AYS News Digest 24/11/21: “Deadliest Day” on British coast. Thirty-one lost lives in Channel crossing.
Legal case against UK’s pushback plans / Tense situation in pre-electoral Libya / Activists in Italy freed of charges // and more
FEATURED
There have been plenty of ways invented for getting into a country that classifies you as “illegal”, one of the recent being by sea crossing the Channel in the Atlantic. Separating Southern England from Northern France, this is the only alternative to the Channel tunnel. Instead of choosing the “classical way” hiding under trucks and likewise risking their lives and accidents, people have recently been trying more to reach the UK by boat, mostly poorly equipped.
It is amazing from how many different perspectives the deaths from Wednesday have already been retold. The two countries between whom a whole group of people drowned have a common narrative: Human trafficking is bad, border policy is the saviour. And we will bring justice. In this narrative, the Kingdom that people are trying to reach is only reachable through danger. There is just no other way.
On Wednesday afternoon, two boats in the Channel between France and the UK had been reported to emergency lines by a fisherman. He had found one of the inflatable dinghies capsized and bodies of the many who had already drowned in the water around it — while the other dinghy was still carrying survivors. So far, 31 people are known to have died, one person is missing and only two could be rescued and are currently in intensive medical care. The fisherman described the capsized boat as looking “like a pool that you blow up in your garden” and it is probable that the people shared their story with many others: On the French coast, pushed by a hostile environment, poor camp conditions, eviction and having no way to cross over land, they pay a big amount of money to smugglers to give them a boat and details for how to get to the other side, from a starting point along a coast that is several hundreds of kilometers long. On Wednesday, French authorities state that four people who are believed to be connected to the business of the capsized boat have been arrested.
Before Wednesday we have seen already too many deaths: in 2021, 14 people lost their lives on different desperate crossings while over 25,000 attempted the crossing. The deaths of Wednesday have been the biggest known single loss.
A political conflict has been ongoing at this border: while the French government received strong financial support from the British, they nevertheless claim that not enough has been done with the funding to prevent people on the move from crossing. On the one hand, mourning the deaths openly and with emotional language—referring to “ruthless criminal gangs” (Piti Patel) and “murderous human traffickers” (Boris Johnson)—both countries set the tone for the only possible consequence: to “reinforce intelligence sharing and police cooperation”. To prevent a Channel crossing but not meet the needs of people who have chosen danger on their way in the first place. British Interior Minister Patel wants to reinforce and speed up the new and highly criticized “Border Bill”, which means that people on the move would be easily criminalized when they arrive in the UK by boat, for example, and can expect harsher punishment. She calls it eliminating “pull factors” that make people want to go to the UK, thus paying no attention at all to the fact that people are being pushed rather than pulled and are fleeing from places without stability and security (including France) to where they hope to find a home.
Calais’ mayor would like to implement moving people urgently from Calais to central France, “even if by force”. This loss is not about people’s deaths, it’s about creating coherence again with the principle of not being a place for foreigners.
No one should have to risk their life to reach safety. […] More and more people are risking the freezing, frightening journey across the Channel in small, unstable boats since the Government closed safe routes to the UK last year. Choosing to play politics with people’s lives, the Government has failed to prevent people risking the crossing and this is the result. Beth Gardiner-Smith, Safe Passage International
There is a way that’s safe. It’s just not open.
“Don’t let them drown”:
Call for an Emergency Solidarity Protest on Saturday 27 November— 2 pm— Whitehall, opposite Downing Street, London by Standupagainstracism.
Meanwhile, just minutes before the Wednesday announcement of the tragedy in the Channel, Channel Rescue announced they are initiating a legal procedure against British Interior Minister Patel and her new Border Bill. Channel Rescue aims to prevent the practice of pushback techniques used against people on the move in the Channel, as already observed in scenarios at sea. That would mean endangering already unstable, cheap boats and also conducting potentially illegal procedures, as has to be proven now. Support the legal action financially: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-priti-patels-pushback-policy/
We do not believe the practices we witnessed could ever be enacted without putting boats, and the people in them, at risk. There is also a maritime legal duty to provide assistance to anyone who is in distress at sea.
You will also find an article on how strategic language and narratives are used in the whole affair here.
