niet makkelijk opnieuw zo samen kunnen werken. Waarschijnlijk zal de regering een iets hogere katoenprijs beloven, maar het is  de vraag of dit geen loze belofte zal zijn.
    En nu overwegen ze een nationale boerenvakbond op te richten waarbij de COPON en de katoenboeren gaan samenwerken. Tot voor kort waren er regelmatig problemen tussen de katoenboeren en de boeren die voedselgewassen verbouwen.
    Met uitzondering van het noorden waar de oorlog is, is er nu enige samenwerking bij alle boeren in Mali. Bakary coördineert deze gezamenlijke acties en daarom is de regering niet zo blij met hem. In de toekomst zal COPON mogelijk haar naam veranderen in iets dat voor het hele land bruikbaar is. Voor het oprichten van een landelijke boerenvakbond kunnen ze veel steun vanuit het buitenland gebruiken.
    Bakary is tamelijk positief over de strijd:

    Reactie van de overheid op protesten
    Vanuit het publiek werd tijdens de presentatie van Bakary nog gevraagd hoe het zit met de repressie. Verdwijnen er boeren? Wordt er gemarteld? En zorgen zij voor de veiligheid van hun activisten? Tot nu toe schijnt het nog relatief mee te vallen. Volgens Bakary lopen activisten nog geen direct gevaar, hoewel het uiteraard ook niet prettig is om je land te verliezen. Tot nu toe komen ze een heel eind met het schijven van statements en brieven en het organiseren van demonstraties. Als er echter niets gebeurt zullen ze overgaan tot burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid. Volgens Bakary zullen ze eens worden gehoord door de regering en zullen ze uiteindelijk winnen. Ook steun vanuit het buitenland kan hen hierbij helpen.
    Het is nu vooral het Office du Niger dat tegen ze is, maar dit zijn ook slechts ambtenaren met een contact met de regering. De huidige generatie gaat binnenkort met pensioen en wordt opgevolgd door hun kinderen. Dat zou wat kunnen veranderen.
    Er was ook de vraag in hoeverre steun vanuit Europa alleen positief werkt  of dat het ook averechts kan werken vanwege het koloniale verleden. Volgens Bakary werkt steun vanuit het buitenland altijd goed. Vaak weten de autoriteiten of ambtenaren niet precies waar die aandacht en druk vandaan komt. Afgelopen week had de politie commissaris het gevoel dat zijn telefoon de hele tijd ging en dat de hele wereld tegen hem was.

    Die overige 900.000 hectare
    Bakary vraagt zich af waarom ze toch proberen de huidige boeren van hun land af te gooien terwijl er nog 900.000 hectare geïrrigeerd zou kunnen worden, oftewel 90% van het totale gebied. Volgens Bakary geeft dit aan dat de regering vooral de kleine boeren weg wil hebben.
    Office du Niger zou het hele land kunnen voeden. En zelf nog genoeg zijn om te exporteren.
    Het is echter wel de vraag wat het effect van zoveel extra geïrrigeerd gebied zou zijn op de rivier de Niger. Als daar uiteindelijk minder water door stroomt komen boeren en andere bewoners van de benedenstroomse gebieden mogelijk in de problemen.

    Wat nu te doen in Nederland?
    Het laatste deel van de avond ging over de vraag wat we nu in Nederland zouden kunnen doen. Mali staat nog steeds hoog op de lijst van landen die de Nederlandse regering zegt te willen steunen. Op het moment gaan alle aandacht en geld echter naar de militaire aanwezigheid in het Noorden van Mali. Er werd het plan gemaakt wat te gaan doen met die Nederlandse hulp in de jaren ’80 die in Mali zo positief werd ervaren.

    We zouden kunnen kijken of het lukt om die Nederlandse ingenieurs die daar in de 80er en 90er jaren werkten terug te laten gaan om te zien wat er van hun vroegere werk is geworden. Op dit moment zijn ze niet meer gelinkt aan de huidige regering en haar beleid. Ze zouden dus vrijuit kunnen spreken en mogelijk wordt er door de Nederlandse overheid wel naar hun commentaar en advies geluisterd.
    Bakary kan mogelijk wel meer info vinden over die mensen die er vroeger werkten.

    Het zou goed zijn de boerenorganisaties direct te steunen. Dit maakt ze minder kwetsbaar. Zolang geld naar de Malinese regering gaat zien de boeren er nooit iets van. En de boeren weten niet eens dat het land hulp krijgt vanuit andere landen. Ook het geld vanuit Duitsland was onbekend totdat COPON er ruchtbaarheid aan gaf. Het geld was bedoeld voor het verbeteren van het irrigatiesysteem maar het ging vooral op aan andere dingen. Dit is nu in de openbaarheid gebracht en de regering zal wel op zoek gaan een nieuwe manier om aan geld te komen.

  • Ferries not Frontex! 10 points to really end the deaths of migrants at sea

    http://www.watchthemed.net/media/uploads/page/12/Ferries%20not%20Frontex.pdf

    On April 20, the Joint Foreign and Home Affairs Council of the EU released a ten-point action plan outlining their response to the recent deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Many other proposals have also been made over the last few days. We are activists who have been involved in the struggles against the European border regime for several years and who have been in touch on a daily basis with hundreds of people who have crossed the Mediterranean through Watch The Med and the Alarm Phone project.Faced with the hypocrisy of the “solutions” that have been proposed so far, we feel compelled to undermine their falsity and attempt to open up an alternative space for reflection and action.

    1. We are shocked and angered at the recent tragedies that have claimed at least 1200 lives in the Mediterranean Sea in the last week. We are shocked, although not surprised, by the unprecedented number of deaths in merely a few days. We are angered because we know that without a radical change these are just the first of many more deaths to come in 2015.

    2. We are also angered because we know that what is proposed to us as a “solution” to this unbearable situation only amounts to more of the same: violence and death. The EU has called for the reinforcement of Frontex’ Triton mission. Frontex is a migration deterrence agency andTriton has been created with the clear mandate to protect borders, not to save lives.

    3. However, even if saving lives was to be its core task, as it was the case for the military-humanitarian operation Mare Nostrum in 2014, it is clear that this would not bring dying at sea to an end. Those who suggest a European Mare Nostrum should be reminded that even during its mission, the most grandiose rescue operation in the Mediterranean to date, more than 3.400 people died. Is this figure acceptable to the European public?

    4. Others have called for an international military operation in Libya, a naval blockade or the further enlisting of African countries for the policing of their own land borders. The history of the last 20 years in the Mediterranean shows that stepping up the militarization of migration routes is only cause to more death. Each and every time a route into Europe has been blocked by new surveillance technologies and increasing policing, migrants have not stopped arriving. They have simply been forced to take longer and more dangerous routes. The recent deaths in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean are the result of the militarization of the Gibraltar Strait, of the Canary Islands, of the land border between Greece and Turkey, and of several land borders in the Sahara. The “successes” of Frontex mean death to thousands of people.

    5. International organisations as well politicians from across the whole political spectrum have denounced smugglers as the main cause of death in the Mediterranean Sea. Several prominent politicians have compared the smuggling of migrants to the transatlantic slave trade. There seems no limit to hypocrisy: those who uphold the slave regime condemning the slave traders! We know very well that smugglers operating in the context of the Libyan civil war are often ruthless criminals. But we also know that the only reason why migrants have to resort to them is the European border regime. Smuggling networks would be history in no time if those who now die at sea could instead reach Europe legally. The visa regime that prevents them from doing so was introduced only 25 years ago.

    6. Those who have called, once again, for the creation of asylum processing centres in Northern Africa should be reminded of two examples that are the most accurate examples of what these centres would actually mean. First, the Tunisian Choucha camp managed by the UNHCR, which abandoned those who sought refuge there from the Libyan conflict. Even those who were recognized as needing international protections were left behind in the Tunisian desert, often without any other choice than trying to cross the sea. Second, the creation by Australia of offshore processing centres on remote “prison-islands”, which is now hailed by many as a role model for Europe, only shows how hideous the forceful confinement of asylum seekers can be. These “solutions” serve only to displace the violence of the European border regime away from the eyes of Western publics.

