Europe’s murderous borders

1 Sommaire Migreurop tory, assigning them to «lod- gings» either through the law Numerous activists for the the mechanism that is at the or police harassment, detai- Migreurop------3 rights of foreigners witnessed heart of the ’s ning them to ensure the pos- a masterful illustration of the migration policy. sibility of sending them back, Foreword------4 The work of the Methodological note------7 absurdity of European migra- imprisoning them to punish tion policies in the mediatisa- network is struc- them for making it through, Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border------9 tion of the camp in Sangatte tured around four these may be, among others, I - Controlling, Stopping------13 during the year 2000. The ef- axes: several forms embodied by II - Holding, Detaining------19 fects of the obstacles placed in this «Europe of camps». At III - Returning, Expelling------27 the way of the movement of 1. To collect information present, the police camp may IV - Dehumanising, Killing------32 people, and of the refusal to about a reality that is difficult even appear in the guise of receive migrants and refugees to capture because there is a humanitarian needs: in spite Oujda : Buffer zone between and Algeria, airlock to Europe------37 burst out into the broad dayli- will to conceal it, but also due of an official discourse that is I - Controlling, Stopping------38 ght. Usually invisible due to to the geographical scale of compassionate and prone to II - Holding, Detaining------44 their dispersal along the the phenomenon (camps in using euphemisms, it is no- III - Dehumanising, Killing------48 breadth of frontiers or billeted north Africa –Algeria, Mo- netheless nothing other that IV - Lending assistance, Resisting------54 in sites that were concealed, rocco, Tunisia, Libya– or at the flip side of the same Eu- they suddenly became visible the eastern European borders ropean policy for the exclusion Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors------58 through their concentration in –particularly Ukraine– are of foreigners. I - Holding, Detaining in France------60 the only (non)-place where hence a collateral effect of 3. To raise awareness about II - Controlling, Stopping------61 their presence was tolerated. partnership policies between the Europe of camps and the III - Hiding, (seeking to) Make invisible------64 Very quickly, it appeared these countries and the Euro- mobilisations that oppose it IV - Holding, Detaining in the United Kingdom------66 that the camp of Sangatte, far pean Union or some of its by using all the means of di- V - Removing, Expelling------68 from being an exception, was member states). vulgation that are available to VI - Dehumanising, Killing------74 merely a cog in the machinery 2. To name a reality that is us. From scientific seminars to VII - Lending assistance, Resisting------78 of a Europe that was practi- multi-faceted and cannot be the photographs taken by ar- sing the large-scale exclusion reduced to the classic image of tists, from an article to a web- Lampedusa, sentinel’s Island of Europe------82 of foreigners. The need to sha- the camp surrounded by bar- site, the entire spectrum of the I - Lampedusa detention centre: a tradition of opacity and violation of migrants’ human re reflections and experiences bed wire. A camp, as it is un- media must be used so as to rights------85 led to the organisation, in No- derstood by Migreurop, may ensure that nobody ignores II - Comments on ’s foreign policy and the management of migration lows------92 vember 2002, of a seminar even be a process rather than a that the «great detention» and about the «Europe of camps» physical space: the exclusion the «great removal» of forei- at the European Social Forum and grouping together of fo- gners are a reality in the cur- in Florence. That was when reigners does not simply rent European Union. Migreurop was born, as a Eu- translate into the creation of 4. To act on a European ropean network of activists closed centres. «The Europe of scale to mobilise against the and researchers whose goal is camps» is the collection of «Europe of camps» by promo- to make the public aware of mechanisms that constitute ting exchanges between the generalisation of the de- points of forced interruption groups with a variety of prac- tention of foreigners who do along migratory routes. Stop- tices and goals, but which can not possess residence permits ping people from crossing a act together or side-by-side in and the proliferation of camps, border, from entering a terri- specific cases. 3 Introduction

Since 2008, the Migreurop network has established a Borders Observatory 13 of the Universal Declara- shantytowns near to the ple who have died at the that is supported using a number of tools. In addition to the mailing list on tion of Human Rights re- port of Patras in Greece borders put together by tho- information on the violation of human rights at borders and the network’s calls solemnly), and by inhu- into which a thousand mi- se who criticise the «war website, Migreurop has launched a campaign for a Right of access to deten- mane travel conditions. grants were crammed until against migrants» thus only tion places for migrants (http://www.migreurop.org/breve129.html) and a While following the example the summer of 2009, or in reflect a part of the dead working group on the consequences of readmission agreements reached of nationals of rich coun- the «tranquillos» in the bodies, that are most often between the European Union and its neighbours (http://www.migreurop. tries who travel by aeropla- countryside around Oujda anonymous, which are org/rubrique271.html). 