TURKEY
Expensive and unequal lives for foreigners in Bolu
“Ozcan, mayor of the city of Bolu, previously announced that he would make foreign nationals pay ten times more than Turks for their water bills and waste disposal in an attempt to force them out. Now, the municipal council in Bolu, a city in north-western Turkey, has indeed adopted legislation to increase the rate charged for water and the cost of civil marriages for refugees and migrants.
Ozcan said on Tuesday that refugees can go to Damascus if they are unhappy with the decision. “We want them [refugees] to leave,” he announced officially.
LIBYA
UN’s official Libya mediator resigns
The Libyan Presidential elections will begin on 24 December.
Soldiers burning tents in front of UNHCR office
Over 100 protesters who managed to flee Libyan detention centers and gather in front of the UNHCR office in Tripoli are, after weeks, still awaiting an response to their situation while they camp on the street. On Thursday, a brigade of the Libyan army set fire to several tents in front of the office. This happened after the diplomatic security personnel had already approached and urged the protesters to disperse.
The Lawyers for Justice in Libya report
has been published. You can download it in full length here.
SEA
463 people on Sea Watch 4 still prevented from reaching a safe harbour
Both Italy and Malta are refusing to let the rescue ship reach land and accept the people who were saved. Two emergency evacuations have already taken place, where 12 pregnant women and vulnerable people, such as a one-year old, have been brought to Italy. Sea Watch is also warning that rains are about to start.
GREECE
Announcement of restructuring asylum procedure
After just having openly declared several changes to the asylum system, the government seems to have retracted its decision. Changes would have included moving the possibility to claim asylum to RIC’s (Reception and Identification Centres) and other “closed controlled structures”. The Skype system was announced to be closed down and no further information on PRCDs were given. By retracting the statement, the first step to using pre-screening mechanisms at borders has been averted — for now. The retraction is thought to be connected to the election of the minister on Chios.
Lives on hold
Mobile Info Team looks at the experiences of people seeking asylum on mainland Greece, Crete and Rhodes whose only route to asylum is via the Skype application. You can find their contribution here.
We believe the current Skype procedure stands in stark contradiction to any notion of protection and shows incompatibility with a fair and efficient asylum system.
Unaccompanied minors to be included in adoption and foster system
The inclusion will apply to all unaccompanied minors ages 0 to 12 and thus aims to organize their support in a safe family environment as well as their special needs in interpreting and legal support. At the moment, there are about 2100 known unaccompanied minors in the country, for whom the law would partially apply.
Pushback from Kos into Turkish waters recorded
A noted Greek pushback has been underway and was recorded on Wednesday. As Aegean Boat Report says, a group of about 30 arriving at night was immediately detained the next morning by the Hellenic Coast Guard. They were then brought to the main port of Kos and even recorded by a phone that had not been confiscated, hiding them under a white tarpaulin to prevent eyewitnesses in broad daylight. Aegean Boat Report received videos and location data when they were taken from Kos harbor by the Hellenic Coast Guard, later they were sent a second video and location after the group had been put onto two life rafts, helplessly drifting inside Turkish waters southeast of Kos. It is not known what happened to the group afterwards. This, unfortunately, was just one more proof of the usual daily procedure in Greece. So far, this year alone, 14,000 people have been robbed of all their belongings and pushed back to Turkey by the HCG.
“Closed warehouses, away from town”
After the Moria disaster, the EU has supported the construction of new refugee camps on the Greek islands. They are modern, but closed and far from towns. Critics say the buildings remind them of prisons: News from the Med.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Short update from No Name Kitchen
for the area of Velika Kladusa has been published. Find the as always insightful text here.
ITALY
No more charges against Gian Franchi Andrea and Lorena Fornasir
On 23 November 2021 the charges against Gian Franchi Andrea and Lorena Fornasir of the organization Linea d’Ombra were finally dropped. For years, the couple from the border city of Trieste has provided assistance to migrants who arrive in the Italian city with bruised feet and open wounds after weeks of traumatizing travel on the Balkan route and often multiple pushbacks.
Earlier this year, the two were charged by the Trieste judiciary with “aiding and abetting unauthorized entry and residence” as part of a “criminal cell” that allegedly set up a network to take in people for profit. The case has now been shelved due to a lack of evidence. This came as a surprise given the wave of criminalizations across the country in recent months, especially seen in the verdict against former Mayor “Mimmo” Lucano, protested by many.