    7. Faced with this situation, what is to be done? Comrades and friends with whom we have shared common struggles in the past years have been calling for freedom of movement as the only viable response to this situation. We too make this demand ours, as it is the only one that has managed to open up a space of political imagination in an otherwise suffocating debate. Only unconditional legal access to the EU can end the death of migrants at sea. And yet we think that a general call for the freedom of movement is not enough in the current context. We want to consider the freedom of movement not as a distant utopia but as a practice – enacted by migrants on a daily basis often at the cost of their lives – that should guide our political struggles here and now.

    8. These are the reasons why we call for the institution of a humanitarian ferry, that should travel to Libya and evacuate as many people as possible. These people should be brought to Europe and granted unconditional protection in Europe, without undergoing an asylum process which has lost its original purpose to protect and has de facto become yet another tool of exclusion.

    9. Is the idea of a ferry unrealistic? In 2011, at the height of the Libyan civil war, humanitarian ferries evacuated thousands of stranded migrants from Misrata to Bengasi, overcoming obstacles such as shelling, constant fire and sea mines. This shows that even in the current volatile situation of Libya, considering such an action is possible. Moreover, ferries would certainly be immensely cheaper than the prospect of a massive rescue mission at sea and of any military solution.

    10. The only reality we know is that any solution short of this will continue to lead to more deaths at sea. We know that no process of externalisation of asylum procedures and border control, no amount of compliance with the legal obligations to rescue, no increase in surveillance and militarization will stop the mass dying at sea. In the immediate terms, all we need is legal access and ferries. Will the EU and international agencies be ready to take these steps, or will civil society have to do it for them?

    The Alarm Phone

    wtm-alarm-phone@antira.info

    http://www.watchthemed.net/index.php/page/index/12

    Op 19 april bracht Watch the Med persbericht “De EU doodt vluchtelingen:
    geen Frontex maar Veerboten!” uit:
    http://www.allincluded.nl/posts/de-eu-doodt-vluchtelingen-geen-frontex-maar-veerboten/

    5401964524_bfacef4443_o

  • De EU doodt vluchtelingen: geen Frontex maar Veerboten!

    logo_WTM1 jaar Watch the Med Alarmphone: ‘Moving on’

    Ferries not Frontex! 10 points to really end the deaths of migrants at sea & video (Watch The Med – Alarmphone)

    Experts: Vluchtelingenplan EU lost niets op (Henk van Houtem, Save the Children & Den Haag Centrum voor Strategische Studies)

    logo_WTMFive false assumptions driving EU migration policy

    Push Back Frontex! Against a new dimension of left-to-die-policy at sea

    Migrants’ Files: The Money Trail en De Miljardeneconomie achter Fort Europa (juni 2015, Groene Amsterdammer)

    Persbericht Watch The Med
    19 april 2015

    De EU doodt vluchtelingen: geen Frontex maar Veerboten!
    http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/110

    Gisteren nacht zijn tenminste 650 bootvluchtelingen ongeveer 73 zeemijlen noordelijk van de Libische kust op weg naar Italië verdronken. Ze zaten aan boord van een 30 meter lange kotter, die omsloeg toen het vrachtschip King Jacob naderde om hulp te bieden. Er zijn maar 28 overlevenden.

    Het is de grootste vluchteling-scheepsramp in de recente geschiedenis van de Middellandse Zee. De EU is met haar besluit van 27 augustus 2014 om de reddingsoperaties op de Middellandse Zee te beperken, verantwoordelijk voor deze massale dood.

    De EU heeft de middelen en de mogelijkheden om vluchtelingen op de Middellandse Zee te redden. Maar ze laat de mensen verdrinken.

    In de afgelopen weken werden wij van Alarm-telefoon Watch the Med directe getuigen, als vluchtelingen op boten streden om te overleven en familieleden zich om hen zorgen maakten. Wij werden ook getuige hoe de kustwachten van Italië en Malta, net als steeds meer bemensingen van commerciële schepen, inspanningen verrichtten om te redden, maar vaak het sterven niet konden verhinderen omdat ze niet goed genoeg toegerust waren. De achtergrond hiervan zijn de politieke besluiten van de Europese Unie.

    Fort Europa heeft de afgelopen 25 jaar tot tienduizenden doden in de Middellandse Zee gevoerd.

    Verantwoordelijk zijn:

    De politici en politie die met het Schengen-regime besloten hebben tot de de allesomvattende visa-dwang en de georganiseerde klopjacht op vluchtelingen en migranten zonder visum,

    De politici, politiebeamtes en militairen die de laatste 10 jaar met Frontex de grensbewaking boven de mensenrechten hebben gesteld en sinds de Arabische lente de zee tussen Libië en Italië in een zee-hogebeveiligingsszone hebben veranderd,

    De toppolitici van de EU die op 27 augustus 2014 in Brussel besloten tot het einde van de Italiaanse Mare Nostrum operatie en het inkrimpen van het reddingsprogramma op de Middellandse Zee en besloten tot de afschermingsoperatie Triton-Frontex voor de Italiaanse kusten!

    Zij dragen de verantwoordelijkheid voor de duizenden doden van de afgelopen maanden in het zeegebied tussen Libië en Italië

    Er moet een einde aan het sterven komen!

    Wij eisen een met onmiddellijke ingang in te stellen directe veerbootverbinding voor vluchtelingen uit Tripoli en andere plekken in Noord Afrika naar Europa.

    Wij eisen veilige en legale wegen om toevluchtsoorden te bereiken, zonder dodelijke risico’s te hoeven lopen.

    Wij roepen iedereen op, ongeacht de confessionele en politieke overtuiging, om onmiddellijk directe acties te ondernemen tegen de moorddadige politiek van de EU.

    Watch the Med Alarm Phone http://www.watchthemed.net/

    info@watchthemed.net

    Illustratie_Christina_Sampaio

  • Bakary Traoré (AEI) gearresteerd in Mali

    Amsterdam, 10 april 2015

     

    Bakary Traoré van Afrique-Europe-Interact gearresteerd in Mali

    De Malinese boer en activist Bakary Traoré die de komende weken door Duitsland en Nederland reist om aandacht de vragen voor de problemen met landroof (land grabbing), is op woensdag 8 april in Mali gearresteerd. Bakary is voorzitter van de lokale boerenvakbond COPON (Coordination des Paysans à l’ Office du Niger) die zich hevig verzet tegen het verlies van hun grond. De volgende dag op donderdag 9 april is hij na het betalen van een borg van duizend euro weer vrijgelaten, net op tijd voor zijn reis naar Europa.

    Volgens de officier van justitie wordt Bakary verweten in een radio-uitzending een medewerker van het Malibya project die de boeren verdrijft te hebben beschuldigd van betrokkenheid bij een tot nu toe niet opgehelderde moord op een boerenactivist. Daarnaast wordt hem opruiing van de lokale bevolking ten laste gelegd. Maar bovenal lijkt deze arrestatie tot doel te hebben een moedige strijd monddood te maken. Bakary heeft in het recente verleden talrijke gevallen van corruptie en dubieus verlopen onteigeningen in de openbaarheid gebracht, onder andere door middel van zijn bijdragen aan radio-uitzendingen die ook buiten het landbouwgebied Office du Niger worden beluisterd. Daarnaast was hij medeorganisator van een bijeenkomst van enkele honderden boeren afgelopen zaterdag in Office du Niger. Bakary zet zich al jaren in voor de dorpen Sanamadougou en Sahou, die sinds 2010 nagenoeg al hun landbouwgrond zijn verloren door landroof. Komend weekend spreekt hij op een internationale conferentie over klimaatverandering in Keulen. Op maandag a.s. 13 april zal hij in Amsterdam spreken op een avond over strijd tegen landroof in Office du Niger.

    Bakary was opgepakt in Bamako en naar Niono in Office du Niger gebracht. Direct protesteerden een groot aantal boeren van COPON voor het politiebureau waar Bakary werd vastgehouden. Vanuit Europa zijn faxen gestuurd naar diverse Malinese ambassades. Vele boeren zijn blijven wachten voor het politiebureau en er was druk op de autoriteiten vanuit binnen- en buitenland. Waarschijnlijk heeft dit wel geholpen bij zijn snelle vrijlating. Hij moest 300.000 CFA borg betalen en ook nog eens 300.000 CFA voor een advocaat (in totaal €916,-). Volgens Afrique-Europe Interact die COPON in Mali ondersteunt, zijn dit prijzen voor Malinesen met Europese vrienden. Arrestaties, gevangenisstraffen en andere vormen van repressie zijn de boeren eerder voorgevallen.

