AYS News Digest 10/02/23: EU Commission Summit — Will the EU commit to funding border fences?
ResQShip SAR recruitment meeting this Sunday // A law restricting the reunification rights of refugees with their families has been suspended in the Netherlands // Far-right demonstration against asylum seekers turns violent in Liverpool // Home Office take over surveillance of the Channel from the UK military & much more.
FEATURE
EU Commission Summit — Will the EU commit to funding border fences?
Migration has been at the heart of a Special European Council meeting over the past two days. Will they fund border fences? There is no confirmation yet, but the EU Commission are set to cement policies that will inevitably put people crossing Europe’s borders in danger. Ursula von der Leyen’s four key ‘operational measures’ prioritise security and deterrence, and leaders have “already agreed funding for further cameras, watch towers and vehicles”.
Her position is openly hostile to the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. Frank Johansson, Director of Amnesty Finland, writes that:
Putting security ahead of other values comes at the expense of justice and human rights.
Eve Geddie, Amnesty International’s European Advocacy Director has summarised her recommendations for a humane migration policy in a twitter thread. A new migration policy is imperative; fencing will achieve nothing except the exacerbation of suffering. Geddie counters von der Leyen’s security-stance, writing that:
“The right to life, to apply for asylum, prohibition of torture and inhumane treatment are guaranteed in Europe.
Both European and national courts have ruled that border fences, mass detention and preventing asylum requests at borders violate these standards.”
See below:
Amnesty’s key concerns for a humane, legal, anti-racist migration policy are available in this letter. These include calls for:
- “Italy to urgently withdraw measures that hinder the work of SAR NGOs and increase the risk of drowning.” Reported by AYS here.
- “Create the conditions to have an independent monitoring of the situation at the borders, including by granting access to borders areas to NGOs and other independent observers, who should be able to operate safely and unhindered.”
- “Use existing mechanisms, procedures, and create new ones where necessary, to investigate and ensure the protection and fulfilment of the rights of Black people and other people subject to discrimination at border locations where there is increasing evidence that they are being subjected to, or at particular risk of being subjected to, crimes under international law, including killings and torture and other ill-treatment.”
- “Reject the legislative instruments regarding instrumentalisation and crisis response and focus instead on increasing compliance with standards that are already in force with a view to building functioning asylum and reception systems and trust among Member States”
- “Cease all unlawful, summary forced returns at the border and other abuses at EU’s borders and inside the country and grant the right to an effective remedy to people who have been exposed to these violations.”
SYRIA
Survivors continue to be pulled from the rubble as more than 13,000 lives are confirmed to have been lost in the Turkish-Syrian Earthquake
As hopes of finding further survivors begin to fade, attention must now be turned to the provision of aid in NW Syria. Below, Dr. Mohib Qaddour articulates that (as of 10/2/23), they have received no medical aid or supplies from the international community.
Five days after the earthquake struck, they are still waiting for rescue teams, food, medical aid and support.
SEARCH AND RESCUE
The bodies of eight people have been transferred to Sicily for autopsies being found last week near Lampedusa
“The bodies of eight deceased migrants have been transferred from the Italian island of Lampedusa to Sicily for autopsy. They were found last week on a dinghy that had set off from Tunisia for Italy.”
Read the article from InfoMigrants in full below:
(Some) good news from Free Humanitarians
Today marks the day that ‘misdemeanour’ charges against volunteers in Greece expires. Sadly, the felony charges remain in place until 2038.
The defendants charges were never taken to trial, which means that after years of suffering professional, financial and emotional consequences, there was no chance for an acquittal.
“On Friday, we had our first small victory in the case. After over 4 years, judges agreed that most defendants will not stand trial and that the charges will be dropped due to the procedural errors that the case has been littered with. It was a moment of celebration because it was the first time that the Greek authorities acknowledged the shambolic mistakes that they have made, in the handling of our case. 22 out of the 24 defendants would not stand trial for misdemeanour charges and could return safely home (for now).”