2009 is the year of publication of the Atlas of mi- ne, they could have entered where sub-Saharans waiting strewn along the main «mi- Europe after a flight lasting to find a way into Europe grants in Europe, which aims to be a «critical geography of border controls», gration routes» . The mariti- a few hours, these exiles are forced to survive, one me and land gateways into and of the first edition of the Annual report on the violation of human rights have spent a lot more to be can note the same conceal- Europe have thus been tur- at borders. left in medieval travel condi- ment, the same makeshift ned into cemeteries by poli- tions. Forced to advance shelters made of plastic and cies that nevertheless like to step by step, to multiply the rubbish bags, the same reco- present themselves as «ba- Foreword use of means of transport vered old clothing, the same lanced» and as being mar- that are as dangerous as they relegation into a sub-human ked by a concern for «co-de- For its first Annual report on the violation of human rights at borders, Migreurop are inappropriate (overloa- existence. velopment». has chosen to maintain the four symbolic poles of the misdeeds of the policy enacted ded boats, hiding places in Because the main com- by the European Union in the field of immigration and asylum. The Greek-Turkish lorries, walking through the mon denominator of these Refoulements, border, the Calais region in north-western France, that of Oujda in eastern Morocco most hostile regions…) and «adventurers’» exile is their violence, deten- to entrust their lives to those «reception» in the transit or and the island of Lampedusa in the far south of Italy, are as many stops, more or less tion, harassment who are enriched by the po- destination countries. lengthy, sometimes definitive, in the odyssey of thousands of people who, every year, licy of closed borders, in Whether, like the «exiles», Within the EU, the main by trying to reach Europe, seek to escape the fate that they have been dealt through spite of themselves, these they are within Europe, or legal tool for refoulement is chosen or forced exile. adventurers must embark whether, like the sub-Saha- known as «Dublin II». With upon a veritable ordeal of ran immigrants in Morocco, this regulation that allows Policies from the «undesirables». they are at its external edges, member states to send back world elsewhere where the formal hide-out camps] in Apart from the nume- they are both, like those who asylum seekers to the first the North to chances of enjoying a satis- Morocco and the exiles in rous similarities between reach –or fail to reach- the country through which they the South, living factory existence are consi- France or Greece pertains these cities that are, in turn, coasts of Lampedusa, iden- have entered the European conditions from derably higher than theirs to factors that may be classi- militarised borders, prisons tical victims of the Euro- territory, the threat, if they the South to the would be if they stay where fied as «sociological», it also and havens for sub-standard pean Union’s policy. Dehu- apply, of being sent back to North they were born. To this wish results from the conditions life that must be concealed manised as they are by a Greece, where less than 1% for the «success» of their of their journey: the four from the gaze of other resi- policy of inhospitableness of them would obtain pro- Between these four sta- life, one must add, for a lar- stages are often the bottom dents, there is also the physi- that is a shared feature of tection, forces refugees into ges in the migration journey, ge part of them, the often of the net, the last dead ends cal appearance of the gathe- «reception» mechanisms, by clandestinity. But legality is there are numerous similari- vital need to flee violence in a journey that is marked ring places. In the «jungles», the police repression and not the rule: it is a violation ties. There is the profile of and disorder that are mainly by obstacles placed all along those unlawful camps in the indifference of all those of all the national and inter- the «travellers»: mostly related to conflicts and war, its route in the way of those north-western France in whose greatest concern is national laws for Italy to in- young men of between 18 whether these are endemic who legitimately seek to which hundreds of Afghan, for them to remain invisible, tercept the boat people who and 30 years of age, often or temporarily acute. emigrate («everyone has the Eritrean, Iraqi or Sudanese these «migrant-wanderers» seek to reach the island of educated, they know that If the link between the right to leave any country, «exiles» have been surviving are nonetheless survivors: Lampedusa at sea and return there are regions of the migrants in tranquillos [in- including his own», article for over ten years, like in the the records-tributes of peo- them to Libya to be detained 4 5 Introduction

or deported, or for Greece the ad hoc ideological arse- tent and criticised from all re UNHCR’s presence has Methodological to expel migrants towards nal. It argues that any sides, they prepare to the principal function of Turkey, where they come concession in terms of ri- confirm the principle in lending this country the ap- from. Beyond the EU bor- ghts, or of humanitarian as- 2009. Rather than drawing pearance of being a «safe» note ders, but as direct conse- sistance, gives rise to new the consequences that area in which those who quences of its policy, ill- yearnings to leave, as mi- should be drawn as a result could previously go to Eu- treatment, long periods of grants are supposed not to of the many tragedies that rope are now physically and Peculiarities of comparison of analyses detention and expulsions be fleeing from anything, of currently comprise the daily legally blocked, without this the report constituting one of the practised by Turkey, just like being simply drawn by the records of migration to- meaning that they enjoy the The annual Migreurop network’s positive features. the raids and deportations temptation of the West. Ill- wards Europe, they use rights attached to refugee report on human rights vio- While the facts reported fall carried out by the Moroccan treatment