    De geplande informatieavonden gaan dus gewoon door. Dit voorval onderstreept nog maar eens noodzaak om aandacht te besteden aan dit onderwerp en te bespreken wat we vanuit Nederland kunnen doen om bij te dragen aan verbetering van de situatie van de Malinese plattelandsbevolking.

    presentatie strijd tegen landroof in Mali

    Maandag 13 april

    Aanvang: 20:00 (deur open: 19:30)
    Adres: Dokhouse Gallery, Plantage Doklaan 8-12, 1018 CM Amsterdam

    Voor vrijheid van bewegen en duurzame ontwikkeling!

    All Included (lid Afrique-Europe Interact) en ASEED

    info@allincluded.nl

    Meer informatie over Bakary Traoré, COPON en de situatie in Office du Niger is te vinden in de eerder verspreidde uitnodiging voor de informatieavond op 13 april in Amsterdam op de volgende websites:

    * Afrique Europe Interact (met video Struggle against Landgrabbing in

    Mali)

    * Small-scale agriculture is under massive pressure in Mali (2012)

    * ‘Sanamadougou and Sahou have to stay: Stopp Landgrabbing – in Mali and

    everywhere!’

    * Malian Peasants’ Appeal against Land Grab (2012)

    * Biobrandstof uit Mali (Trouw)

    * Het Nederlandse Falea Mali Comité

  • presentatie strijd tegen landroof in Mali

    Verslag presentatie Traoré Bakary over landroof in Mali

     

    Maandag 13 april 19.30u, Plantage Doklaan 8-12 Amsterdam,

    met Bakary Mamatou Traoré, boer en vakbondsactivist uit Office du Niger

    video: struggle against landgrabbing in Mali (La Via Campesina)

    Bakary Traoré van Afrique-Europe-Interact gearresteerd in Mali

    In Mali worden op grote schaal boeren van hun land verdreven of onder slechte voorwaarden uitgekocht. Dit wordt ook wel land grabbing of landroof genoemd. Grootgrondbezitters gebruiken het land vervolgens voor de grootschalige productie van biobrandstof of andere exportgewassen.

    Bakary Mamatou Traoré, ex-onderwijzer, boer en vakbondsactivist tegen land grabbing komt naar Nederland om te vertellen over de problemen en strijd in het landbouwgebied Office du Niger in Mali. Naast de neo-koloniale landroof door westerse bedrijven en investeerders gaat het ook om Malinese grootgrondbezitters en de slechte toegang die de overgebleven boeren hebben tot goede grond, water, kredieten en afzetkanalen. Boeren in de regio organiseren zichzelf, maar hebben te maken met arrestaties, gevangenisstraffen en andere repressie. In het het landbouwgebied Office du Niger werden tachtig boerenfamilies van hun land verdreven voor het Malibya project en worden 117 dorpen bedreigd met uitzetting. De boeren die protesteerden werden geslagen en gevangengenomen. Bakary zal ook ingaan op de relatie tussen de problemen op het platteland en de migratie van Malinesen naar Europa. De vraag zal op de bijeenkomst gesteld worden hoe deze sociale strijd politiek en praktisch vanuit Europa ondersteund kan worden.

    In de ruimte zal een expositie te zien zijn over de strijd van de boerengemeente Falea in het zuidwesten van Mali tegen een geplande uraniummijn.

    Bakary is trekker van de lokale vakbond COPON (Coordination paysans au Office du Niger) die samen met transnationaal netwerk Afrique-Europe Interact de afgelopen drie jaar is opgezet.

    Voor vrijheid van bewegen en duurzame ontwikkeling!

    Organisatie: All Included (lid van Afrique-Europe Interact) en ASEED

    info@allincluded.nl
    tel. 06-59087174

    Maandag 13 april
    Deur open: 19:30
    Aanvang programma: 20:00
    Adres: Dokhouse Gallery, Plantage Doklaan 8-12, 1018 CM Amsterdam

    Links naar meer informatie:
    * Afrique Europe Interact: video Struggle against Landgrabbing in Mali (Via Campesina 2012)
    * ‘Sanamadougou and Sahou have to stay: Stopp Landgrabbing – in Mali and everywhere!’
    * Malian Peasants’ Appeal against Land Grab (2012)
    * Biobrandstof uit Mali (Trouw)
    * Het Nederlandse Falea Mali Comité

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  • Push Back Frontex! Against a new dimension of left-to-die-policy at sea

    Push Back Frontex!
    Against a new dimension of left-to-die-policy at sea

    13 febr. 2015
     
    In a letter from the 9th of December 2014, Klaus Rösler, director of Operations Division of Frontex, called upon the Italian Ministry of Interior, the navy and the coastguards to stop the current practice of rescuing boat-people in distress at sea. After the termination of the Italian navy operation Mare Nostrum which rescued the lives of more than 120.000 people, and at the beginning of the Frontex operation Triton, Rösler attacked the authorities in Rome for assigning vessels to move “into zones outside the operational area of Triton” in order to assist vessels in distress. This “would not correspond to the operational plan” and not every SOS-call needed to be acted upon, Rösler continued. As one of the directors of Frontex, he points to the responsibility of the Libyan coastguards which, as is known, do not exist for many months anymore due to renewed war-like conflicts. In other words: Klaus Rösler has unambiguously appealed from a top position of the EU border agency to let many refugees and migrants die in situations of distress at sea.
     
    Frontex was founded exactly 10 years ago. Already since its first operations at sea in 2006, the agency stands for an aggressive politics of deterrence. In order to polish its tarnished reputation, Frontex purported in the past years to observe refugee conventions, human rights and the law of the sea. This now, once again, proves to be a merely cosmetic measure, a dishonest image campaign for an agency that, since 2005, acts as the driving force of the EU border regime. Besides the operations along the sea- and land-borders, Frontex is a significant part of the training and technical armament of border police forces, the externalisation of borders through cooperation with third countries, the creation of and the participation in the border surveillance system EUROSUR, the border control operation Mos Maiorum, as well as brutally executed charter-deportations.
     
    In the current crisis in the central Mediterranean Sea, Frontex wants to enforce that the 25 vessels and 9 airplanes of operation Triton would be employed only within the 30-mile-zone off the Italian coast. The explicit aim of Triton is the reduction of arrivals at European coasts and the deterrence of boat-refugees. Over the last months, WatchTheMed’s* recently launched alarm phone for migrants has supported the rescue of several boats that were located precisely in the zone that Frontex demands to abandon. The hotline-teams have been in direct contact with boatpeople who would no longer be alive if Frontex’s left-to-die policy would have been applied. The situation necessitates a determined response of civil societies and all social movements: Let us stop these inhumane policies, let us defend the rights of refugees and migrants!
     
    Moreover, it is sheer mockery that Frontex, in January 2015, accused people smugglers of a “new dimension of cruelty” when several crews of so-called ‘ghost ships’ abandoned the vessels to avert criminalisation. Without doubt, there are unscrupulous profiteers of the lucrative trade of escape via the Mediterranean Sea. However, it is clear that the business with illegalised entry and the thousandfold death at sea are products of the EU border regime. Both could become history by tomorrow if refugees and migrants were able to simply buy ferry- and plane-tickets and travel as safely and cheaply as tourists. 

    As long as the freedom of movement for all is not a reality, deaths at sea can only be prevented if all people in distress are rapidly rescued everywhere, also off the coast of Libya! We demand the immediate withdrawal of the murderous Frontex order. We aim for an Euro-Mediterranean space that is not characterised by a deadly border regime but by solidarity and the right for protection and freedom of movement.

