AYS Daily Digest 23/03/2021 — Ocean Viking Finally Receives Safe Port
MEPs Postpone Approval of Frontex Budget// Updates from Lesvos & Bihać// & More
FEATURE
Ocean Viking Receives Safe Port
Finally! After several days at sea in rough conditions, the Ocean Viking was allowed to disembark in the Sicilian town of Augusta. This was a massive relief for the 116 people on board. They were tested for COVID-19 by Italian authorities before disembarking. Six people tested positive.
Obviously this is good news for the people on board. However, in an ideal world, a rescue ship receiving a safe port to disembark people who had just survived incredible trauma at sea would be so commonplace, it would not be newsworthy. The Ocean Viking should have received a safe port days ago — some people on board have been there since last Tuesday. It should never have taken four requests to receive the simplest of things, a port for people in distress so that they can rebuild their lives.
Rescue ships like the Ocean Viking should never need to conduct as many rescues as they do. But because governments refuse to do their duties according to international law, the Ocean Viking and many other ships take on the task, all the time operating in constant fear of legal detention. As these numbers show, with a continuously high death toll at sea this year alone, ships like the Ocean Viking must continue to do their work to rescue those dying at the hands of European border policy.
We wish the people who landed in Italy a safe home and a fresh start, and to the Ocean Viking crew a safe journey onwards.
GREECE
Updates from Lesvos
DEYAL is planning to build water supply and sewage infrastructure in the temporary camp in Kara Tepe which is projected to cost 1 million euros. The German Red Cross and UNICEF will be assisting the project. This work will hopefully improve living conditions for the thousands in the temporary camp, people who have spent months without access to water or toilets. However, many are questioning why so much money is being spent on fairly permanent installations in a camp that the government had promised would be temporary.
Last week, activists in Mytilene staged a symbolic action at the Statue of Liberty in the town, protesting the EU-Turkey deal and inhumane treatment of people on the move. Video of the action can be found here.
Samos Updates
Four people tested positive for COVID-19 in the camp on Samos. This is a huge cause for concern as the overcrowded camp would make it easy for the disease to spread. Despite the fact that people in camps are testing positive and that the conditions there make it more likely for people to get exposed to COVID-19, the Greek government is still pushing aside people on the move in its vaccination plan.
General Updates
Our friends at Disinfaux Collective analyzed footage of someone (possibly a police officer) throwing a Molotov cocktail at protesters demonstrating against police brutality. You can read the report, published with Reporters United, here.
For up-to-date information on the status of legal beneficiaries in Greece, check out this Legal Note from RSAegean.
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA
Updates from Bihać
No Name Kitchen posted an update about their food distribution program and the situation in Bihać:
In Bihać we are distributing around 800 coking food rations per week. They include rice, oil, tomato, flour, potatoes, carrot and onion. We are also including spices: sugar, salt, pepper, paprika and turmeric.
We buy all this food at the local market, contributing in this way a bit to the local economy. We are buying almost 300 kg. of vegetables per week, in addition to rice, oil and other products.
You can read the full statement on their Facebook page.
SPAIN
Salvamento Maritimo Rescues 6 People
The Spanish rescue agency saved 6 people in the Strait of Gibraltar. The people were taken to Ceuta, where they will be quarantining for the required period of time.
FRANCE
State to Take Charge of Food Distribution in Grande-Synthe
The local government announced that they will take charge of food distribution from now on in the northern region of Grande-Synthe. However, the response from local nonprofits is mixed. While some are happy that the state is finally taking responsibility for the people it is supposed to protect, others are wary about the French government maintaining sole control over food distribution, as it has a history of arbitrary stoppages. This also does not solve the larger problem of awful living conditions in Grande-Synthe that have been caused by government evictions and negligence.
Further south, the situation on the French-Spanish border is getting worse. People on the move and advocates are reporting that people are turning towards more dangerous methods of crossing the border after reports of pushbacks by French authorities, who are “hunting down” people trying to cross. Although the authorities have justified the increased border surveillance due to the pandemic, people say that their primary goal is to stop people on the move.
GERMANY
Court Dismisses Syrian Man’s Asylum Claim
The Higher Administrative Court in the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia revoked a Syrian man’s asylum decision because they claimed that fleeing military conscription is not a valid reason to seek asylum. The court claimed that draft evaders are no longer punished in Syria.
However, as recently as last November, the European Court of Justice ruled that Syrian returnees that evaded the draft could be subject to political persecution. And even if the man was not eligible for asylum under this narrow qualification, Syria is still not a safe country for returnees.
EU/FRONTEX
European Parliament Doesn’t Approve Frontex Budget, Cites Human Rights Violations
The Budgetary Control Committee voted 22–3 to postpone approving Frontex’s budget until it clarifies “certain issues.” MEPs cited the delay in hiring fundamental rights officers and harassment allegations, among other concerns, as reasons for delaying the endorsement. Frontex has until the third quarter of this year to provide the requested clarifications.
The decision now has to be approved by the rest of Parliament when it meets for the April session.
Meanwhile, Leggeri is busy fear-mongering about people on the move, saying that there will be more migration as soon as the pandemic ends and travel restrictions loosen. He also said that his agency “‘stands ready’ to resume migrant returns to Turkey,” a turn of phrase that doesn’t inspire confidence in the agency’s concern for human rights or due process of asylum requests.
Frontex has also been busy developing their Twitter strategy, which can be found here after a leak. Apparently their target groups include those who influence the press, Frontex critics, and more, and their biggest threat is “a lack of dedicated staff to manage response to criticism that could damage Frontex’s reputation.”
WORTH READING
This article in Jacobin traces the history over the last few years of jailing people for rescuing people on the move, and the many levels of complicity with the murderous border regime.
Find daily updates and special reports on our Medium page.
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