would hence have them for their benefit to status. While it deplores the lations at borders is not the within the current events of authorities, are part of this a chance to dissuade them reinforce controls, and hen- returning of refugees to- product of a fact-finding the year 2009, the long-term harassment which, on a daily from risking the adventure. ce the dangerousness of wards Libya, which has not mission lasting a shorter or knowledge of the reality of basis, has those seeking a The dogma of avoiding crossing borders. Was it not ratified the 1951 Geneva longer period by external migration that the associa- better life as its victims. letting in a draught has an by referring to the European Convention, UNHCR has observers, like those conduc- tions have allows them to be even more harmful aim. By pact on asylum and immi- nevertheless declared itself ted by organisations like dealt with otherwise than Why? implicitly substantiating the gration adopted by EU willing to set up an «asylum Human Rights Watch, Am- through the angle of speci- idea that migrations are op- member states in 2008 that counter» in Tripoli, reprodu- nesty International or the fic events, as is often the If the same inhumanity tional, that they are not the Italian interior minister cing the Moroccan model in FIDH. It is a product of the case. crosses borders, if those based upon any need, it justified, in the month of a worse version. This is also two-fold dimension that is a The Migreurop network’s who are its victims have transfers responsibility for May 2009, the first refoule- the case in the Calais region: feature of the Migreurop work themes have served as such trouble breaching the hazards related to travel ments of migrants to Li- UNHCR has indulgently network, which is made up a guideline to organise this them, this means that the upon those who take the bya? lent itself, during 2009, to of organisations that are ac- report: in each of the areas western states do not want risk, simultaneously legiti- legitimating the «jungle clea- tive on the ground and ope- examined (except for Lam- them. They do not want mating the setting up of UNHCR’s ambi- rance» operation announced rate to defend the rights of pedusa, see below), four axes them at any cost because surveillance and repression guous role by the French government migrants and refugees, and have been included. The first their prosperity rests largely mechanisms that kill: if the- to render the hundreds of of individuals who, in their three describe the European on the durability of the in- se migrants, these exiles or The EU’s hypocrisy is exiles awaiting their chance professional or activist acti- Union’s immigration and justices that these refugees, refugees die, it is to some answered by the ambiguous to enter Great Britain invisi- vity, study and analyse mi- asylum policy: - Controlling exiles, migrants, whatever extent their own fault. discourse from the organisa- ble, if not to cause their di- gration policies and their and stopping – Holding, de- one chooses to call them, tion in charge of the protec- sappearance, by going there consequences. taining – Dehumanising, kil- seek to escape from. Unwil- The EU’s hypo- tion of refugees at an inter- to provide some «informa- This report seeks to pri- ling. The fourth – Lending ling to act upon the causes, crisy national level. Public tion» on asylum procedures. vilege, whenever this is pos- assistance, resisting, seeks to they intervene upon its ef- complaints by UNHCR It is this complex sible, the words spoken by reflect on both the self-orga- fects, in particular by trying This reversal of respon- against the Greek asylum construction that the Mi- migrants met either during nisation movements by mi- to minimise them on a quan- sibilities allows European system or Italy’s refoule- greurop annual report seeks ad hoc missions, or by asso- grants and the expressions titative plane. The theory of states to close their eyes be- ments in the Mediterranean to enable the understanding ciations that are Migreurop of solidarity by those who «letting in a draught» [es- fore any violations of rights do not make up for its ins- of, through testimonies and members or partners which act to assist them: for this pression used to refer to that their policies induce, or trumentalisation by the Eu- observations made on the are present on a daily basis latter aspect, the activist «encouraging» migrants by even encourage. Thus, far ropean policy of avoiding ground that illustrate and in the sites that are included. component of the Migreu- giving them a glimmer of from re-opening the debate asylum seekers: this has been clarify the analyses produced It also seeks to provide an rop network constitutes a hope, translator’s note] oc- about the «Dublin II» Regu- the case since the start of by the network’s members account of these organisa- privileged source of infor- cupies an important place in lation whose iniquity is pa- the 2000s in Morocco, whe- since its creation. tions’ experience, with the mation about struggles. The 6 7 Introduction