    * http://www.watchthemed.net

    First signatures:
    Networks Afrique-Europe-Interact, Borderline Europe, Welcome to Europe, FFM, Berlin; All Included Amsterdam, Flüchtlingsrat (Refugee Council) Hamburg, Stiftung (foundation) :do

    More signatures? Send to info@allincluded.nl

  • Across the seas

    http://map.acrossthesea.net/neatline/fullscreen/across-the-sea

    interactive site on crossings mediterranian, Atlantic, sinai desert:

    The route Lampedusa – Libya is one of the most traveled routes by migrants crossing the Mediterranean. The trip is made on unsafe boats, often destined to fail. Many of these boats are intercepted by the Coast Guard and the Tunisian fishermen. According to Fortress Europe since 1994, in the Strait of Sicily at least 7,065 people have died. The year 2011 was crucial: in that year at least 1,822 people are died or missed. After the war in Libya, the landings in Sicily took a break in 2012, but in 2013 the route back to being crossed. In the first nine months of the year, 30 thousand people arrived in Italy, for the most part Syrians, Eritreans and Somalis.

     

     

  • Choucha refugee camp to be closed – 2014

    Letter from Choucha  2015 (more info on choucha: here)

    Tunisia, the humanitarian emergency of the Choucha refugee camp
    Lamia Ledrisi / Mediterranean Affairs, 15 June 2015

    C_1bcd2ddce6

     

    To UNHCR, IOM, the Tunisian Red Cross, the Tunisian government and all the actors involved in the management of Choucha camp,

    12.10.2014

    Aware of the notice given by IOM and the Tunisian Red Cross to the people still living in Choucha camp about the forthcoming eviction of the camp, we, as a group of researchers, activists, academics and members of human rights organizations from Europe and Tunisia, denounce the intolerable treatment that you are planning to do against the refugees who have been living in the camp since 2011, with no effective solution for a space to stay. Humanitarian actors left those refugees dying in the desert after the official closure of the camp in June 2013, and most of them in fact have tried to cross the sea risking their lives –some also died. Now, you are trying to chase them from the only space they have for living, and without giving them any solution to their illegal) status in Tunisia – both refugees and rejected refugees are currently without a residence permit. You suggest them to resettle themselves in the Tunisian cities, but which kind of integration are you thinking about for people that UNHCR has denied of the international protection and who are now treated as illegal migrants in Tunisia?

    You have also encouraged them to go back to their country of origin, as if they would have gone to Libya and then fled to Tunisia for leisure. Some of them were born in Libya or in Choucha and have never seen their so-called country of origin, others fear political persecution in case they go back.. Moreover, the ridiculous amount of money offered by IOM for the “voluntary return” sounds as a mockery to those who spent years and years in Libya and whose life there has been destroyed by the war. The other automatic non-solution that you have not the courage to explicitly tell, is their last resort to take a boat and cross the Mediterranean: you are leaving them with no solution than risking to die at sea.

    With this statement we would like to address also the European Union to resettle in Europe all these (few) people left at Choucha camp and to state that we won’t leave people in the Choucha camp alone. We will monitor your actions. What you are trying to do as an ordinary measure, is indeed something that we will try to oppose in all the ways that we can. By leaving the people in the desert and now planning to evict them, you show the failures and the consequences of the European politics of externalization of asylum. These people have been living in the desert in a dangerous zone near the Ras Jadir border since 2011, while in Libya the political crisis is getting worse and worse: how can you say that they are not people of humanitarian concern? Many of them are sick, old or women with children – at least for those most vulnerable people there must be a solution! We do not say that Choucha is the solution for them: a camp is never a solution, actually it is a system of containment of people’s mobility. However, today Choucha is not a camp anymore, it is the only space where they can stay, and it is the space in which they carry on their struggle for claiming their resettlement in a third country: Many of them tried in vain to integrate in Tunisia, did not get jobs, experienced racism and bad treatment – so they returned to the camp.They are not still there for living their life at Choucha, but as a form of political collective struggle to demand a real solution, and you have been trying to tame their resistance since the beginning.

    Acknowledging the work all of you have done in the aftermath of the Libyan war we strongly believe that it is highly inhuman not to think of a concrete solution for people still living in the Choucha camp and who are unable to return to their so-called country of origin. These people are striving to survive since more three years now. Thus, we will continue to support their struggle and to hamper in any ways your strategy of abandonment and illegalization of people, and we will closely follow your next steps, firmly demanding to UNHCR and to the European Union:

    a) The resettlement of the people at Choucha camp in a safe third-country and to grant all of them a humanitarian protection as people who fled the Libyan war, that was supported also by European states

    b) To reopen their asylum dossiers considering the current geopolitical situation at the Tunisian-Libyan border

    c) To grant all the people at Choucha a concrete possibility of building their life in a safe space and to immediately regularize their juridical status

    d) To not evict the camp and to allow people from Choucha to come to Europe in a safe and legal way.

    1359405606-choucha-refugee-camp-demonstrates-in-tunis

     

    Report Choucha camp Aug. 20 2014

     

    A brief report from Choucha refugee camp in Tunisia, close to the Ras Jadir border with Lybia

    Choucha, that space still exists:

    Three years and half after the opening of Choucha refugee camp , nine kilometers from the Libyan border of Ras Jadir and in the midst of the Tunisian desert, about 150 people still live there despite UNHCR officially closed the camp in June 2013.

    The tents are placed just few meters from the main road that connects Tunisia and Libya, and so people at Choucha wait that Libyans leave them food and water. In fact, UNHCR had already stopped to give food and water to the rejected refugees in October 2012, pushing them to abandon the camp and suggesting people to return to Libya or to their country of origin with IOM’s return projects. On the contrary, many of the rejected are still at Choucha, since it is incredibly hard for them to find a “legal” job – labelling them as rejected, UNHCR has de facto produced them as illegal migrants on the Tunisian territory – and consequently also to find an affordable place for living in some Tunisian towns. “At least, Choucha is free, the desert is free”: for this reason, also among those who moved to Medenine, Tunis or Ben Guerdane, a huge number has come back to the camp – by now, a self-organized camp. Even some of the statutory refugees have been living in the camp for three years and half: those who have been denied of the resettlement in a third country in principle have been “offered” by UNHCR and the Tunisian Red Cross to stay in Tunisia with a program of local integration. But many refused and claim to be resettled out of Tunisia, since there are not even the basic legal conditions for staying there and the economic crisis makes almost impossible for them to build a new life.

    Indeed, to date Tunisia has not a proper refugee law, despite it has signed the Geneva convention. And if on the one hand the presence and the work of UNHCR is tolerated, actually the Tunisian government does not release any residence permit to the refugees. Today at the camp there are people seriously ill and who cannot move, and those among them who have not the refugee status are not even allowed to receive the first medical aid –or better, according to the Tunisian law they are entitled to that, but actually at the hospital in the city of Ben Guerdane rejected refugees from Choucha have been denied of care. “We are feed by Libyans!”: people at Choucha repeat this, remarking that neither UNHCR nor other national or international organizations support them in any way. And so people wait Libyan cars passing on the main road, and throwing them bottles of waters, bread and milk.

    Choucha has now become a military zone, and only the army is at the camp, all humanitarian and international organization left the last year. But the conditions of those who are still there is not less worry than any other context that is now labelled by UNHCR as a humanitarian concern. Certainly, it cannot be described in terms of emergency, since that condition have been persisting in the same way since 2011 –it is rather a permanent condition of being dismissed from any humanitarian gaze, the junk of the Libyan war.

    “Choucha does not exist anymore”: this laconic statement is repeated by all the organizations that were involved in the management of the camp and of its ‘inhabitants’ – IOM, Red Cross, UNHCR, Danish Refugee Council, Islamic Relief. In five words they erase a space and the presence of those people still there.

    Actually, Choucha has become a centripetal space for those who are rescued at sea: after being taken to Medenine, most of them go to Choucha, to find a place to stay. But the Tunisian army, in cooperation with UNHCR tries to block them, since the current plan is to definitively empty Choucha and to transform it into a pure military zone. In September the camp probably will be evicted by the Tunisian army for “security reasons” , and the people still living there won’t have other solutions than going back to Libya and then maybe trying to cross the Mediterranean, or remaining illegal presences on the Tunisian territory. This is in fact what many of the people at Choucha have done in the last months going back to Libya and paying 1200 dollars for trying to cross the sea on overcrowded vessels: some arrived in Europe and now are in Italy or Germany or Sweden, and many died at sea. Instead, those who have been rescued by the Tunisian Navy are put into jail, since as they try to “illegally” leave the country, de facto they loose their refugees status, as UNHCR’s officer in Zarzis firmly stated.

