----- Forwarded Message ----- From: PICUM Communications
<communications@xxxxxxxxx>To: William Mejia <wmejia8a@xxxxxxxxx>Sent: Tuesday,
March 3, 2020, 02:18:45 PM GMT-5Subject: PICUM March 2020 Newsletter
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| MARCH 2020 NEWSLETTER |
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Welcome to the new PICUM newsletter, where we will update you about issues
concerning undocumented people once a month. The updates will focus on systemic
issues including regularisations, criminalisation of solidarity, detention and
returns, labour rights and channels, access to health-care, access to justice,
undocumented children and families.
Let us know what you think of our newsletter on communications@xxxxxxxxx.
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HUMAN RIGHTS COURT VALIDATES PUSH BACKS AT SPANISH BORDER
[Français] [Español]</ h3>
The European Court of Human Rights ruled on 13 February that Spain did not
violate the human rights of two men were pushed back to Morocco, without any
chance to explain their situation. The men had tried to climb over the Melilla
border fence to enter Europe. All 17 judges making up the Grand Chamber of the
Court agreed that the two men could have used regular channels to enter Spain
instead. Find out why we think the Court was wrong in this blog from our Board
member Adam Weiss.
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| BORDERS AND RETURNS |
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EU DIPLOMATS TURN THE SCREW ON OPERATION SOPHIA'S RESCUE CAPACITY
[Français] [Español]
The European External Action Service has called on EU governments to limit the
saving of lives at sea by Operation Sophia. A note sent to the member states'
permanent representatives in Brussels says the mission should prioritise the
enforcement of a UN arms embargo on Libya, rather than monitoring migrant
smuggling activities, and suggests that ships could be placed "at least 100km
off the Libyan coast, where chances to conduct rescue operations arelower."
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UN MIGRATION ORGANISATION CALLS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO DISEMBARKATION IN LIBYA
[Français] [Español]
The International Organization for Migration has called on the European Union
to find an alternative safe disembarkation mechanism for migrants rescued
fleeing Libya by boat. The call came in response to the return of roughly 200
migrants to Tripoli, hours after the city's main port had been heavily
bombarded.
Separately, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights has urged the
Italian government to introduce human rights safeguards in the Memorandum of
Understanding between Italy and Libya. In particular, the Commissioner has
urged Italy to suspend co-operation with the Libyan Coast Guard in returning
people intercepted at sea to Libya.
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MALTA HELPED RETURN MIGRANTS TO LIBYA UNDER SECRET DEAL
[Français] [Español]
Maltese government official Neville Gafà recently revealed that he helped
broker an agreement with the Libyan authorities to prevent people from reaching
Maltese waters and to return them to Libya. The deal was directly ordered from
the Office of the Maltese Prime Minister. Gafà said he "used to receive
information of boats departing from Libya and their coordinates from the Armed
Forces of Malta and would relay this directly to the Libyan coastguard". More
on Malta Today.
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GREECE FREEZES ASYLUM APPLICATIONS FROM PEOPLE WHO CROSSED THE BORDER
IRREGULARLY
[Français] [Español]
The Greek government has decided to stop asylum applications from people
entering the country irregularly. The measure will be valid for one month
starting from 1 March. Where possible, the authorities will immediately return
them to the country they entered from, according to Greece's government
spokesman Stelios Petsas. The announcement was made at the conclusion of a
cabinet meeting on national security. More on Ekathimerini.
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NEW MEDIA REPORTS EXPOSE FRONTEX BRUTALITY
[Français] [Español]
The Balkan Insight has reported acts of brutality by Frontex on the
Hungarian-Serbian border, including the deployment of dogs against migrants,
and complicity in serious rights violations by Hungarian officers. Frontex's
Consultative Forum had recommended to suspend operations in 2016. However, the
article reports that the Frontex Executive Director decided to ignore this and
other recommendations, and continuedoperations. The report also notices the
inadequacy of internal accountability measures such as the Serious Incident
Reports system, the risks entailed by the current expansion of Frontex'
operations and the de facto immunity that Frontex staff enjoys during
operations in third countries.
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FRONTEX ASKS NEARLY 24.000€ IN LEGAL FEES TO TRANSPARENCY CAMPAIGNERS
[Français] [Español]
Validating Frontex own request, the European Court of Justice has imposed
nearly 24.000 € in legal fees to transparency campaigners who had challenged
the agency's policy on disclosure of information before the General Court of
the European Union. Frontex request runs contrary to common practice among EU
bodies not to seek the refund of legal fees, even in case of a legal victory.
The freedom of information activists had sought access to the name, flag and
type of each vessel deployed by Frontex in the central Mediterranean under its
Joint Operation Triton in 2017. The General Court, however, ruled that Frontex
isnot obliged to disclose information on their border operations. More on EU
Observer.
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NEW STUDIES ON MIGRANTS' HUMAN RIGHTS AT BORDERS
[Français] [Español]
German foundation Heinrich Böll Stiftung has recently published a report on the
EU's policy of outsourcing responsibility from the perspective of international
law of the sea and EU human rights law. The report investigates whether states
can, by law, avoid responsibilities by disembarking rescued migrants in
Northern African countries, by directing private shipmasters to do so, or by
calling upon Northern Africanauthorities for search and rescue operations. The
report finds that states can in no way avoid this responsibility and that
neither Libya, nor Tunisia, Morocco or Algeria can be considered "places of
safety" for disembarking.