space occupied by these the- zone between Morocco and particularly ASGI, FTCR mes in each geographical Algeria, a lock on the way to and ARCI, were specifically area is not necessarily identi- Europe». The mission or in- involved in denouncing the cal, as it is an expression of vestigation reports provided Italian authorities’ intrigues the prevalence of different by other organisations (for in Lampedusa. ARCI co-or- mechanisms that are opera- example, ProAsyl or Méde- dinated several visits to the ting there and of a greater cins sans frontières for part place, followed by detailed or lesser presence of Mi- 1) have also been used. reports (http://www.arci.it/ Illegal deportations at the greurop activists or contacts, The part devoted to index.php?area=8). Finally, a as it is still a network whose north-western France makes mission organised by the size is modest (40 associa- frequent references to the Réseau euro-méditerranéen Greek-Turkish border tions in thirteen countries) report La loi des jungles by pour les droits de l’homme but which is progressively the Coordination française (REMDH, Euro-Mediterra- growing, particularly in geo- pour le droit d’asile (2008, nean network for human ri- graphic terms. http://cfda.rezo.net/). This ghts http://www.emhrn. is because it has the double net/423) in the month of The actors, characteristic of covering an February on the island had authors and sour- important part of the scope several Migreurop members ces of this report (3. «Calais and –including the rapporteur- northern France: area for among its participants. The For this report, Migreu- strays and England’s gate»), final part of this report (4. rop has thus relied, on the and of having several mem- «Lampedusa, Europe’s one hand, on reports by ad bers of the Migreurop sentry island»), which does hoc missions carried out on network as its authors. not follow the thematic or- site during 2009 by mem- A particular space has ganisation adopted for the bers of the network or vo- been reserved for the part other geographical zones, lunteers sent out within the on Lampedusa. This part rounds off these different framework of the European was not originally envisaged, works by integrating two of mobility programme co-or- but it was obligatory in the the network’s concerns: that dinated by the association 2009 report by Migreurop of the «right of access» to Échanges et Partenariats for several reasons: on the places of detention, and that (Exchanges and Par- one hand, at the very start of the consequences of tnerships, http://ep.reseau- of the year, current events agreements approved by EU ipam.org/), and on the other again turned this island into states, or the EU, with third hand by the work carried a symbol of the repressive states in terms of human ri- out by associations that are policy driven by the Italian ghts. members of the network, government to push back like that by HCA/RLAP for and dissuade migrants from the part 1. «Illegal deporta- coming to Europe, with the tions at the Greek-Turkish tacit agreement of Euro- border», or those by GA- pean institutions. On the DEM, AMERM, or ABCDS other hand, several member Detention center of Tunca, in Edirne, Turkey - March 2007 for part 2. «Oujda: buffer associations of the network, 8 Turkey and Greece share a 206 km bor- ned) and during crossings by sea using ma- der, part of which is inland in Thrace, keshift boats (inflatable dinghies). bounded by the river Evros, and a part of Due to the high financial cost of passa- it maritime, in the Aegean Sea. The divi- ges, to the risks that are faced, heightened sion of the maritime border is extremely by the reinforcement of border controls complex, as many Greek islands are loca- (between Greece and Turkey, but also ted only a few kilometres away from the between Greece and Italy or Macedonia), Turkish coast. for these migrants who "settle without The number of migrants crossing that settling", what should be a mere transit of- border each year is estimated at 150,0001. ten turns into a long wander lasting several The crossing takes place both by sea and months or even years, that keeps them in by land: across the river, on foot or hidden these places waiting at the gates of Euro- in trucks and buses. Most of these mi- pe. This wandering may also be sometimes grants come from the Middle East (Afgha- punctuated by stays in a detention centre nistan, Iraq, Iran, Palestine) and Asia (In- for foreigners. dia, Pakistan), but increasing numbers of Those who manage to leave Greece to migrants from sub-Saharan Africa (Soma- enter another European country risk being lia, Nigeria) and the Maghreb also take this sent back in application of the Dublin II route. Regulation: the fingerprints of thousands Estimates provided by Greek authori- of migrants have been recorded by the ties to the European Commission show a Greek authorities. These fingerprints sto- significant increase in the number of forei- red in the Eurodac3 database that can gners caught while illegally staying in Greek be checked by all the EU’s police forces territory: from 42,834 in 2004 to 112,364 are, as the migrants say, «their conviction»: in 2007, an increase of 162%2. they prevent them from seeking asylum The increase in the number of migrants anywhere but Greece, where they have vir- crossing this border results particularly tually no chance of obtaining it, and com- from the strengthening of checks at other pel those who do not want to stay in this points of entry into the European Union country to swell the ranks of undocumen- and especially in Spain, in the enclaves of ted people in other European countries. In Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary islands. 2007, Greece registered 25,113 asylum ap- However, the strengthening of controls plications and only 0.04% were successful at the border between Greece and Turkey on a «first decision» (138 people)4. In 2008, makes crossing this border increasingly out of 29,573 asylum seekers’ cases exami- dangerous for migrants. They face these ned, Greece granted refugee status to 14 dangers when crossing the land border on foot (which includes an area that is still mi- 3 Regulation (EC) no. 2725/2000 of the Council of 11 December 2000, Eurodac. More than a legal text, Euro- dac is, first of all, the first international biometric databa- se, collecting the fingerprints of six fingers from certain 1 Estimate by the Greek interior ministry. categories of foreigners 2 European Commission, Third annual report on the 4 UNHCR Position on the return of asylum see- development of a common policy on illegal immigration, kers to Greece under the Dublin regulation, 15 April smuggling and trafficking of human beings, external bor- 2008, http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/ ders, and the return of illegal Residents, 9 March 2009. rwmain?docid=4805bde42 11 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