    UNHCR is shielding its “politics of discharge” – that leaves people of humanitarian concern abandomned in the desert – sending ahead Tunisian organizations like the Red Cross, to do the “dirty work” with the people rescued at sea (migrants are registered for the asylum claim in Medenine by the Tunisian Red Cross and asylum seekers are not allowed to go to UNHCR office). When two refugees from Choucha went to UNHCR headquarters in Tunis two months ago, one of them very ill and demanding to solve his health problems, they were put into jail by Tunisian authorities while they were waiting to enter UNHCR office. A similare sort happened to the group of rejected refugees that in February started a sit-in in front of the European Union delegation in Tunis: all of them were put into jail for two weeks and then taken to the camp.

    In fact, also those who accepted the so called local integration programs state quite clearly that no integration is de facto envisaged by Tunisian authorities that have not given any possibility to refugees to regularize them. And UNHCR’s projects for local integration play precisely with this ambiguity, namely with the actual impossibility to grant a residence permit.

    Migration policies is after all also a politics of numbers: in order to count as a problem or as an issue to be tackled, the people in question must be a considerable number, otherwise “they are just few persons in the desert, they are about 100 people, nothing”. The politics of waste makes that after an incessant production of differentiated migration profiles, something that cannot be assimilated remains. The uncountable few or the lesser evil”, those that no humanitarian concern can take into account. They are few, just a small amount of waste that confirms that the exclusionary politics of asylum has succeeded…More or less 100 people: this is the vague answer that UNHCR gives when you insist with them to talk about Choucha. Instead, the last week people counted themselves to face such elusive number and say: “we are 134, no more, no less. We demand resettlement and protection for everybody, no more, no less”.

    In the face of all this, refugees and rejected refugees at the camp stress that Choucha still exist as well as the persons who lived there without accepting to give up their struggle: “we have been living in the desert for three years and half, and we are in danger in this desert. There is no solution for our lives staying here”.

    The impossible demand incessantly made by refugees and rejected refugees for being resettled in a third country, actually is for us the only way for actively supporting the struggle of people at Choucha camp. Challenging the codes and the boundaries of what can be “legitimately” demanded is part of a struggle that does not claim but acts and takes those rights that are not envisaged for the “waste”-people at Choucha camp. Tunisia is currently preparing an asylum law with UNHCR and the European Union – a law that is one of the main stake of the Mobility Partnership with the EU, signed in March 2014 but that actually is still under negotiation. The establishment of a proper asylum system in Tunisia will be certainly a fundamental step for all the refugees that in Tunisia have accepted the local integration program; however, this cannot be taken as a reason for giving up the struggle of the persons who are still in Choucha, and who after three years and half in the desert have only that space for staying. What they demand to European states is to go beyond UNHCR’s partitioning system that sorted between refugees, rejected refugees and non-resettled refugees and to start from a very simple point:

    beyond their escape from the Libyan conflict, they have been living in the desert for three years and half, now are also abandoned by all humanitarian organizations, and they must be entitled of a humanitarian protection from those countries that were involved in the Libyan war.

  • Watch the Med Alarm Phone

    For Boatpeople in Distress at Sea and in Cases of Pushback

    Campaign “Ferries not Frontex” towards an open Mediterranean space! (march 2016)

    WTM Alarmphone verklaring 1 jarig bestaan (12 okt. 2015)

    In solidarity with migrants at sea! The Alarm Phone 3 years on with dutch press release

    Moving On – 1 Year Alarm Phone Brochure and the many remarkable experiences made by Alarm Phone members in the project’s first year of existence (23 jan. 2016) with dutch press release

    News, Reports & Investigations

    THIS NUMBER IS NOT A RESCUE NUMBER!
    But an ALARM NUMBER to support rescue operations!

    What to do if you are in distress at sea or getting pushed back:
    1. Call first the coast guards and tell them about your situation of distress
    2. Then call the Alarm Phone
    3. Note that we cannot rescue, we do not have boats or helicopters
    4. We will make sure that your distress call is noted and acted upon
    5. If you are not promptly rescued by the coast guards we will inform the public media and politicians to put pressure on the rescue services.

    —————————————————————————————————

    Alarm Phone Nr.:  + 334 86 51 71 61

    —————————————————————————————————

    We know coastguards act quite differently. There are areas where they do their job well and rescue promptly. But refugees also report that they get pushed back by coast guards or are treated violently. When a distress call is received, we will call the coast guards ourselves, and follow up on their response, making known to them that we are informed and ‘watching’ them. We want to support you in protecting your lives and your right of freedom of movement.

    FAQ (10 questions posed to the WTM alarm phone project),

    Safety at Sea / Instructions for a Distress Call.

    Transnational Monitoring against the deadly injustice at sea! (how Watch the Med works) and

    Risks,Rights &Safety at Sea (informations for people considering to cross the sea).

    For a push back operation, see “They want to see us drown” – Survivors of a push back operation in the Aegean Sea report 16.11.2014 / Chios/Greece-Cesme/Turkey

    For the deadly delays in rescue operations, see the exemplary case from the 11th of October 2013 when more than 200 boat people drowned: Shipwreck 11th of October 2013.

    For general information about the situation in certain european countries for refugees – see: w2eu.info / welcome to europe

    Moet een kapitein een bootje met migranten in nood redden? (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

     

    [Press Release, 8th of October 2014] *Watch The Med Alarm Phone against Left-to-die cases at Sea* »Our project is no solution, but an emergency intervention«

    Call for “Watch The Med Alarm Phone” for Boatpeople

    (signatures below!)

    11th of October 2013: Refugees from a sinking boat called again and again Italian coastguards via satellite phone in order to be rescued, but their SOS signals were not taken seriously. The boat carried more than 400 people and was shot at in the night before by a Libyan vessel. Despite the Italian and soon later the Maltese authorities having been warned of the imminent distress of the passengers, rescue efforts were delayed for several hours and patrol vessels arrived one hour after the boat had sunk. More than 200 people died, only 212 people were saved.

    What would have happened if the boatpeople could have directed a second call to an independent phone-hotline through which a team of civil society members could raise alarm and put immediate pressure on authorities to rescue?

    One year after the tragedy from Lampedusa on the 3rd of October     and after the left-to-die case mentioned above, the situation is no less dramatic. Although the Italian military operation “mare nostrum” led to the rescue of about 100.000 refugees and migrants within the last 11 months, only in the central Mediterranean area more than 1300 boatpeople became new victims of the border-regime. In the beginning of 2014 we witnessed more death at the external borders of EU: on the 20th of January 12 refugees died when their vessel sunk while being towed at high speed by a vessel of the Greek Coast Guard aiming to push it back towards the Turkish coast.
    And on the 6th of February the Spanish border guards shot with plastic-bullets at swimming migrants who tried to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. More than 14 people died as a result.

    These cases are not isolated    , but rather the most obvious amongst many similarly deadly violations perpetrated against migrants at sea throughout the Mediterranean. Would these deaths have occurred had civil society been informed and had exercised its pressure and influence before rather than after the incidents?
    We can no longer bear to remain helpless as tragedies repeat themselves. We want to do more than condemning these violations after the incidents. We believe that an alternative alarm network established by the civil society on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea could make a difference.

    We neither possess any rescue-teams, nor can we offer direct protection. We are aware of our limited capabilities and of the provisional and precarious character of our initiative. But we want to immediately raise alarm when refugees and migrants get into situations of distress at sea and are not rescued promptly. We want to document in real-time and scandalize immediately when boatpeople become victims of push-back operations or are sent back to countries such as Libya, where migrant rights are repeatedly violated. We want to intervene with political pressure and public mobilisation against the daily injustices at the external borders of the EU.

    We know that such pressure can be effective because it has been exercised already for several years by a few individuals who, through family and solidarity ties, have received phone calls from migrants at sea, alerted authorities and made sure that rescue operations had been carried out. We want to broaden and strengthen this network and reinforce its political role in support of migrant rights and the freedom of movement.
    Thus we aim to establish – in close cooperation with the monitoring project Watch The Med – an alternative alarm-phone running 24/7 as of the 10th of October 2014. It will be managed by human rights activists from both sides of the Mediterranean and offer a multilingual team. We will advise all persons in distress at sea to first alert the officially responsible rescue teams. But we will also call the coast guards ourselves, and follow up on their responses, making known to them that we are informed and “watching” them. If they fail to respond, we will gather all imaginable political and public pressure to force them to do so.
    We will alarm captains of commercial boats close by as well as international journalists, requesting the support of politically active religious leaders of all confessions as well as support of famous supporters. We will use the critical net-community for just-in-time-campaigns and call everybody to contribute with the creation of further forms of intervention.

