noborder news is a frequently updated repository of information on migration related events, developments and actions in europe and beyond http://www.noborder.org/index.php feel free to resuse this content On June 5-6, activists from many different countries came to Warsaw to protest against the deadly policies of Frontex, the EU agency which conducts migrant hunting operations, trains border guards and special units to hunt down people crossing so-called "national borders" and which helps to coordinate and implement EU immigration policy. Frontex has its headquarters in Warsaw. On June 5, the second of two transnational conferences took place (A more complete account of the conference should appear later). On June 6, a demonstration was held in front of Frontex headquarters. People from many countries were present, people from various social movements, some refugees living in Poland as well. The protestors demand that Frontex be shut down and that freedom of movement should be given to all, that there be an end to descrimination of all sorts against immigrants. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=444 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:00:00 GMT On the 18th of June 2008, a proposal for a directive concerning the detention and deportation of immigrants will be submitted to the European Parliament. Since 1990, the policies of European governments with respect to immigration and asylum have resulted in a continuous reduction of the guarantees and fundamental protections of the people they affect. Europe is becoming a locked-down fortress and uses disproportionate means to prevent access to its territory and to deport unauthorised migrants. The project before the European Parliament, if it were to be adopted, would represent yet another regression. In foreseeing detention that could be extended up to 18 months for people whose only offence is to want to live in Europe, it holds to an inhuman logic: http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=443 Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:00:00 GMT On 6 June we will show our opposition to the border regime with a demonstration in front of Frontex headquarters in Warsaw. Frontex is an EU agency with coordinates the activity, training and operations of the EU's border control. It also coordinates this activity with police, the military and secret services. The Frontex- run RABITs (rapid border intervention teams) carry out military- like exercises with weaponry in preparation for operations against groups of migrants. There is growing likelihood that somebody will be shot dead for trying to cross the border. We will go to the Frontex office with the slogans "No one is Illegal" and "No Borders, No Nations" to confront the migrant hunters with the consequences of their policies and show what it is that this institution is really protecting: misery, poverty, exploitation, racism, imperalism and global capitalism. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=442 Tue, 27 May 2008 21:00:00 GMT France has made the issue of migration one of the priorities of the French presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2008. On the 13th and 14th of October 2008 the European Union's council of ministers will be meeting in Paris in order to adopt a 'European pact on immigration and asylum'. On the 20th and 21st of October the second Euro-African inter-ministerial conference will be held in Paris on the question of migrations and development ('Rabat II'). On this occassion we call for participation in a very large-scale European mobilisation during the week of 13th to 19th October in Paris, to promote a different understanding of immigration and a different relationship between the European Union, Africa and the rest of the world. We will organise at that time a counter-summit on the questions of migration and development, a big European demonstration for a different European politics, and a giant concert. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=438 Mon, 19 May 2008 21:00:00 GMT Last week after some newspapers reported on slave albour conditions migrants working as strawberry pickers in greece, the migrants in the rural area of Manolada went on strike. The workers from South Asia and the Balkans demand that their daily wage be increased from €23 to €30 (based on 12 hour work day and having rent for living in makeshift tents deducted by their employers). It is the first time that migrants in rural Greece are going on strike. Their employers have denied to give in to these demands (they are claiming that this would ruin them). Subseqeuntly 400 of the striking migrants were attacked by attacked by farmers and hired thugs. 3 trade unionists have been hurt and received treatment in hospitals. So far the poice have arreted 1 framer and 60 of the striking migrants. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=436 Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:00:00 GMT The non-existence of any legal entry to Europe for Asylum-seekers produces a market of illegal transport facilities, a prospering business at the EU-borders. The closed borders have produced this market and the criminalising the market's actors at the same time. Draconian penalties against - as the border regime calls it - “people trafficking” increases the prices for transportation on one hand, and makes the market more attractive on the other hand, as well as making a secure arrival at the aimed destination impossible. Migration from areas which have become impoverished, plundered and unliveable through war and/or through electronic/textile/raw material production and disposals are one way to defy the world order. Our protest's aim is to support the interests of the people who have decided to take this hard and dangerous path. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=434 Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:00:00 GMT While the number of migrants and refugees is rising everywhere, the European Union is implementing a more and more restrictive border regime to limit, control and "manage" migration according to its own interests. The result is violent exclusion of migrants and refugees, leading to thousands of people dying every year outside the walls of Fortress Europe, in the desert, in the Mediterranean sea or in the Atlantic ocean, leading to enforced mass deportations, leading to millions of "undocumented migrants" and asylum seekers who are deprived of fundamental Human Rights and Labour Rights. FRONTEX, the "European Border Agency", plays a crucial core role for this racist european border regime and has achieved rapidly growing importance and budget since its foundation in 2005. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=431 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:00:00 GMT On the 15th and 16th of march 2008 about 200 people attended a meeting on migration and deportation in the Malian capital Bamako organised by the AME, a grassroots organisation of deportees. This 'Association Malienne des Expulsés' wanted to pass on the experiences of the deportees from European and African countries to the 'candidats au départ' and discuss the repression of the sans-papiers in Europe and the almost complete sealing off of Africa by to the extended European border control. The AME meeting tied the struggle against deportation and for freedom of movement in Africa to this struggle in Europe. Bamako is one of the ten stations of the Transnational Chain of Migrationrelated Actions. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=430 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:00:00 GMT MayDay! MayDay! From Milano to Helsinki, from Malaga to Berlin, MayDay Parades have spread throughout Europe and beyond. They express the common will to fight precarization and the criminalization of migrants, to make the daily struggles of the precarious visible, to work together to subvert and disrupt the flows of money and power in Fortress Europe. Nowadays, precarity is structural and generalized. It's the paradigmatic condition of work. Structural, because it is the modern form of capitalistic dominance on labur, the outcome of individual bargaining at the expense of collective bargaining. Further, labor precarity is transformed into precarity for life. When the separation between working time and living time blurs, in a context where worktime can be expanded with no limits, precarized labor conditions become precarious conditions of existence. Migrant workers are the most precarious among the precarious. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=428 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:00:00 GMT On February 13th, 2008, Franco Frattini, the Justice, Security and Freedom Commissioner and Vice-President of the European Commission, presented the European Commission's so-called Border Package, entitled 'A comprehensive vision for an integrated European border management system for the 21st century'. The package is comprised of three parts. The first is an evaluation of and outlook for Frontex, the European border security agency. The second part addresses the establishment of the European border surveillance system (EUROSUR). We present this text (which was written for the german language) frontex-watch website in the context of the ongoing transnational action chain that includes an action day against frontex on the 6th of june 2008 in Warsaw. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=425 Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:00:00 GMT [updated 20.feb.08: the protests in the camps are still going on. a day to day overview of the events can be found on migreurop.org] In France, in 2 "centres de rétention" (one of the types of detention centers for migrants, where they are  before deportation) in Paris region, a strong protest movement has been going since Dec 20, 2007. Migrants went on hunnger strike to try to alert the opinion on detention, which they characterize as "shameful and arbitrary". Some of them  have written a "cahier de doléances" (after the jump; the term refer to lists of claims and complaints before the French Revolution) where they point lack of hygiene, their feeling to be "ttreated like cattle", "humiliating searches" etc... this document has been sent to, among others, the consulates of their home countries. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=399 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:00:00 GMT On September 2006 migrants associations and supporting groups created the Spanish Network for immigrants rights (REDI in Spanish), a national coordination with the objective of better comunication, of coorganizing protests and of campaigns and support for the fight for immigrants rights. In the last general meeting (Nov. 2007) more then 120 delegates from all over spain decided to call for a common action day on february 23th, just 2 weeks before the general elections. Demonstrations, actions and meetings will be celebrated in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Pamplona, Burgos, Sevilla, etc. In Andalucia there will be a centralized demonstration in Sevilla with the call: "Migration is not the problem, the problem is precarity", with the participation of buses from Malaga, Almeria, Cadiz and people from all andalusian cities. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=406 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:00:00 GMT there have been plans by the greek authorities to destroy a self organized camp of migrants erected by migrants waiting for a change to get to Italy in the greek port city of Patras. The destruction of the camp had been planned (and announced) for the 30th of January. On Tuesday 29th the vast majority of migrants living in Patras participated in a huge a huge demonstration According to greek activists who participated in the events, 'It was amazing that we were in the camp the previous day and in an assembly we organised there, a little before the demonstration, we told them who we are, what we think is going to happen and asked them to come and said that - up to a point - we can guarantee that they won't be arrested. The truth is we expected something like 50 people and we were really amazed when we left the camp with more than 400 people whom, till we reach the centre of the city, were at least 700. In the centre lots of greek people joined the demonstration and in total we were about 2000 people. It was the most amazing demonstration I have been to for a very long time. ' http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=404 Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:00:00 GMT Between February and October 2008 a series of events, protests and actions will take place in various cities and countries all over Europe and beyond : against the border regime, against detentions and deportations, against the exploitation of migrant labour and for legalization of all migrants. This transnational chain of struggles builds on the three action days for freedom of movement and the right to stay, which happened in previous years. But with this chain of events we are aiming for something more. We strongly believe that the transnational expression of migrants’ struggles against the “monster” of migration controls must be something more than a one day event once a year. We believe that the transnational space must be understood as an unified space of migrants’ struggles, happening everyday and right now. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=407 Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:00:00 GMT On 18. Dec 2007 protesters from the No Borders network blocked access to the bases of Immigration Enforcement Officers in simultaneous actions across the UK, stopping them from entering or leaving in vehicles. The protesters blockaded immigration reporting centres in Glasgow, Bristol, Newcastle, Portsmouth, London and Manchester. The protesters have been there since early this morning, and they have said that they will stay there until they can ensure that today, families throughout the country will be safe regardless of where they come from. The protest coincides with the UN International Migrant's Day. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=398 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:00:00 GMT Near Oujda (Moroccan border toen close to Allgeria ), countless deportations of sub-Saharan migrants to Algeria continue to take place since Dec 23, 2006. This initial action was but one episode of a series of mass deportations of immigrants. Subsequently, several roundups followed, a last one being conducted during the night of Oct 25/26, 2007, in Rabat, at the same time as the campus of Oujda University was violently attacked by police troops. Both roundups followed two months after the police has violently raided Oujda’s campus on July 27, 2007, to clear the area of sub-Saharan refugees, arresting more than 450 migrants and leaving several people seriously injured. Also, the roundups took place just two days after Nicolas Sarkozy’s first state visit to Morocco. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=396 Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:00:00 GMT in the last couple of days 4 reports have been made public about different aspects of the european border regime. the first one 'the truth may be bitter but it us be told' (by pro asyl and a greek lawyers collective ) focusses on the situation of migrants in the Aegean and the hostile and dangarous practices of the Greek Coast Guard. econdly there are two reports by Gabriele Del Grande (Fortress Europe) about the situation of migrants in Algeria and Libya respectively. Both are available in Italian only, but it seems that english translations are on their way (and in the meanwhile there maps of detention camps in Algeria and Libya on google maps). Finally Frontex has published (or rather could not prevent the publication of) a report about a 'Frontex-led EU Illegal Immigration Technical Mission to Libya' that took place in may/june of this year (much less critical, but also an enlightening read especially if one is intrested in bureaucratic processes that are intended to stress the importance of a otherwise marginal entity). http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=395 Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:00:00 GMT 15.000 migrants demonstrated on the 27th of october in the streets of of Brescia (Italy), reclaiming the end of the new system of the resident permits renewal (Internal Ministry-Poste agreement), the repeal of the Bossi-Fini law, a permanent legalization and the closure of all detention centers. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=394 Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:00:00 GMT Since August 22, 2007, seven Tunisian fishermen have been on trial in Agrigento (Sicily), accused of \"assisting illegal immigration\". They risk up to 15 years imprisonment. Prosecuted as human traffickers, what they did was in fact just their basic duty of solidarity: on August 8, near the island of Lampedusa, they picked up 44 passengers from a boat in distress at sea and brought them to the harbour.Without their intervention the shipwrecked people - including two pregnant women and two children - would propably have suffered the same fate as the thousands of migrants and refugees who in the last years have drowned while trying to reach the European coasts. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=391 Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:00:00 GMT On 8 August, seven Tunisian fishermen were arrested at Lampedusa and their boats seized, having saved the lives of 44 migrants from rough seas 30 miles south of Lampedusa. The seven, the two captains of two fishing boats from Monastir and their five men crew, have been charged with having helped illegal immigrant trafficking. The immigrants, that included 11 women and two children, had launched an SOS on a satellite phone before their inflatable dinghy sank. And the captains of the two Tunisian fishing boat (Mohamed el Hedi and Fakhreddine Morthada) informed the Maritime rescue coordination centre (Mrcc) asking for medical assistance for one of the two children aboard. The fishermen are suspected to be migrants traffickers because the Italian authorities did not find on their boats neither net neither fish. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=390 Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:00:00 GMT On Tuesday night (July 31st) over 150 detainees in Campsfield immigration prison in Oxfordshire held a yard protest in protest at the appalling conditions inside the detention centre. This was followed by a hunger strike on Wednesday, which was put on hold pending a meeting with Home Office representatives on Friday. A further yard protest on Friday night was held as the meeting failed to meets the prisoners' concerns. Around 10.30pm on Saturday, a riot broke out, leading to 26 prisoners escaping. 12 have since been recaptured, while the rest are still on the run. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=389 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:00:00 GMT the following article was originally written for the next issue of "archipel", a french/german magazine edited by european civic forum. the text offers some more background-informations about the situation of migrants in Transcarpatia and is based on two visits to the region in 2004 and 2006. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=388 Sun, 15 Jul 2007 21:00:00 GMT 'In the Ukrainian part of Transcarpatia the European Union keeps away refugees' this article by Stefan Dünnwald was published (in german) in the last issue of "Hinterland", the magazine from the bavararia refugee council. the article focusses on migration control in the Transcarpartia region of Ukraine. The Ukraine is a country shaken by political turbulences. And that not only because of its specific geopolitical position in the middle of the ambivalent "transit area" between European Union and Russia. As a neighbouring country east of the European Union, the Ukraine is an important transit country on the way from the East to the West. Migration being no issue so far in Ukraine and the border towards the east still as pervious as ever, the situation at the western border changed a lot through the enlargement of the EU. These changes recently led to a downright "migration tailback" along the border of the EU towards Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=387 Sat, 14 Jul 2007 21:00:00 GMT On 5 July, 2007, representatives of the central trade union committee (comité d'entreprise, CCE) of Air France passed a motion demanding from Air France KLM Group shareholders to "stop the use of aircraft of the Group Air France KLM for the deportation of foreigners". Representatives from the employers' trade unions CFDT, CGT, FO and CGC specify in the motion, which was passed a few days before the shareholders meeting on 12 July 2007 in Paris, that deportations damage the image of the company and endanger flight safety. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=386 Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:00:00 GMT From 19th to 24th September 07 we will gather at Gatwick Airport for the first No Border Camp in the UK. This camp will be a chance to work together to try and stop the building of a new detention centre, and to gather ideas for how to build up the fight against the system of migration controls. Gatwick is a border in the middle of Britain. People arrive here everyday. People are forcibly deported from here everyday. It is a place where people are imprisoned for unlimited lengths of time without trial, where people are forced to hide underground and be invisible, where people are treated as criminals for the 'crime' of crossing the border. http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=385 Tue, 29 May 2007 21:00:00 GMT