people. and particularly in the Aksaray neighbou- of a report on that region for the Italian I - Controlling, Deemed undesirable in Greece and rhood, which hosts communities of mi- newspaper Il Manifesto. Unlike the mission Turkey, migrants try to leave these coun- grants in transit. This research is based on in Turkey, detention centres for foreigners tries, which often become a trap. When the discussions with migrants and the collec- were visited, but interviews with migrants Stopping number of migrants exceeds the threshold tions of accounts. The work conducted were very short, and the conditions of vi- of what is considered «tolerable» by Greek within HCA/rlap also enabled contact sits (escorted by authorities) did not allow authorities, they carry out «raids» in large with asylum seekers living in satellite towns real discussion or the gathering of ac- 1. The border control 5 cities where a large number of migrants in Turkey . It was completed after a week counts. This short 15-day field mission system in Turkey and are concentrated. They organise some en- and a half ’s stay in Izmir, in Basmane, a (completed by a photographic report) in tirely illegal return operations through the neighbourhood where migrants stay befo- February 2009 was carried out in accor- Greece land border and the river Evros. These mi- re they attempt to cross into Greece (inter- dance with the following schedule: grants, without any evidence of their stay views were carried out with migrants by Existing tensions between Greece and in Greece, run the risk of being detained going to hotels in Basmane)6. Testimonies - From 2 to 4 February: visit to the camp Turkey partly explain the lack of a com- in Turkey and, some of them, of being from members of advocacy groups of Patras. Interviews with migrants and mon strategy and cooperation in the field sent back to their country of origin, parti- (HCA/rlap in Istanbul and Multecider the medical-health officials ofMédecins sans of border control. Each of them imple- cularly Afghan and Iraqi nationals. in Izmir) were also collected. frontières (Doctors without Borders). ments its own surveillance system inde- According to the aforementioned Eu- It was not possible to visit detention - Tuesday, 3 February: Visit to Patras port pendently, evoking its neighbour’s respon- ropean Commission report, Greece holds centres in Turkey, information on these si- with the Port police (interviewing police sibility. While Greece accuses Turkey of the record for the highest number of ex- tes was collected using the testimonies of officers and coastguards was forbidden). not controlling its borders adequately and pulsions of irregular migrants, with migrants who had left the centres. - Thursday, 5 February: interview with a of letting migrants through, Turkey accu- 141,777 expulsions carried out between Interviews were also conducted with police spokesperson on the island of Sa- ses Greece of illegally returning migrants 2005 and 2007, mainly to Albania and the authorities of the foreigners’ police of Iz- mos, visit to the detention centre (brief to Turkey. countries of former Yugoslavia. mir, with the general directorate of the fo- conversations with migrants). In addition to the control systems im- reigners’ police in Ankara, as well as with - Friday, 6 February: interview with an of- plemented by the two countries, there are Methodology and running UNHCR BO Ankara, the asylum office of ficial of the Samos coastguards. European border control projects: «Integra- of the investigation the foreign affairs ministry in Ankara, and - Monday, 10 February: Interview with ted Border Management» and Operation Poseidon with the “Task Force” set up by the Tur- Mr. Apostolos Karagiozidis, Brigadier Ge- carried out by the European Frontex agen- kish public authorities in the framework of neral of Komotini Police, visit to Venna cy. Moreover, Greece enjoys partial fun- Two field surveys were preceded by a the fight against trafficking of human detention centre (interviews with migrants ding of its control operations from the research of existing information and re- beings. and the centre’s doctor). European Union (EU), representing a to- ports on these themes. Requests for interviews sent to the gen- - Tuesday, 12 February: interview with the tal sum of 26 million euros until 2013, The fact-finding mission in Turkey darmerie and coastguards remained Orestiada police chief. Visit to the Fellakio 160,000 of which have already been spent was carried out by Clémence Durand, in a unanswered. detention centre (30 km away from Ores- on border controls7. joint mission by the Migreurop network tiada). Brief interviews with the detained and the Turkish organisation Helsinki Citi- The fact-finding mission in Greece migrants, as well as with the detention cen- zen Assembly, Refugee Legal Aid Program was carried out by Sara Prestianni as part tre’s psychologist and director. (HCA/rlap), thanks to the exchange and - Tuesday, 13 February: interview with 5 Asylum seekers in Turkey are assigned to residence mobility programmes established by the in different towns chosen by the interior ministry. There Roklos Georgiades, Secretary General of association Echanges et Partenariats (Ex- are currently around thirty satellite towns, whose number the interior ministry, in charge of migra- varies every year. changes and Partnerships). 6 A few direct interviews were carried out (around tion issues. This report is the result of a five-month fifteen, transcribed entirely or in part), as more open conversations, either face to face or in an open group 7 Interview with Roklos Georgiades, secretary general field survey in Turkey, mostly in Istanbul, were preferred. of the interior minister, in charge of migration issues. 12 13 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