    The left-to-die cases at sea, the human right violations of the EU border agency Frontex and coast guards in all areas of the Mediterranean Sea have to be stopped immediately. We need a civil society network on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea which can enforce political pressure for the lives and the rights of boatpeople, and we want to be part of it.

    Such an alternative alarm network would be a first but an urgently required step on the path toward a Euro-Mediterranean area that is not characterised by a deadly border regime but by solidarity and the right for protection and the freedom of movement.

    An Initiative of: Welcome to Europe  |  Afrique Europe Interact  |  borderline-europe  |  Noborders Marocco  |  Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration  |  Voix des Migrantes

    Signatures for the call:

    Madjiguene Cisse, former Sans-Papier-Movement in Paris, Dakar | Étienne Balibar, Philosopher, Paris | Elfriede Jelinek, Author & Nobel Literature Prize Winner, Vienna | Fr. Mussie Zerai, Habeshia Agency, Rome | Mohanad Jammo, Physician & Survivor of 11.10.13 Shipwreck, Aleppo/Bad Bergzabern | Fabrizio Gatti, Journalist, Rome | Jean Ziegler, former U.N., Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Geneva  |  Emmanuel Mbolela, author of ‘Mein Weg vom Kongo nach Europa’, Amsterdam  |  Boats4People  |  Imed Soltani, La Terre pour Tous, Tunis | José Palazon, Pro.De.In, Melilla | Mikel Araguas, Andalucia Acoge | Conseil des Migrants Subsahariens au Maroc | Petja Dimitrova, Artist, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna | Antonio Negri, Philosopher, Paris | Nina Kusturica, Filmmaker, Vienna | Network of Social Support to Refugees and Migrants, Athens | Gabriele del Grande, Journalist, Milano | Jesuit Refugee Service Schweiz | Stiftung:do, Hamburg | Ousmane Diarra, AME (Association Malienne des Expulsés), Bamako |  Stefan Schmidt, Captain of Cap Anamur 2004, Refugee-Commissioner of Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck | FTDES (Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Économiques et Sociaux), Tunis | ODS, Sevilla | Karl Kopp, Director of European Affairs PRO ASYL and ECRE, Frankfurt | Amadou Mbow, AMDH (Association Mauritanienne des Droits de l’Homme), Nouakchott | Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo, L‘Altro Diritto, Sicilia |  Elias Bierdel, 2002-2004 Leiter der Cap Anamur, Austria | Martin Glasenapp, Medico International, Frankfurt | Patrice Boukar Zinahad, A.R.A.CE.M (Association des Refoulés d’Afrique Centrale au Mali), Bamako | KEERFA – Movement Against Racism & Fascist Threat, Athens | ATMF, France | ARCI, Italy | Ferenc Kőszeg, Honorary Chairman of the Hungarian Helsinki-Committee, Budapest | Borderline Sicilia Onlus | Sandro Mezzadra, Border and Migration Researcher, Bologna | Osaren Igbinoba, The Voice Refugee Forum, Jena | Solidarité sans Frontières, Switzerland | Village all together, Mytilini | Association Les voix libres, Strasbourg | Article 13, Tunis | Daniel Moundzego, ARSF (Association des Refugees Sans Frontieres), Douala | Ilias Panchard, Co-Präsident Junge Grüne Schweiz, Lausanne | All Included, Amsterdam | MigSzol – Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary | Humanistische Union, Germany | Barbed Wire Britain | Balthasar Glättli, Fraktionspräsident Grüne, Schweiz  |  Orcun Ulusoy, Researcher, The Hague | Maria Bacchi, Comitato Scientifico Fondazione Langer, Bolzano & Associazione Mantova Solidale | Chabaka, Tanger  |  Antiracist Initiative of Thessaloniki |  Gergishu Yohannes, Initiative gegen Tod im Mittelmeer 2009 e.V. Bonn  |  Karl Heinz Roth, Social Historian & Physician, Hamburg  |  Michael Genner, Asyl in Not, Vienna  |  Conseil des Migrants France  |  CADTM Europe  |  Africa con voz propia  |  APDHA, Spain  |  The Refugee Councils, Germany  |  David Fedele, Filmmaker, Sydney  |  Franck Düvell, Researcher, COMPAS, Oxford  |  ALECMA (Association Lumiére sur l`Emigration Clandestine au Maghreb)  |  Rete Antirazzista Catanese  |  Comitato NoMuos/NoSigonella, Catania  |  Paolo Cutitta, Migration researcher, Amsterdam  |  Federica Sossi, Università di Bergamo  |  Hélène Yamta, La Voix des Femmes Migrantes, Rabat  |  Sabine Hess, Leiterin des Labors für kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung, Göttingen  |  Campaign to Close Campsfield  |  Luciana Zarini, retired teacher, Palermo  |  Maria Rosa Ragonese, teacher, Palermo  |  Association Horizons Migrants; bordermonitoring.eu  |  Wolf Dieter Narr and Dirk Vogelskamp, Commitee for Basic Rights and Democracy, Berlin/Cologne  |  Ahmed Jlassi, Filmmaker and University teacher, Tunis  |  Atmf (Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins de France). section Bas-Rhin  |  U.D.E.ES, l’union des étudiants de Strasbourg  |  CCFD-terre solidaire Strasbourg  |  Hatem Gheribi, Tunisien, Strasbourg  |  Mehdi Mohamed Amadir, Moroccan, Strasbourg  |  Omar Naman, Syrian refugee, Strasbourg  |  ATTAC Liège  |  Initiativkreis MenschenWürdig, Leipzig  |  Prof. Sabine Broeck, Research Group Black Knowledges, Universität Bremen  |  glokal e.V., Berlin  |  Lampedusa-Bündnis Göttingen  |  Integrationsrat Göttingen  |   Imam-Jonas Dogesch, Network of Migrants Organisations in Mecklenburg­-Vorpommern  |  Fouad HASSAM  |  Peter Birke, SOFI, Göttingen  |  Barbara Cárdenas and Willi van Oyen, Left Party, Hessen  |  Action-Alliance against Deportation, Rhine-Main  |  no one is illegal, Hanau  |  Lampedusa in Hanau  |  no one is illegal, Cologne  |  NoLager Bremen  |  transact  |  Netzwerk Kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung  |  European Civic Forum  |  Peter Marhold, Helping Hands, Vienna  |  Ulrich Brand, Institutsleiter und Professor für Internationale Politik an der Universität Wien  |  Network for the Political and Social Rights, Athens  |  Augenauf Bern  |  Bleiberecht Bern  |  Sans-Papiers-Anlaufstelle Zürich SPAZ  |  Johannes Bühler, Autor des Buches “Am Fusse der Festung”, Fribourg  |  Salvatore Pittà, Journalist und Aktivist, Bern  |  Pauline Milani, Präsidentin SOSF, Lausanne  |  Myriam Schwab-Ngamije, CSP Vaud, Lausanne  |  MediNetz Bremen  |  Die Linke Bremen  |  Recherche International e.V., Köln  |  Charlotte Wiedemann, Journalistin, Berlin  |  Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft WiSe e.G.  |  Stadtkommune Alla Hopp, Bremen  |  Tobias Linnemann, Diplompädagoge, Bremen  |  Bruno Kraft, Diplompädagoge, Bremen  |  Luca Bräuer, Schüler, Bremen | Veith Weers, Bremen |  Barbara Funck, Studentin, Bremen |  Cornelius Hertz, Galerist, Bremen |  Sarah Lempp, Journalistin |  Ted Gaier, Goldene Zitronen  |  SOAS Detainee Support (SDS), London  |  Cetta Mainwaring, Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo  |  Right to Remain, London  |  kein mensch ist illegal, Hamburg  | Association pour la Défense des Emigrés Maliens (ADEM), Bamako  |  Association Retour Travail Dignité (ARTD), Bamako  | Association des Migrants Repatriés de Libye et de la Cote d’Ivoire (AMRLEC), Bamako  |  Association des Femmes et Enfants Repatriés et Migrants de la Cote d’Ivoire (AFERMACI), Bamako  |  Association des Jeunes Reoules de l’Espagne de la Commune Yanfolila (AJRECY), Yanfolila  |  Hellenic League for Human Rights, Athens  |  Solidarity Social Clinic (KIA), Thessaloniki  |  Yiorgos Tsiakalos, Professor Emeritus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  |  Spyros Marchetos, School of Political Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  |  Jérôme Valluy, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne  |  Gilles Reckinger, Department of History and European Ethnology, Innsbruck  |  Alexander Pollak, SOS Mitmensch, Vienna  |  Anna Fuchs, Berlin  |  www.migrazine.at – Online-Magazin von Migrantinnen für alle  |  Medinetz Freiburg  |  Die ganze Bäckerei, Leipzig  |  Sieglinde Rosenberger, Department of Political Science, Head of the research group INEX ‘The Politics of Inclusion & Exclusion’, Vienna  |  Peter Herrmann, EURISPES, Rome  |  Stefan Thimmel, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Berlin  |  Angelika Wahl, Frankfurt  |  Konstantinos Tsitselikis, Associate Professor, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki  |  Athanasios Marvakis, Associate Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  |  Institute of Race Relations, London  |  Gurminder K. Bhambra, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick  |  South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group  |  No One Is Illegal, England   |  L’Association Rencontre Méditerranéenne pour l’Immigration et le Développment (ARMID), Tanger  |  Spitou Mendy, SOC-SAT, Almería  |  Noborder, Frankfurt  |  Helga Dierichs, Munich  |  Matthias Plieninger, Hamburg  |  Ramona Lenz, Medico International, Frankfurt  |  Ivana Domazet, Refugee Council Brandenburg, Potsdam  |  Antirassistisches Netzwerk Sachsen-Anhalt  |  Arbeitskreis Antirassismus, Magdeburg  |  Anne Bathily, Brussels  |  f.lo.p.s, autonomous feminist women-lesbian group, Bremen  |  no-racism.net, Vienna  |  acompa, assistance group for refugees, Bremen  |  Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mediterranean  |  Kommune Niederkaufungen  |  Natalia Paszkiewicz, Anthropologist, London  |  Alexander Stoff, Vienna  |  Hannelore Stoff, Vienna  |  Susanne Heim, Berlin  |  Youth without Borders, Germany  |  Afghans United Association, Athens  |  Österreichische Lagergemeinschaft Ravensbrück & Freunde, Vienna  |  Nadine Kegele, Author, Vienna  |  Dr. James Brassett, University of Warwick  |  Alev Korun, Abgeordnete zum Österreichischen Nationalrat, Vorsitzende des parlamentarischen Menschenrechtsausschusses  |  Thalia Tsalouhidou, Apothekerin, Solidarische Klinik, Athens  |  ausbrechen, Paderborn  |  David Loher, Social Anthropologist, Bern  |  Harald Bauder, Ryerson Centre for Immigration & Settlement (RCIS), Toronto  |  Andrea Ypsilanti, Institut Solidarische Moderne, Member of the Hessian parliament (SPD)  |  Bremer Friedensforum  |  Analyse & Kritik, newspaper for left debate, Hamburg  |  Resf13, Réseau Éducation Sans Frontières, France  |  Dietrich Gerstner, Kirchlicher Entwicklungsdienst – Menschenrechte und Migration, Hamburg  |  Tom Rodriguez-Perez, Football Beyond Borders, London  |  Yasmine Accardo, Activist, Naples  |  Flüchtlingsinitiative Bremen  | Heinz Nigg, Visual Anthropologist and Community Artist, Zurich  |  Athanasios Papaisiou, Teacher at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki  |  Flüchtlingsrat Bremen  | SolidaritéS (mouvement anticapitaliste, féministe et écologiste),  Suisse  |  Ulla Jelpke, MdB, Innenpolitische Sprecherin der Fraktion DIE LINKE, Berlin  |  Frans Zoer, Visitors Group to migrant detention centre, Amsterdam  |  ASTU (Action citoyennes interculturelles), Strasbourg  |  FelS (Für eine linke Strömung), Berlin  |  Senol Akkilic, Integrations- und Jugendsprecher der Wiener Grünen im Rathaus  |  Kritnet Schweiz  |  Mattea Meyer, Kantonsrätin SP, Zürich  |  Salvatore die Concilio, SPAZ Vorstand und alt Gemeinderat SP, Zürich  |  Shedhalle, Zürich  |  Solidarités, Switzerland  |  Sarah Schillinger, Migrationsforscherin und Aktivistin, Basel  |  Ueli Mäder, Professor für Soziologie, Basel  |  Andrea Vogel, Ärztin, Bremen  |  Joachim Welsch, Osnabrück  |  Katerina Stavroula, journalist, Athens  |  Elias Perabo, Adopt a Revolution, Berlin  |  Dr Chris Rossdale, Royal Holloway, University of London  |  Center for Political Beauty, Berlin  |  Christiane Benner, Geschäftsführendes Vorstandsmitglied der IG Metall, Frankfurt  |  Vicki Squire, Associate Professor, University of Warwick  |  Solidaritätsnetz Sans-Papiers, Bern