Many more continue to risk serious sentences because of their activist or humanitarian efforts. While Europeans usually succeed at least to bring attention to their cases, thousands of non-Europeans remain criminalized and imprisoned often on arbitrary charges. — Borderline Europe
The dropping of the charges also reminds us of Séan Binder and Sarah Mardini, activists in Greece whose trial was supposed to start on 18 November 2021 but has been adjourned for an unknown amount of time. The main charge of the prosecution is the smuggling of people into the country; it will probably prove to be unfounded for lack of sufficient evidence. Nevertheless, both accused had to spend over three months in pre-trial detention in Greek prison. Both were volunteers at the Emergency Response Centre International, an NGO operating in Greek waters, providing search and rescue services, patrolling the coasts, spotting vessels in distress, and providing assistance to people arriving on the shore. The whole process is yet another example of the ongoing criminalization of humanitarian assistance to refugees and asylum seekers in Europe. To read more about their case: In court for saving lives.
Italy supposed to use quarantine ships for quick return of Tunisians
A lawyer on one of these ships reports to MicroMega:
The quarantine ships are intended for the quick return of Tunisians and for the exhibition of travel documents for people from North Africa. […] I was on one of these ships for a month and continue to follow up the story with the information I get on board. With the ships, they have time to capture Tunisians, Egyptians, Algerians and Moroccans to send them back directly to the CPR [reception centres] after a short period of time.
While corona measurements to protect everybody on board are not followed at all and people are huddled together for several weeks, “they [officials] have all the time to identify the men coming from Maghreb and organize the return with charter flights or the exhibition of travel documents”.
No procedure for evaluation whether somebody is in need of international protection is given.
SPAIN
Around 420 people rescued from 10 boats off the Canary Islands
In several incidents during recent days, the Spanish Sea Rescue Organization was mainly able to handle the evictions and could take the people directly to land. On one boat, reported by a commercial vessel and finally approached by the Moroccan navy, only a few survivors remained. It is not known how many people the boat was transporting and how many lost their lives.
GERMANY
First guidelines of the new government
The government that was elected on 26 September has just released its coalition agreement. Flüchtlingsrat Berlin summarizes what this means for migration policies.
DENMARK
These findings have been released in an online publication by the Coming of Age in Exile (CAGE) programme, which investigates inequalities in the health and socio-economic situations of young refugees in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.”
BELARUS
Continuously bad, continuously visible
Several initiatives and individual actions are seeking attention and support, mainly from people in the area. A new campaign in Poland is asking to “save the people at the border” . The population is notoriously divided in their reaction to the border — local support in towns, help packages and open barns, while demonstrations are held elsewhere in Poland and Europe, meets people who report people on the move to the Polish Border Guards and openly support the political line.
Meanwhile, the EU commission is trying to normalize the entrenched situation and create measures for the EU as a whole.
At least officially 13 people have died so far at the Polish-Belarussian border, while locals near the border have said “they didn’t want to enter their cornfields, afraid they would find bodies.” Temperatures are supposed to drop even more in the coming winter days.
EU & FRONTEX
Profiteers of Frontex
“Frontex pursues salami tactics”
German EU parliamentarian Erik Marquardt (Greens) is a member of a committee overseeing border management agency Frontex. He talks about how Frontex works and the Swiss referendum against its expansion. You will find the WOZ interview with him here.
GENERAL & WORTH READING
- Briefing Paper by Rabat-process: African countries are rapidly urbanising. What are the experiences of migrants moving to, through and from cities in West and North Africa?
- What is a pushback anyway?— “Nobody can just override human rights”: Interview with Matthias Lehnert, Lawyer and expert in migration law
Find daily updates and special reports on our Medium page.
If you wish to contribute, either by writing a report or a story, or by joining the info gathering team, please let us know.
We strive to echo correct news from the ground through collaboration and fairness. Every effort has been made to credit organisations and individuals with regard to the supply of information, video, and photo material (in cases where the source wanted to be accredited). Please notify us regarding corrections.
If there’s anything you want to share or comment, contact us through Facebook, Twitter or write to: areyousyrious@gmail.com