The Turkish control system The Greek control system Apart from the three aforementioned The sea interception operations in the As a consequence of history and the The main control body is the border authorities, the intelligence services are islands of the Aegean Sea are carried out Turkish territorial construction, as well as police, backed by the national police or mobilised in this region for operations to by Greek coastguards. In periods with of its strategic geographical location, the coastguards, depending on the region. Du- dismantle the «trafficking organisations». The more crossings (usually from March to border control system is quite original. ring land controls, the army may also take Orestiada police officers who were inter- October), navy boats come as back-up for Currently, five different authorities are part in intercepting migrants. viewed said that during the year 2008, five the coastguards. From May to December in charge of border management: the Di- While the preferred crossing points for «smugglers' networks» were dismantled (main- 2008, Poseidon patrol operations set up by rectorate General of the Police (under the migrants are the islands of the Aegean Sea, ly in Athens and Thessaloniki). Frontex were deployed in the region. interior ministry’s authority), the Gendarme- the Evros region remains an important The Greek government’s policy tends In theory, the Greek sea rescue area of rie, the Coastguards’ Authority, the Army zone of passage. to treat all immigrants as smugglers: they jurisdiction is set half-way between the two (under the authority of the General Com- This border region consists of the 80 have their vehicles seized and face senten- countries. As this line is not physically mand of the Armed Forces) and the Cus- km long Evros River and a 12 km strip of ces of up to one year’s imprisonment and bounded, it is often moved depending on toms Undersecretariat (directly under the land. On the Greek side, part of the bor- a 5,000 euro fine for each migrant they the interests of the moment. Prime Minister’s authority). der is still mined (Greece mined its border transport. If the court considers that the According to the interviewed Samos is- The army is the main actor in charge of with Turkey in 1972, following the Turkish transport constituted a threat to a migrant's land coastguards, the number of migrants border control. On the Greek-Turkish intervention in Cyprus). life, heavier penalties may be imposed. intercepted at sea was 5,300 in 2008. Sa- border, in the Aegean Sea, the coastguards Along the 92 km border, the Greek go- mos police claimed that 9,140 migrants8 are responsible for the surveillance and se- vernment has set up a control system in The example of Samos were detained on the island in the same curity of maritime borders: the struggle which it is mainly the three law enforce- Island year: it is clear from these figures that some against illegal entry into Turkish territory ment bodies that act (national police, bor- migrants arrive on the island without being and against human trafficking represents der police, army). These controls spread Lesbos, Chios and Samos are the three intercepted and are arrested after landing. an important part of their mission. out to the main towns on the road to islands north of the Turkish maritime bor- According to police sources, migrants Apart from surveillance at sea and from Athens. der where a large number of boats from pay between 500 and 600 euros for a cros- the sky by helicopter, a pilot sea and coast On this border, there are four "official" Turkey have arrived since the early 2000s. sing in an inflatable dinghy: once they arri- surveillance scheme using an automatic ra- checkpoints, managed by the border police The Migreurop research mission focussed ve on the island, they are taken to the hos- dar system has been in place since 2006. In (travel document checks and vehicle sear- on studying the control system in the is- pital for a medical examination, their particular, this system includes a radar sys- ches): three on the Greek-Turkish border, land of Samos. fingerprints are taken and they are then tem with electro-optical sensors, radio de- and one in Harmanli, on the border with In certain points of the island, the dis- transferred to the detention centre on the tection and an automatic sensory recogni- Bulgaria. In addition to these checkpoints, tance between Greece and Turkey is 1,200 island of Samos. From there, when they tion system, that enable continuous there are mobile units responsible for im- metres, but the strong currents that run leave, usually after three months’ deten- surveillance (24h/24h) over the 377,714 migration control. through this part of the sea do not allow it tion, they receive an order to leave Greek km2 of Turkish territorial waters. It is difficult to know what the techno- to be crossed by swimming. Generally, mi- territory within a month, with a boat ticket As for control of the land border in logical tools used during these controls are. grants cross at night-time on small inflata- to Athens. The detention centre is thus a Thrace, it is heavily militarised, both on the The police officials interviewed mentioned ble dinghies that are around six metres sort of compulsory transition place in or- Turkish and the Greek side. their general duty of confidentiality to long, with an average of fifteen people on der to board a boat to Athens: moreover, avoid answering. Nonetheless, during an board. most migrants spontaneously go to the informal interview with the head of the While most boats come from the Tur- police and consider arrest and detention to border police of Orestiada, a video was kish coast, some migrants interviewed at be a step in their journey to Athens and shown featuring images of migrants trying the Samos detention centre who were So- then to other European cities. to cross the border at night. These images mali and Eritrean nationals, arrived directly show the use of radars and X-rays. from the Libyan coasts thinking they were 8 Among the 9,140 migrants stopped in 2008, most were Afghan, Somali, Sudanese and Ethiopian natio- landing in Italy. nals. 14 15 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

