AYS Daily Digest 19/10/20 Evros: New fence and new pushback investigation
800 people sleeping on dock in Spain // 5 people die while 6 finally rescued to Italy // phones needed in Calais // body found offshore in France // and more…
TUESDAY EVENING AYS will publish a special from Penally, UK
AYS Special: A Voice from inside Penally Refugee Camp — “Putting us in this camp re-traumatizes people. It looks like a prison.” — check out this important special on our Facebook page or Medium!
FEATURE: Greece full speed ahead with Evros fence, while Forensic Architecture publishes new investigation into pushbacks
In continuing our reporting from yesterday’s digest, it is important to document the ongoing developments in Evros. To reiterate, 26 km of new fence is being added and they are upgrading older sections that are 10 km long. The government is also adding a lot more security systems and 400 new border guards. During a visit on Saturday to the site, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said:
“(This) was the least the government could do to provide a sense of security to Greek citizens, whose morale remains high at such a difficult juncture”
This news comes alongside the new investigation from Forensic Architecture on pushbacks in Evros:
“Using an interview technique called ‘situated testimony’ we collected and corroborated evidence to prove the practice of ‘pushbacks’ at Evros/Meriç river is methodical and widespread, and to identify the agents and agencies responsible. Situated Testimony is a technique of interviewing developed by Forensic Architecture, which uses 3D models of the scenes and environments in which traumatic events occurred to aid in the process of interviewing and gathering testimony from witnesses to those events. Together with an architectural researcher, a witness is filmed reconstructing the scene of an event, exploring and accessing their memories of the episode in a controlled and secure manner.” Find the full investigation here.
Also, in Human Rights 360's just published report “Defending human rights in times of border militarization” they highlighted the geopolitical significance of the Evros region as Europe’s border, in particular how the far right is using it to its rhetorical advantage. Read this report here.
What’s happening in Evros affects the entirety of Europe. AYS will continue to report on this integral region and its human rights violations.
SYRIA
In an update from The Syria Campaign:
“I was assigned last year to lead our women’s center in Shenan village, southern Idlib, an area that was subjected to heavy bombardment in 2019, which forced many families to flee and destroyed its infrastructure. We wanted to stay and help the remaining families who are in desperate need of basic healthcare especially with the COVID-19 outbreak. My colleagues and I provide services like treating wounds, measuring blood pressure and sugar level, and monitoring pregnant women. We also raise awareness on how to stay protected from the coronavirus. Most of our visitors are the elderly, women and children. We do everything we can to ease their suffering and be there for them in such hard times. Our center is only 5 km away from the frontline where the regime forces are on standby and would often attack our area with artillery shelling. I put on my uniform every morning and head to work knowing I might not come back, but as long as my help is needed, nothing will stop me.”
“There are 218 female White Helmets in 33 women’s centers across Northwest Syria working tirelessly to provide vital services to the most vulnerable communities.” Please support their work here.
SEA
5 people died while 6 people were finally brought to Italy after floating since October 9th
Seebrücke reported on Monday that “Eleven people who fled Algeria have been floating since October 9th on the Mediterranean and made several emergency calls, all of which were ignored by the government. Just Alarm Phone answered the emergency calls and tried to put pressure on the authorities to finally launch a search and rescue mission. Now six people have finally been rescued from the small boat and brought ashore in Italy, five starved or thirsted on the way because the rescue operation was delayed for so long.” These 5 people did not have to die! AYS stands in solidarity with the survivors.
GREECE
The Greek Reporter published on Monday that “According to an announcement from Greek Shipping Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis, Greece is about to receive a desperately-needed state of the art surveillance system covering the entire Aegean Sea…Called the National Integrated Maritime Surveillance System, or NIMSS, the new mechanism will enable the surveillance of all vessels in the Aegean all the way from Brussels, the headquarters of the European Union. For the first time, the movements of human trafficking vessels carrying migrants and refugees, along with any and all vessels which might infringe on Greece’s territorial rights, will be able to be monitored in real time.” Learn more here.