The European Network of National Human Rights Institutions has released the
report Protecting human rights of migrants at the borders which looks at how
national human rights bodies register human rights violations at the borders
and how they have used their mandate to promote and protect migrants'
humanrights.
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MAN WRAPPED IN PLASTIC WRAP IN DEPORTATION TO CAMEROON
[Français] [Español]
Media outlets have recently reported the case of a man who was wrapped in
plastic wrap on an aircraft of Turkish Airlines during a deportation from
Istanbul to Cameroon, his country of origin. Videos of his treatment were
widely circulated in Cameroon and sparked outrage. The man has denounced
violent and humiliating treatment on the part of Turkish Airlines and the
Turkish authorities. More on France 24 (inFrench).
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| DETENTION
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UK HOME OFFICE ORDERED TO REMEDY LACK OF ACCESS TO LEGAL COUNSEL FOR PEOPLE IN
IMMIGRATION DETENTION
[Français] [Español]
In early February, a British Court of Appeal ordered that the UK Home Office
stop the planned deportation of several detainees to Jamaica, because their
right to legal assistance had been violated. In fact, days before the
deportation day, a phone outage around two detention centres near Heathrow had
left the detainees without any means to contact their lawyers. As a result of
the court ruling, 25 people were prevented from being deported. More on The
Guardian.
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TUNISIAN ACTIVISTS DENOUNCE POOR DETENTION CONDITIONS FOR 800 MIGRANTS IN SPAIN
[Français] [Español]
Activists from the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights denounced that
over 800 undocumented Tunisian migrants, including women and children, have
been detained for more than five months in inhuman and humiliating conditions
in Melilla, in cluttered and dirty plastic tents, exposed to cold and lack of
food. More on InfoMigrants.
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| CRIMINALISATION OF SOLIDARITY
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GREECE ADOPTS NEW LAW TO POLICE NGOS WORKING WITH MIGRANTS
[Français] [Español]
On 4 February the Greek government passed a new bill which would require all
NGOs working on migration and social inclusion to register their individual
members, personnel and partners in a special registry. Advocates fear the
measure only aims to control and intimidate NGOs and volunteers assisting
migrants in Greece, where 53 people have been criminalised in Greece for
helping migrants and refugees since 2015. More onEuractiv.
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ITALIAN SENATE GREENLIGHTS TRIAL AGAINST SALVINI FOR KIDNAPPING RESCUED
MIGRANTS
[Français] [Español]
The Italian Senate has authorised legal proceedings against former Minister of
the Interior Matteo Salvini for kidnapping rescued migrants after delaying the
disembarkation of 164 people on board the Open Arms rescue ship for 19 days in
August 2019. Salvini could eventually face up to 15 years in jail if found
guilty. More on NBC News.
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FRENCH WOMAN CONDEMNED FOR REGISTERING UNACCOMPANIED CHILD IN HIGH SCHOOL
[Français] [Español]
Chantal Raffanel, member of the Réseau Education Sans Frontiers (Network
education without borders), was condemned on 6 February by the Court of Appeal
of Nîmes to pay 500€ for registering an unaccompanied child in high school
pretending to be his legal guardian. As with similar cases of solidarity with
migrants, the court of first instance had acquitted her in June 2019, however
the public prosecutor appealed the decision. More on France 3 (in French).
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| DATA RIGHTS |
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EU MIGRATION DATABASES: WHAT CONSEQUENCES FOR UNDOCUMENTED PEOPLE?
[Français] [Español]
PICUM has published a new blog on the Migration Policy Centre's website about
the recent EU interoperability regulations, which scale up the connection of
existing migration databases to unprecedented levels. In the blog, our Director
Michele LeVoy and Advocacy Officer Alyna Smith explore how the new regulations
could threaten migrants' fundamental rights.
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| LABOUR |
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ADVOCATES CALL FOR EFFECTIVE COMPLAINTS MECHANISMS FOR UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS IN
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
[Français] [Español]
Last December, PICUM, La Strada International and Victim Support Europe
collaborated with MEP Domènec Ruiz Devesa to organise an event in the European
Parliament to address the current shortcomings in support and compensation for
migrant workers who experience violence and exploitation. A clear take away
from the event was the need for firewalls to be implemented between reporting
mechanisms and immigration enforcement, so people will feel safe reporting
crimes or labour rights violations. More in our blog.
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IRELAND: IMMIGRATION RAIDS TARGET WAREHOUSE WORKERS IN DUBLIN AND MEATH
[Français] [Español]
Between January and February, the Garda National Immigration Bureau conducted
two multi-agency search operations at warehouses in Dublin and Meath, which led
to immigration enforcement against 25 people working with irregularities
related to their work and/or residence permits. No information is available
regarding outstanding complaints of the undocumented workers about working
conditions or unpaid wages, or efforts to ensure their access to remedies. The
inspections were carried out in conjunction with the Workplace Relations
Commission and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.More
on The Journal.
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| TERMINOLOGY |
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NEW ITALIAN LANGUAGE GUIDE FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDS NOT USING
"CLANDESTINE"
[Français] [Español]
The Italian government has released a new version of the language guide for the
public administration, where it recommends using the term “irregular migrants”
as opposed to “clandestine”. The guide further recommends using accurate
terminology when writing about migrants, distinguishing between asylum-seekers,
refugees, and irregular migrants.
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Platform for International Cooperation
on Undocumented Migrants
Rue du Congrès/Congresstraat 37-41, post box 5, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
General Tel. +32/2/210.17.80
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