This is a victory, but it is not justice.
“A not guilty verdict would have shown that saving lives is not a crime. Instead, hiding behind procedural errors that we have consistently highlighted to them, the Greek judicial system has remained silent on this.”
RESQSHIP: Recruitment livestream for prospective volunteers this Sunday (12/2/23)
German SAR NGO ResQShip are running a recruitment livestream for new volunteers. Register interest by emailing!
THE NETHERLANDS
A law that restricted the right to family reunification of refugees in the Netherlands has been permanently suspended
The Council of State — the highest administrative court in the country — has ruled that a law restricting family reunifications was in violation of Dutch and European law. The law had restricted the rights of recognised refugees to reunite with their immediate families.
Now overturned in a final and binding capacity, 1,200 people will receive entry visas to the Netherlands to rejoin their loved ones.
UNITED KINGDOM
A ‘New Border Force’ on the horizon as the UK Home Office take over policing of the English channel from the military
In a high-profile, media-aware push to demonstrate that small boat Channel migration is ‘under control’, the Home Office is set to roll out “new technologies” that will increase its surveillance capacity.
As well as employing 730 new staff members (on top of 830 existing ones) — a costly undertaking at a time when many of the UK’s essential social services are striking over underpayment — the SBOC (Small Boats Operational Command) will introduce “air and maritime capabilities including new drones, boats, land-based radar and cameras.” Computer Weekly notes that the Home Office recently awarded a £3.9 million contract to Deloitte for “SBOC continuous improvement.”
It seems that the English Channel will be seen in terms of successful deterrence alone; people desperate to cross the channel will be forever reduced to a numerical value under the UK’s current government.
Petra Molnar, assistant director of the Refugee Law Lab has highlighted the absurdity and inhumanity of pursuing such surveillance-oriented solutions. What will the Home Office achieve with these measures? Well, the 21-mile channel crossing is already extensively surveilled: UK Border Force, the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA), Joint Maritime Command and RNLI all operate extensively there. The Home Office might now match their operational capabilities and situational awareness, but it seems that nothing new will be achieved.
And on a more human level?
Molnar writes (via Computer Weekly) that further surveillance will, unsurprisingly, not stop people crossing:
“Instead, people will be forced to take increasingly dangerous routes, leading to a loss of life. Instead of investing in costly technologies, governments could be using this money to strengthen access to justice, services and psycho-social support”
Whilst the Home Office claims that legal and safe routes to seek asylum in the UK exist, JCWI have articulated that this is a plain untruth:
Nationalist protests against people on the move in Liverpool turn violent
On Friday night a far-right group of around 400 people turned up to protest against the accommodation of people on the move at The Suites Hotel in Knowsley, Liverpool. The accommodation was organised by the Home Office.
From the early evening, a xenophobic, nationalist protest — to ‘defend the British way of life’ — began outside the hotel. It was met with a counter-protest by other locals and members of Care4Calais in solidarity with the people on the move, many of whom had just arrived in the UK. The protests turned violent, with police arriving in riot gear to face off a far-right mob who were throwing missiles and fireworks, setting fire to a police van. No injuries have been reported thankfully.
Knowsley is one of the UK’s most deprived boroughs, and this far-right protest has been condemned by the Labour MP for the area, Sir George Howarth:
“The people of Knowsley are not bigots and are welcoming to people escaping from some of the most dangerous places in the world in search of a place of safety.
Those demonstrating against refugees at this protest tonight do not represent this community. We are not like that and overwhelmingly behave with sympathy and kindness to others regardless of where they come from”.
A member of the NGO Care4Calais was part of the counter-protest, and wrote this report about their experience.
WORTH READING
- People of Deutschland — a book that reports the lived experiences of racism felt by 45 German citizens with visible migration backgrounds — has been published in Germany.
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