Migration Greece Info is reporting that “The Ministry of Migration and Asylum enriches its digital portal with new services (applications.migration.gov.gr). From Tuesday 20.10.2020, asylum seekers are given the opportunity to book their appointment electronically. It is pointed out that the Asylum service from now on will serve the public exclusively by electronic appointment.
The following actions are already being performed exclusively by appointment:
• Previously scheduled interviews
• Previously scheduled registrations
• Submission of supporting documents related to family reunification case (Dublin cases)”
Please look here for more changes.
MONTENEGRO
The German news agency DPA reported that the Montenegrin coastguard intercepted 52 people “with Turkish citizenship” en route to Italy on Saturday. They are now being interrogated in Herceg Novi Montenegro. By taking this sea route more people are trying to avoid the heft of the Balkan route to Italy. More here.
ITALY
Info Migrants is reporting that “A court in Italy’s northern town of Lecco on October 14 fined the Economy Ministry for discriminatory practices in its increasing of fees paid by immigrants wanting to renew their stay permits. The immigrants are required to pay between 80 and 200 euros depending on the type of permit requested, whereas the previous payment covered only the official stamp (€16), the printing of the document (€27.50), and postal costs (€30). The local and regional trade unions, CGIL Lecco and CGIL Lombardy, as well as the body assisting 35 foreigners in the case expressed satisfaction with the decision.” More here.
SPAIN
“More than 800 migrants spend the night on the floor of the Arguineguín de Canarias dock”
On Monday, El Diario reported that “The latest rescues bring to more than 800 migrants who have spent the night of this Monday in the camp installed in the Arguineguín pier, in the southwest of Gran Canaria, the highest figure reached since they settled more than a month ago before the lack of centers for their reception. In the precarious camp, made up of several tents spread out in the same port, the rescued sleep on the ground waiting for their PCR test results and a place in another place to be housed.” The government is apparently working to ensure they can be moved to adequate centres as soon as possible. More here.
@ NoNameKitchen1” Photo by Solidarity Wheels
Publico just released a report on “Labor exploitation of migrants in a Melilla car wash: twelve hours a day for 250 euros a month.” One of the employees said that the owner (who has now been arrested) “threatened not to pay us if we stopped to go to the bathroom.” More here.
HUNGARY
Qubit published a report entitled “Rejection of Immigration has become the norm in Hungary” with data from Vera Messing and Bence Ságvári from the Social Science Research Center. They studied attitudes towards migration/immigrants across Europe since the 2015–2016 mass migration movement.
“Fifty-seven percent of Hungarians say they do not want to see new immigrants in the country, compared to three percent in Sweden and two percent in Norway.
The fact that the Hungarian population is traditionally more dismissive is not new. As many as 39 percent of those surveyed would not have admitted anyone from poorer, non-European countries in 2012 — that was still outstanding by European standards. According to the researchers, rejection can be related to many things: even the fact that people in different countries understand immigration differently. On the other hand, it seems certain that in a country with a large number of linguistically mixed immigrants of different origins, immigrants are better accepted. However, according to the two researchers’ analyses, it is not the size of the minority group that is decisive, but rather how much members of the majority society feel reassuring, secure, and threatened by their own status or identity.”
Orbán took advantage of this feeling of being threatened to win reelection on the basis of rejecting immigration as a norm. Ultimately the report says his government’s political communication is to blame. Read in full here.
FRANCE
Not surprisingly, the distribution perimeter is further expanded from October 20th (quai de la Loire and quai Paul Devot, and a few more streets in the Beaumarais district), and this new order runs until November 16th.
We’ll have to adapt, move our hot meal distribution again, which will force Calais survivors to travel even further.
Note that the two marauds of Active Life (distribution of meals paid by the state) carefully avoid downtown. These distributions only affect 200 to 250 exiled people while their total number is around 600.” Photo by L’Auberge des Migrants
Here is a video about Calais Food Collective’s evening town centre distributions, taken by Utopia 56 Calais. Please consider supporting Calais Food Collective’s important work!
“We have posted a lot over the past month about the issues we’ve faced when it comes to the police, and their incessant desire to prevent and disrupt our distributions of food and water. Here is a video recorded last week, by our friends Utopia 56 Calais, which paints a clear picture of what we are up against. Is it really necessary, to have this many officers present? When did accessing basic human rights become an act which requires police surveillance and presence? We could never imagine a world in which when we are hungry or thirsty, we are met with police resistance when trying to access what we need to fundamentally survive.”
