AYS Digest 01/09/21 — “European Values” are exclusion and cruelty, meeting of ministers on Afghanistan shows
Greek migration ministry proposes law to control rescue operations//Poland declares state of emergency//Deadly few days on Canary route
FEATURE
Shameful statement from extraordinary council meeting on Afghanistan
After an extraordinary meeting of European Ministers, the European Council published its statement on the situation in Afghanistan. The statement begins by mentioning the evacuation of Afghans that collaborated with EU forces (even though several European embassies abandoned their colleagues) and humanitarian aid, then goes on to mention the need for preventing so-called “illegal migration” four times.
Part six of the statement reads, “Based on lessons learned, the EU and its Member States stand determined to act jointly to prevent the recurrence of uncontrolled large-scale illegal migration movements faced in the past, by preparing a coordinated and orderly response. Incentives to illegal migration should be avoided.”
Clearly the lesson Europe has learned from the past six years has not been that locking people up in crowded camps and treating them with violence at the border is wrong. Instead, the powers that be are looking to ramp up these operations even further, almost before the last formal evacuation flights even left.
The statement reveals the power that xenophobic politicians have over dictating European policy. More moderate voices, such as Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn who dared to suggest that the EU welcome Afghan people in need, were shouted down during the meeting by hardline leaders such as Horst Seehofer (Asselborn went on to publicly criticize Austria’s Sebastian Kurz and Slovenia’s Janez Janša for their refusal to grant any protection to Afghan people). His Austrian and Danish counterparts said that the priority was to tell people to “stay there” in the region, as if neighboring Iran and Pakistan have not hosted large Afghan communities for decades.
The statement is being supported by the words and deeds of some of Europe’s loudest xenophobic voices. Hungary has already said that it will refuse to provide a home for Afghan people seeking asylum. At the Bled Strategic Forum 2021, Kyriakos Mitsotakis defended the Council decision and repeated that his country was a “victim” of 2015 (while Greece was abandoned by the rest of Europe, this still ignores the countless people victimized by his government’s policies) and that Europe should make sure the problem gets solved “closer to Afghanistan.”
The EU’s anemic plan is to offer more humanitarian aid to neighboring countries, which has not been proven to be effective at helping people on the ground or preventing people from wanting to leave in the past. It would also lead to an awkward situation as Iran, home to one of the largest Afghan populations, is under international sanctions.
Granted, nobody really expected the EU to be a moral paragon in this situation, but the brazen, cruel nature of the statement is something to behold. Even modest proposals, such as Ireland’s request to change “illegal” to “irregular” in the statement to avoid stigmatizing people on the move, were rejected. The statement should be interpreted as a signal of Europe’s upcoming plans. Attempting to predict the future is unwise, but we should probably anticipate the same levels of violence at the border, if not an escalation of it.
SEA
Death toll on Canary Route increases
The death toll on the Canary Route, one of the most dangerous border crossings in the world, is increasing. Last Friday, 29 people died. Monday night, about 14 people died during one boat’s crossing (the exact toll is unclear as the testimonies of the survivors differ). A spokeswoman for Caminando Fronteras, Helena Maleno, called the situation on the route “a humanitarian crisis” that has only increased over the past two months.
Near Mallorca, a greater tragedy was narrowly averted when 16 people were rescued from a patera, six of them already floating in the sea. Salvamento Maritimo had a very busy few days as in separate incidents, they rescued 36 people near Gran Canaria and eight people stuck on an islet near Alicante. These incidents show the importance of search and rescue at sea.
Other rescue incidents happened across the Mediterranean. Astral, a rescue ship run by Proactive Open Arms, saved 23 people. Sea-Eye 4 rescued 29 people. One hundred ninety-one people arrived on Lampedusa, some of them rescued by Fiamme gialle.
Rescue capabilities on the Mediterranean are about to get new reinforcements. The Rise Above successfully completed its second test drive and will be moving to the Mediterranean soon.
GREECE
Further crackdown on rescue NGOs
The Greek ministry of migration secretly brought forward a bill as part of a larger legal package on deportations that would require NGOs to submit Local Emergency Plans in advance and agree to follow the orders of local port authorities or risk paying fines or even prison for any rescue operations. It would retroactively punish organizations that have carried out independent operations, even if they attempted to cooperate with the Coast Guard but were rebuffed. The law must still be voted on come Friday, but there is a strong possibility that it may pass.
This shows that the Greek government is only planning on escalating its actions against NGOs. The law copies similar ones brought forward by Italy’s Salvini whose sole aim is to disrupt rescue organizations. Considering that the Coast Guard itself is responsible for much of the distress that people on the move face in the Aegean, placing rescue organizations under their control will only lead to more suffering and even deaths at sea.
Puppet representing children on the move stoned in Larissa
Little Amal is a 3.5 meter-tall puppet representing children on the move and it is part of The Walk, a traveling art installation representing the journey that real children must take. When the installation arrived in Larissa, in Greece’s Thessaly region, she received a violent welcome. Some people threw stones at the puppet and at the people who had gathered as part of the official welcome event, including children. The police needed to stop the violent actors from rushing the crowd and the event was cut short.
The ESCR, or European Committee of Social Rights, published a decision stating that the Greek government does not provide adequate protection to children on the move, whether they are accompanied or unaccompanied. You can read more about the decision here.
