Repression in Sicily: Call for solidarity in support to a NoBorder comrade for an action against Frontex

31 March 2023 – At the end of August 2022, a comrade was given an order to leave Catania, the place where he lived, after the police opened an investigation on him for spray painting the walls of the Frontex headquarters. The agency’s building in Catania is the logistical hub for Frontex operations in the Central Mediterranean. The order to leave, or expulsion order, is an administrative measure issued by the Chief of police (in Italian, “Questore”), which has an immediate effect. It was introduced following the abolition of confinement in 1956 and, in practice, it is a modern form of exile. The reason our comrade was issued an order to leave was that, according to the local police, he constitutes a “danger for public order”. In a large file, the police reported very “dangerous” situations in which our comrade was involved, such as his participation in social movements and groups supporting people on the move and freedom of movement and, crucially, for taping (!) some Abolish Frontex flyers around the city. Of course, he was never investigated for the latter “offense”, but this currently constitutes the biggest evidence to criminalise him and our ideas. Continue reading “Repression in Sicily: Call for solidarity in support to a NoBorder comrade for an action against Frontex”

U.N. rights mission blasts EU on Libya migrant abuses

27 March 2023 – [report from Reuters] European Union backing for Libyan authorities who stop and detain migrants means the bloc has “aided and abetted” rights violations against migrants, an investigator for a U.N. mission said on Monday. The EU and member states have supported and trained the Libyan coastguard, which returns migrants stopped at sea to detention centres, and have funded Libyan border management programmes via the Italian government.

Read the whole article on the Reuters website

‘A programmed disaster: Crotone (Calabria – Italy)’ – statement about the current developments in Italy

6 March 2023 – Abolish Frontex, a grassroots network of over 130 groups and organisations aiming to abolish the EU border guard agency and to end the EU border regime, releases the following statement regarding the recent deaths of people on the move, the Italian government clampdown on rescue ships and its reaction to the shipwreck disaster. Continue reading “‘A programmed disaster: Crotone (Calabria – Italy)’ – statement about the current developments in Italy”

CommemorAction 6 February 2023: MIGRATION IS A RIGHT!

A Global Day of Struggle against the regime of death at our borders and to demand truth, justice and reparations for migration victims and their families.

“CommemorAction” is a double promise: We will not forget those who have lost their lives and we will fight against the borders that killed them. Continue reading “CommemorAction 6 February 2023: MIGRATION IS A RIGHT!”

The EU’s Nobel Peace Prize 10 years on: Project Failed!

[DE/IT/FR below]

Join the Abolish Frontex Action Week from 10-18 December 2022

In 2012 the EU was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for having contributed to pacifying Europe for 60 years. Ten years later, the EU is spending more money on arms than ever before, is fuelling war and repression around the world with its arms exports and the climate crisis with its fossil fuel emissions, and is fighting a brutal war on those most vulnerable: migrants.
Be it through Frontex operations at sea that turned the Mediterranean into the world’s deadliest border, through surveillance, incarceration and deportations of those who have made it across the border, or through payments given to third countries that torture and kill people on the EU’s behalf – Europe’s history of racism, colonialism, exploitation and violence continues uninterrupted until today. 
This is why we have decided to destitute the EU of its Nobel Prize. From 10 to 18 December 2022, between International Human Rights Day and International Migrants Day, we invite you to join our week of action, which will end with a ceremony in Brussels to strip the EU of its Nobel Prize. 
We invite you and your local groups to organise actions against Frontex and Europe’s murderous border regime. There are many ways to join – from handing out flyers to organising a large demonstration. Find ideas for actions and a list of Frontex locations here (https://abolishfrontex.org/take-action/). You can also join if you already had other actions planned for International Migrants Day. 

If you would like to organise an action, have questions or need support, please email us at info@abolishfrontex.org


Continue reading “The EU’s Nobel Peace Prize 10 years on: Project Failed!”

Call to Geneva – Sit-in on 9 and 10 December 2022 to support ‘Refugees in Libya’

9 November 2022 – One year ago, thousands of refugees had been protesting for more than 100 days in front of the UNHCR office in Tripoli: an historical act of self-organisation under the harshest conditions. Instead of listening and improving, UNHCR criticised their protest, ignored their voices, and remained silent in light of the brutal eviction and detention of those claiming their fundamental rights. Despite ongoing repressions and threats, the demands of “Refugees in Libya” prevail and their struggles continue in various different forms.

To support “Refugees in Libya” in their fight and to amplify the voices of all those who keep getting ignored, punished, and unfairly treated by an agency that is supposed to protect them, we call for two days of action in front of the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on the 9th and 10th of December 2022.

See more on the website ‘UNFAIR Agency’

Switzerland: Borders over Climate

6 November 2022 – While being one of the richest countries in the world, Switzerland’s contribution to climate financing – a major topic at the ongoing COP27 in Egypt – is only modest, not to say shamefully small. In light of how Switzerland profits from extractivist practices that are a major cause for climate change and climate affected displacement, taking into account that the country hosts some of the major financers of these practices, Switzerland’s role is clear: with a border militarisation budget at least 33% higher than its current climate finance spending, it pays more to shut borders, build walls and support a deadly migration regime than to support the countries and communities most affected by climate change with counteracting measures.

Read the factsheet by the Abolish Frontex Research Group

Photo report action day ‘Stop Italy – Libya Memorandum’

On 15 October an international action day ‘Stop Italy – Libya Memorandum’ was organized by Abolish Frontex, Diritto di migrare-diritto di restare and Solidarity with Refugees in Libya. In many cities in- and outside Italy people took to the streets to demand that the Italian government puts an end to the illegal and shameful Memorandum on migration cooperation. Outside of Italy most protests were held in front of Italian embassies and consulates.

Berlin
Bern     Brussels
Guernica     Messina
Madrid
Milan
Napels
Paris     Rome
Rome (19 October)
Ravenna
Schio
Zürich

 

Rotterdam hosts Frontex conference on virtual wall

On 18 and 19 October 2022 the Royal Marechaussee, the Dutch military police, will host a Conference on the Entry/Exit System in the Maritime Domain for EU border guard agency Frontex in Rotterdam. The conference will bring Frontex staff, staff of border and port authorities from EU member states and representatives from selected companies and cruise-ship associations together to discuss the implementation of the Entry/Exit System (EES), a biometrics based database, at maritime border crossing points. The EES is part of a network of (biometrics) databases, with the aim to create a ‘virtual wall’ to keep or get migrants out of the EU. These virtual walls connect with the whole system of border walls, border militarisation, border externalisation, detention and deportations the EU has deployed in building Fortress Europe. It is also another profit opportunity for the military and security industry.

Read the whole article at the website of Stop Wapenhandel

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