Figures provided by the island’s autho- tices by coastguards in the Aegean Sea10. norms was a priority. A national action Extract from an interview in Istanbul on rities on arrivals show an increase in mi- The testimonies show that to avoid having plan was introduced in March 2006, fol- 11/03/2009: «When we left for Izmir, there were grants who disembarked in 2009. Thus, to receive migrants on their territory, coas- lowed by a roadmap for its development 25 of us. There was a woman with three little boys in the boat with us. We left at around 4am, and af- while 176 migrants are recorded as having tguards often choose to send the boats and a project to establish an integrated ter three hours we had almost reached Greece, on 11 landed on the island in January 2008, they back into Turkish territorial waters. The border management system (IBM, «Inte- the island. It was 7 o’clock. At this point, we saw the were supposedly 612 in January 2009. The testimonies collected by Migreurop grated Border Management»). According to the Greek patrol boat and switched off the engine. They figures on interceptions provided by the confirm those gathered by these two orga- action plan, the border management sys- threw us a rope, they told us to tie it to the dugout Samos coastguards over several years nisations. They also provide an account of tem should be entrusted to a single autho- [boat]. They pulled us like that and towed us along. confirm this increase: 225 in 2005, 531 in the violence of refoulements, during which rity, centralised, professional and non-mili- They left us at the Turkish border. The boat began to take water. The boat sank. Then they called the 2006, 2,699 in 2007 and 5,300 in 2008. the lives of migrants are clearly, even wil- tary. The roadmap’s goal is to develop the Turks to come. We stayed in the water until 12pm». This shows the growing importance of the fully, endangered. technical, legal and institutional capabilities sea route to reach Europe. Testimonies from migrants returned by to fully align Turkish border management Extract from an interview in Izmir on During our conversation with the is- the Greek coastguards give an account of with the member states’ mode of mana- 17/03/2009: «It was a small fishing boat. Wooden, land’s police chief, he took care to explain how boats are endangered (seizure of oars ging them. but it was old. And the engine was very small. Anyway, we set off like that. There were lots of us that this increase is mainly due, as is often and engines, piercing holes into the vessels, The budget allocated for the implemen- but the sea was not rough, it was going well. That stressed by Greek police officers, to a lack abandonment in Turkish territorial wa- tation of this integrated border manage- was before the winter, it wasn’t winter yet, but it of control by the Turkish authorities. The ters). ment system, in the framework of the was a bit cold. So we left and stayed on the water police chief also noted that their role was contract signed between Turkey and the for four hours. Then, our engine could no longer to fight the networks« of smugglers» and that 2. European projects EU for establishing the IBM amounts to move us forward, it was broken. But it was just 60 Turkish traffickers were arrested in 10,963,000 euros. The EU’s financial parti- when we had arrived, we could see the island. I to strengthen border think that we were only 10 or 15 minutes away 2008. Of the 9,140 migrants detained on cipation amounts to 9,834,750 euros. controls from the island. Then, as we couldn’t move forward, the island in 2008, only 46 applied for asy- In technological terms, IBM envisages some switched on their mobile phones in order for lum, but all of them have had their finger- modernising the Turkish borders’ sur- someone to come and save us. As we had stopped prints taken and supposedly recorded in The «integrated border veillance system, in particular by equipping right in the middle, we could do nothing else. A mo- the Eurodac database. management system» in Turkey with radar and satellite surveillance ment later, the Greek police arrived. We thought systems and thermal cameras. For exam- they would have taken us and brought us back Turkey with them to the island. They threw a rope out to us The example of illegal re- ple, it is planned that areas near the border and told us to hold it. We grabbed the rope and foulement practices at sea The Turkish method for the manage- will be sprayed with phosphorus that is de- they started to tow us. But they were not heading ment and control of borders has provoked tectable on one’s skin or clothing for three for the island, they were set off towards Turkey. We Two studies carried out by Pro Asyl and criticism from the European Union (EU). or four days. Exchanges of expertise and did not understand what they were doing. They ad- Human Rights Watch in 2006 and 20089 Under the 2006 Accession Partnership, training of police personnel are also provi- vanced towards Turkey, and then they left us there. had already focussed on refoulement prac- which lists the reforms that Turkey must ded for. You could see Turkey nearby but, anyways, it was too far to swim to. So they loosened the rope and undertake in order to effectively transpose took our engine. It was not working, but they took it the Community acquis, compliance with anyway. And then they told us to go back to Turkey. the Schengen border control system’s They set off and left us just like that. I was really scared because the water came into the boat, there 10 See, for example, Human Rights Watch, op. cit., were too many of us in the boat. So we paddled p.45: «The police put us back on our rubber boat. We had a small engine, butthe police took our engine