Greece is still reeling from the news that Thanos Plevris, a noted far-right politician, has been appointed the new Minister of Health. Greece’s Jewish community published a statement condemning the appointment given Plevris’s history of defending Holocaust denial. In the past, he has also advocated for deadly force against people on the move. How can such a person be in charge of the health of everyone in Greece?
NORTH MACEDONIA
Disinformation against Afghans proliferates as country offers shelter
North Macedonia was one of the Balkan countries that offered shelter to Afghan people evacuating from Kabul. Unfortunately, not everyone in the country is happy with this gesture of solidarity and the propaganda distributed by right-wing media and extremist political parties has intensified. Propaganda about the number of people arriving, who will be paying for their settlement, and more is widespread, including by the VMRO-DPMNE. There was also a wave of disinformation coming from the US, including from Glenn Beck.
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA
Clean energy in Bihać
Colletivo Rotte Balcaniche Alto Vincentino has built solar panels for people living around Bihać. This allows people to have enough electricity to meet their basic needs such as charging cell phones.
FRANCE
Tragedy near Ventimiglia—teenager electrocuted trying to cross border
A 17-year-old from Bangladesh tragically died after trying to cross the Italian-French border by riding on the roof of a train. Several people have died along that border in recent years.
In response, the local mayor asked for more controls on the trains. Sadly, that may only push people to more desperate acts—true freedom of movement is the best way to prevent such tragedies.
Paris-based friends, Solidarite migrants Wilson needs your help! The organization needs support for the action people sleeping on the street are organizing to get the government to apply the requisitions law. Learn more here.
DENMARK
Denmark sends money to Pakistan to keep people on the move there
Denmark agreed to send 10 million DKK to IOM-Pakistan as part of what the government called an “anti-smuggling” deal. The money will go towards some direct assistance programs but also towards border guards and forces. Really the deal is to prevent Afghan people on the move from leaving Pakistan and eventually reaching Europe.
The Danish government continued with its humanitarian-washing by promising more aid to the World Food Programme’s operations in Afghanistan. However, more aid loses its meaning when the government turns around and fuels sentiment against Afghans with its public rhetoric, discriminates against people already within its borders, and blocks attempts to tangibly help more people by offering them a safe home in Europe.
POLAND/LITHUANIA/LATVIA
Poland declares state of emergency, neighbors also deny rights to asylum seekers
Under the guise of “standing up” to Belarusian president Lukashenko, Poland, Lithuania and neighboring countries are denying basic rights to people on the move who crossed over.
Poland has declared a state of emergency along its borders, a declaration that gives extra power to security forces and pretty much allows them to conduct illegal pushbacks. The state of emergency would limit outsiders in the border zone about 3 km wide, which advocates are worried would give the state power to remove activists who are along the border attempting to help people stuck in no man’s land. A group of 32 people have been stuck between the Polish-Belarusian border for weeks now as the Polish government refuses to let them seek asylum and has denied them basic needs such as access to medical care, shelter, and food.
Already the Polish government has begun cracking down on activists. Thirteen activists were arrested for protesting the inhumane situation by cutting a hole in the fence.
Lithuania is offering people a measly 300 euros to go back to their home countries, even though many are fleeing political persecution and certain danger. Although public pressure has forced Lithuania to consider the asylum applications of 83 Afghans, people from countries which have not made the headlines are not quite as “lucky.” A Lithuanian minister, Arnoldas Abramavičius, was quick to brag that “from the artificially created migratory flow, no one has been granted asylum so far,” and about half have not even been allowed to apply.
Lithuania and its neighbors have blamed Belarus for the situation on the border. However, the mistreatment of people once they cross into the EU cannot be blamed on Lukashenko and the blame rests squarely on its shoulders.
The refusal to help people on the move while decrying Lukashenko is an action shared by Lithuania’s neighbors. In an op-ed published by Politico, Latvian interior minister Marija Golubeva went as far as calling the situation a “hybrid war.” Rhetoric that calls up the crisis state of war makes it easier to justify extraordinary measures such as blanket denials of asylum, illegal pushbacks, and cruel treatment and it must be challenged (instead of uncritically shared by the media).
As countries declare states of emergency and talk about crises and war it is important to keep two things in mind: 1) what kinds of actions are about to be excused under the guise of an emergency and what expansions of police power can we expect? 2) Who is really experiencing an “emergency”—the politicians in their cushy offices or the people on the move they are refusing to protect?
UK
How “warm” is Operation Warm Welcome?
Between posing for photos with Afghan families and denying other people the right to asylum, it is hard to keep track of Home Office policy towards Afghans now.
The government’s resettlement plan has been dubbed Operation Warm Welcome, but terms and conditions clearly apply. Minister Victoria Atkins said that people from Afghanistan would not be resettled if they crossed the Channel in small boats, only if they came through legal routes—legal routes that are practically nonexistent. Even the people set to come under the resettlement scheme (separate from the ones for staff) will not be given indefinite leave to remain, putting them in long-term legal limbo. Only those who worked for the UK and their families will have permanent residency in the country.
The hypocrisy in the government’s treatment of a select few who manage to get to the UK via plane versus the criminalization of people who are forced to take matters into their own hands is evident.
In other news, the UK is pushing forward with its plan to use third countries to keep asylum seekers. The government is in talks with Ghana on the subject.
Care4Calais is collecting donations for people arriving in the UK and partnering with organizations including Manchester Piccadilly. To learn more and get involved, go here.
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