     

    The Watch The Med Alarm Phone is a novel project which will be launched in October 2014 by activist networks and civil society actors in Europe and Northern Africa. It responds to the human rights violations and the unabated dying of migrants and refugees at sea, as well as the militarisation and externalisation of EU borders. 2014 is already the deadliest year ever recorded with at least 3000 people dying in their attempt to overcome Europe’s external borders. This year, the Italian navy launched the ‘Mare Nostrum’ operation, an ambivalent process that further extended Europe’s border surveillance and (potential) repression of migratory movements but that became also appropriated by about 130.000 migrants and refugees who made it to European shores. However, the Mare Nostrum operation is ending and replaced by ‘Frontex Plus’ and it seems certain that the new mission will not be as extensive as Mare Nostrum had been so that even more people will die in their attempts to cross the border.
    This alternative alarm network is the first and an urgently required step toward a Euro-Mediterranean area that is not characterised by a deadly border regime but by solidarity and the right for protection and the freedom of movement.

  • Actions in solidarity with the Choucha refugees

    The many actions in solidarity with the Choucha refugees, see Afrique-Europe Interact1359405606-choucha-refugee-camp-demonstrates-in-tunis

     

  • Declaration conference migration Sokodé

    oeh-logo_gif_klein19/04/14 ATELIER SUR LA MIGRATION

    THEME : « Etat des lieux du phénomène migratoire : enjeux et défis pour la jeunesse africaine »

    DECLARATION FINALE (more…)

  • visit to Association Togolaise des Expulsés in Sodoké

    oeh-logo_gif_klein

    Here is a short first report of the visit of the Togo-delegation of Afrique-Europe Interact consisting of 4 Togolese and 3 European members of AEI Europe and 2 Malian members of AEI Mali.
    180414_ATE_AEI2

    The aim of the delegation is to support our new member, the Association Togolaise des Expulsés (ATE), and to meet more organizations of the social movements in Togo.
    We met quite some activists of migrant, womens and human rights movements, journalists, lawyers between 14th and 23d of 2014 in Lomé capital and in Sokodé where the ATE is located and where many (deported) migrants come from or live. We were also interviewed together with the ATE (first time) at a live radio in Sodoké.
    180414_ATE_AEI3
    We met so many deported refugees whom we interviewed : one drugged before/during, one imprisoned for 6 month after arrival in Lomé, one family with three children born in Switserland deported after 17 years (!) in Europe and now begging in the streets of Sokodé -, families of migrants that drowned in the sea form Nigeria to Gabon.
    180414_ATE_AEI6
    We had a very good exchange between ATE and AEI about possible common projects and common ideas.
    190414_ATE_conference1
    The conference ATELIER SUR LA MIGRATION – Thème : « Etat des lieux du phénomène migratoire : en jeux et défis pour la jeunesse africaine » was well attended, some 100 people including 30 expulsed migrants, a table ronde sur le thème : – Deportation et la politique migratoire Européenne, Suivi des migrants dans les pays d’acceuil, Developpement et démocratie.
    190414_ATE_conference4
    Followed was the projection de film « Da.Sein » sur la situation des migrant-e-s de retour forcé de l’Europe suivi de commentaire.
    200414_ATE_interview4deportee who explains how he was send from Amsterdam to Senegal with his hands tied behind his back, his legs tied together and his head pushed between his legs. After one night at the airport prison in Dakar he was sent tied to Lome.