On Sunday the police found a body on the beach at Sangatte who they presume was someone trying to reach the UK. The man had a life jacket but no documents on him, so they have not been able to identify him yet. A full autopsy will be carried out this week, but for now they suspect he was on one of the many boats the crossed the channel over the weekend.
A phone is a real lifeline for the people we support but our stocks are currently very low so we are launching our #phonechampions campaign, asking you lovely lot to organise collections in your local areas and networks. Our friends Choose Love are kindly allowing us to direct our #phonechampions to drop off the phones they collect at their donation points, which will then be transported out to us in Northern France.
We know that lockdown has been very difficult for many of us financially and so lots of people aren’t in a position to donate money right now but we also know that loads of us have an old mobile or two tucked away in a drawer and forgotten about and we would love to get our hands on them!
If you would like to become a #phonechampion then you can send an email to eli@refugeeinfobus.com to request an information pack and social media kit or to ask any questions you may have.” Photo by Refugee Info Bus
UK
A government watchdog warns that unaccompanied children are being held for days without access to showers or beds
Since the Kent County Office, which used to house all new unaccompanied minor arrivals, said in August that they had reached capacity and wouldn’t accept anyone else, these children have been going to the Kent Intake Unit instead. This is creating an “untenable” situation. Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, said:
“It is crucial that the scheme is reformed and properly funded so that more councils are willing to take children into their care, especially when cash-strapped councils are already struggling to provide the right support for the children already in their care. A national age assessment scheme could also help to reduce delays.”
New wave of deportations: reckless and targeting asylum seekers who crossed the channel
In new reporting from the Morning Star, The Home Office under Home Secretary Priti Patel has been failing to respect the legal rights of asylum seekers in a new hasty wave to deport newcomers. They are targeting those who crossed the channel specifically, to live up to Patel’s pledge to deport 1,000 refugees by the start of 2021. Patel has deported “dozens” so far to EU member countries.
“Since August, charter flights have taken place at a rate of almost two per week. Removals are being carried out under the Dublin III Regulation which allows a state to return asylum-seekers to any ‘safe’ country the migrant had passed through on their way to Britain.
There are exceptions to this rule, such as if asylum applicants are trafficking victims, have close family members or ties in the country or have severe medical conditions. Immigration lawyers claim that these factors are being regularly overlooked by the Home Office because of the speed at which it is making decisions.
A representative from the firm told the Morning Star: ‘The Home Office seems to be rushing through decisions for people who crossed the Channel in an attempt to remove them as quickly as possible.’”
This comes with the news that up to 170 people in 12 boats have crossed the channel over the last few days. Choppy sea conditions were preventing crossings, but now conditions have improved. Yet another 222 people were stopped by French authorities. People are continuing to come. New systems need to be in place to handle the numbers and respect everyone’s human rights. Deporting on whim will never be a permanent, nor wise, solution.
WORTH READING
- International Crisis Group just published an excellent report and set of recommendations called: “Exiles in Their Own Country: Dealing with Displacement in Post-ISIS Iraq.” In a post ISIS defeat in Iraq, they are still facing a displacement crisis, creating a vacuum for more violence to emerge.
- The Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford just published their fourth post of Border Criminologies themed series on ‘Deaths at Borders’ organised by Marta Esperti and Antoine Pécoud. This one entitled “On Border Deaths Management and Ungrievability” is written by anthropologist Carolina Kobelinsky on unaccompanied minors in Melilla.
- Read this interview of the “Sea Punks” in Germany who are building a ship to rescue people in the Mediterranean. They state how their activism as punks led them to this decision, how certain new regulations are hindering their efforts, and how others should get involved in sea rescue.
- PAX for Peace just released a report entitled “Trapped in between Lebanon and Syria.” They say this is “the first such study since the end of the fighting, the Refugee Protection Watch coalition has communicated with hundreds of refugees in Lebanon and refugees who returned to Syria to produce a thorough and disturbing overview of the dire plight of the approximately 5.5 million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries.”
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