Protest agianst the IOM office in Belgrade
01.Jun.03 - We are a bicycle caravan on our way to Thessalonica in Greece. There will be a EU summit the 20th and 21 of June and we are protesting on our way and in Thessalonica against their politics. Here it’s focused on migration politics where the IOM plays an important role. A proposal of the British minister of internal affairs show clearly in which direction the already repressive European migration politic is going. They want to abolish the human right for asylum and all possibilities for migration that doesn’t fit in their capitalistic system. The minister of internal affairs proposes to intervene in countries where lots of refugees come from, also military if it’s necessary. The refugees that made it to come to the EU should be catched at the border and deported as quick as possible to detention centers outside the EU, close to the countries they come f! rom. Human right organizations are afraid that outside the EU refugee laws are not valid and the decision about asylum will be made only in consideration of the actual political advantage. The individual right for asylum will be totally broken down.
This camps, where the refugees will be kept should be controlled by the International Organization for Migration, the IOM. What’s that ? An organization for migration? I read about campaigns going on in the Balkan Countries where they warn women against migrating because wherever they go, they will end up in prostitution and slavery. That sometimes really happens and is fucking bad, but with this campaign they don’t want to protect women, they want to build up barriers in the head, that there is no chance to look for a better live somewhere else. They don’t want the mostly poor and not good educated women coming to the rich western Europe countries. So it’s an organization agains! t migration? Not only; everybody who is economically useful can come to the west. So if you are rich or very good educated: welcome! You fit with the interest of the rich countries of becoming richer.
The IOM is working in this way because of its structure. It’s a membership organization so it’s only based on its leading members, these are the USA and the EU, which defines it’s politic. The politic of closing the borders against any unwanted and economically useless refugee or migrant. They recommend migration hostile politic to other governments, they sell the latest cry of control technology, they train police officers and border troops to combat migration they plan and build control posts and detention centers, they pride themselves to have been involved in the movement of 11 million people, mostly return, repatriation and resettlement cases. In most of these cases they did not help people in their voluntary return. The list of dest! inations reads like a list of war torn regions. The mayor targets were Timor, North Iraque, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. These in addition to countries like Somalia, Sierra Leone, Sudan or Liberia may be understood as those single governments find it too difficult to transport people to. National governments are called customers and the IOM sees their role as a service business for voluntary return. But voluntary means nothing else than either you get detained and deported or you agree in leaving without resistance. This is most obvious with Roma and Kosovars who frequently resisted against such treatment. The IOM contributes to break such resistance, arranges the journey , buys the ticked and away with you. Consequently the Roma National Congress calls the IOM the ‘enemy of Roma people’.
Any 'mercenary' reputation the IOM might have is a mere cover for their true politics. The IOM is an Organization with two faces. Aim! ing to win trust, cooperate with and using NGOs on the one hand, but acting as a reliable partner for national governments on the other hand.
Against this global migration management- shut down the iom for free movement!