  • Togo delegatie Afrique-Europe Interact

    15- 27 april 2014oeh-logo_gif_klein

    DELEGATION SOCIAL MOVEMENT TOGO

    The transnational network „Afrique Europe Interact“ is sending a delegation to Togo from 14th to end of april 2014 to mobilize social movements for transnational cooperation. The delegation consisting of Togolese, Malian and European activists will visit groups in the Lomé capital (social movements), in Sodoké (Association Togolaise des Expulsés) and in Aného (land grabbing due to phosphorus mining). The film ‘Being.There’ on migrants deported back to Togo will also be presented on aconference on deportation and migration. A brochure on the Togolese social movements will be made after the trip and an info tour organized in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

    map coast Ne_Touche_pas_a_cette_parcelle Le_Vieux cabane_offerte_par_office_Togolais_des_Phosphates delegation_victims_Phosphat_mining second_victim view_on_destroyed_land work_certificate Phosphates_train_at mine

    Afrique-Europe Interact

    Afrique-Europe Interact (AEI) is doing practical cooperation between social movements in Africa and Europe since 2010, focusing on the aims of global freedom of movement and development in the sense of social justice and equality. The AEI organized in 2011 the caravan Bamako-Dakar ‘for freedom of movement and fair development’ (http://goo.gl/vMUaGy) when some 250 people – mainly activists from Bamako – traveled by road to the World Social Forum in Dakar. On the way the caravan stopped meeting social movements in the country side and doing actions against EU-funded deportations at desert borders and at the Frontex office in Dakar. The caravan was mainly organized by the Association Malienne des Expulsés. The AEI consists of grass route organizations in Europe (Germany, Netherlands and Austria) and eleven organizations in Mali. The organizations in Mali and Europe come per continent together and discuss projects, aims and cooperation.

    The planning of a caravan on land grabbing and uranium mining in Mali planned for 2014 (http://goo.gl/6gqKRH) was delayed due to the war in the North and the invasion of (post)colonial troops. A white march of the population lead by the AEI from Bamako to the border between territory of the Malian army and the Touaregs (http://goo.gl/djZFjZ) was made impossible by the arrival of foreign troops. Malian members like the Fédération des Associations de Migrants de Mali, Association pour la Défense des Emigrés Maliens, Association des Refoulés d’Afrique Centrale au Mali and the Association Malienne Expulsés have been visiting Europe several times to talk in open meetings about their struggle in Mali and how we can cooperate. A brochure on social movement in Mali (in german and french) and a film (in 5 languages) was made after the caravan.

    The AEI has been active on freedom of movement in Tunesia and Morocco: Boats4people in 2012 (http://goo.gl/zYa0Lb) , Watch the Med in 2013/2014 (http://watchthemed.net/), against violent repression of border control at Ceura/Melilla 2013/2014 (http://goo.gl/FtbB8B) and support of rejected refugees at the former UNHCR Choucha camp at the Lybian Tunesian border in 2011/2014 (http://goo.gl/lny5yP) . Another project is the organization of a conference ‘mining without arms’ with social actors in Congo in 2014/2015 in the Netherlands organized in cooperation with congolese in diaspora.

    All Included, dutch member of Afrique-Europe Interact, took part in the caravan Bamako-Dakar, in Boats4people – with different support actions in different cities in the Netherlands in 2011/2012 -, in the delegation to Choucha in 2012, an intervention action on Choucha at an UNHCR debate in The Hague in 2012 and a protest at the Spanish embassy, the Moroccan consulate and the European House in the Hague and Rotterdam in 2013 regarding the death at the border of Ceuta/Melilla in that year.

    Delegation journey of Afrique Europe Interact to Togo in April 2014

    One of the groups the AEI has contact with since the caravan is the Togolese Association of Deportees / Association Togolaise des Expulsés (ATE), who is active for the rights and for the respect for people who were deported from Europe or other African countries back to Togo. To strengthen this cooperation, AEI network is organizing a delegation trip to Togo in April 2014. The delegation consists of 8 people: three Togolese activists who had fled from Togo years ago and who are now active in struggles for the rights of refugees and migrants in Germany and Austria, one activist from All Included Amsterdam, one from the Munich caravan, one from Vienna and two Malian members of the African section of AEI. The ties between the AEI Afrique and the ATE developed during the caravan Bamako-Dakar that the ATE joined. In march 2014 the Association Togolaise des Expulsés visited Bamako for a closer contact with the Association Malienne des Expulsés. The ATE was very pleased with the exchange of experiences and wishes to have other meetings with associations in the region struggling for the promotion and the protection of the rights of forcely returned migrants. The ATE and AME made a strategic plan to prepare the visit of the delegation of AEI Europe in april. The AEI delegation is going to spend several days in Sokodé / central region of Togo together with the members of the Togolese Association of Deportees.

    In this context, the following activities are going to take place in

    activities Sodoké

    -Public debate about the meaning of flight and migration for Togolese society, about the situation of people who were deported and about the politics of the ‘deportation machine’ in Europe. In this context, it shall be possible to get into a dialogue between experiences of people who fled to Europe and struggled for the right to stay there and those of young people in Togo who have the wish to find a better life outside their country, but who are also often involved in social movements and political protest in Togo.

    -Presentation of the documentary movie „Being.There”. This movie was produced in 2013 in Togo and Nigeria and tells about the lives of people who were deported from Austria and Germany. This film shall now be brought back to the place where it was produced and shall be made available for Togolese activists who are trying to create awareness for the empowerment of people who were deported or returned by force in Togolese society. The film makers Aylin Basaran and Hans-Georg Eberl will also be part of the AEI delegation traveling to Togo.

    -Radio feature with a local radio station in Sokodé.

    Besides this, other meetings with activists of social movements are planned to take place in Sokodé and in Lomé, the capital of Togo:

    meetings social movements in Sokodé / Lomé

    -Togolese women’s movement: This movement has made itself known through numerous activities to overcome male dominance, sexist patterns of relations and poverty in families as well as in the Togolese political system. Togolese women’s movement has also been a vibrant part of the protests against the regime of president Faure Gnassingbe and for the liberation of political prisoners.

    -Protests on education issues: Throughout the last years, Togo has seen a lot of protests of university and school teachers and students struggling for better salaries, for the right to have access to education and against education reforms affecting the living conditions of students. Moreover, protests in the education sector are an expression for the outrage of many young people against bad future perspectives in a country that has been impoverished by authoritarian and corrupt elites and by neocolonial dominance.

    -Association Togolaise des Droits de l’Homme: The Togolese Human Rights Association has been working for years on documentation of human rights abuse through state security forces against members of opposition movements. It is part of a broad protest movement against the government in place.

    -People concerned of land grabbing for the extraction of natural resources: Phosphate, which is used for production of fertilizers, but also in production of weapons, is one of the most important export products of Togo. At the same time, people living in the areas of extraction of phosphate don’t benefit from profits made by the production of fertilizers, while their soils used for living and for agriculture are destroyed for the mining industry.

    -Beside all these topics of present political activism the participants of the delegation are also interested in aspect of memories of colonization of Togo by Germany and later by France as a concequence of the Berlin conference in 1884 and also in the question of impacts of colonialism on the present social and political reality.

    The AEI delegation is going to make a documentation of the encounters and discussions during the journey in different types of media. An info brochure on the position of expulsed migrants in Togo and other social movements will be made after the trip. The aim is to build up more long lasting cooperations between movements in Africa and Europe. Important are the clear links in issues of the social struggle in different African countries – like land grabbing, migration, mining -. Afrique-Europe Interact wants to play a role in supporting a stronger movement of autonomous African movements. During the trip a blog will be published on the All Included and Indymedia (and hopefuly Afrique-Europe Interact) sites with web feature, film clips and radio features.

    After the journey to Togo, there shall also be info- and film presentation events in different cities of Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

    More information on Afrique-Europe Interact:

    http://www.afrique-europe-interact.net/?article_id=113&clang=1

    More information on All Included: http://www.allincluded.nl/

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