and the with our hands and our shoes to go back. The wa- 9 Human Rights Watch, Stuck in a Revolving Door, two oars. The police made a hole in the boat. When we ter was so cold that you can not imagine it. If you Iraqis and Other Asylum Seekers and Migrants at the were at sea before we were caught the boat was okay, kept your hand in it for too long, you’d have a free- Greece/Turkey Entrance to the European Union, No- but when we were put back in the water, it was punctu- vember 2008. red.» «The police brought us back to the Turkish shore, 11 European Commission: project fiche on the im- zing cold hand. But we had to return somehow, so Pro Asyl, Petition to the German Federal Parliament but not on land. They gave us back our small boat, but plementation of an integrated border management we paddled like that, I did so with my shoes. And to stop deportations of refugees to Greece, 21 February they made a hole. […] We had six oars, but they only system: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/turkey/ipa/ then we reached the beach». 2008. gave us two back». tr_07_02_15_integrated_border_mgt_ph_en.pdf 16 17 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

Extract from an interview in Istanbul on mos, Patmos, Leros and Kos)12. Edirne, Kırklareli, Izmir, Hatay and Van. 10/01/2009: «I went to Izmir. From there, we set II - Holding, off in a small boat. Our boat was so small and the- On the website of the French Embassy Besides, all the provinces of Turkey have a re were far too many of us, we were 20. It was in in Greece13, one can find information branch of the Directorate General of the the winter. The waves were very high. The Greek concerning the French army’s participation Detaining immigration police where foreigners in an police arrived. Their boat was far larger than ours. in Phase III of Operation Poseidon: a Falcon irregular situation may be detained. In ad- They started creating waves around us. It was dark SURMAR 50 airplane of the national dition to this, there cells to keep people in and very cold. They were going in circles around us 1. The detention of forei- and our boat sank. We stayed like that in the water. Navy and a liaison officer deployed within custody in police stations and airport tran- There was a woman with her little girl, they both the international coordination centre took gners in Turkey sit zones. died. The water was so cold that I could not feel the part in these operations. The plane's mis- Foreign nationals in an irregular situa- blood circulating in my legs. We stayed like that for sion was to identify craft detected within The system for the deten- tions are held until their nationality has 12 hours, 12 hours in the water. The others took its area of responsibility, which covered been established by the authorities. Then, a care of me. I was pregnant at the time, I lost my tion of foreigners baby in the water. I was bleeding heavily when they most of the Aegean Sea, on sight. forced return procedure is implemented. took me out of the water. We saw a helicopter, I Parallel to this contribution from the In Turkey, foreigners are held in what Since there is no set time limit for deten- think they were the ones who called the Turkish po- defence ministry, the French interior mi- are commonly referred to as "hanesi misa- tion, it can sometimes be very long, ran- lice. Afterwards, the Turks arrived with a boat and nistry deployed two DCPAF experts (Cen- fir", which means "the guesthouse"15. Fo- ging from some days to several months, or then I fainted. I awoke in hospital». tral Border Police Directorate) in the inter- reigners may be detained only if they are even over a year. national port of Patras during the entire not in compliance with provisions for There is a total lack of transparency Frontex, Poseidon opera- period of the operation. Their mission was entry, residence or departure from Turkish about what goes on in detention centres tions to perform checks during boarding onto territory or, for asylum seekers, with the for foreigners because there is no right of The Aegean Sea region was one of the ferries bound for Italy. Turkish temporary asylum system16. access for civil society. Only lawyers and target areas of the maritime interception Greek officers seemed very pleased by Foreigners in Turkey are held on the ba- the United Nations High Commissioner project set up by Frontex. Operations car- this international participation that was sis of an administrative decision by the im- for Refugees (UNHCR) have a theoretical ried out between Greece and Malta have presented14 more as an exchange of exper- migration police that is under the authority right of access, but this right is not always been named Poseidon. These land and sea tise, rather than as a craft rescue opera- of the interior ministry. It is justified by guaranteed in practice. Moreover, there is border control operations were underta- tion. authorities as representing the most appro- no oversight body that is independent ken in the region of the Aegean, of Evros priate means to carry out certain adminis- from the authorities for foreigners’ deten- and Patras, over an eight-month period trative procedures (transfer to satellite tion places. during the year 2008. They were carried towns, return to the border...). Hence, most of the information collec- with the cooperation of several member There are important administrative de- ted comes from the testimonies of mi- states (Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Li- tention centres for foreigners in several grants interviewed after their release from thuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Nether- Turkish cities: Istanbul (Kumkapi centre), these centres. Likewise, it is through this lands, Portugal, , Spain, Sweden type of accounts that the association 15 HCA/RALP report on detention in Turkey, Unwel- and England). These countries’ action was come Guests. The Detention of Refugee in Turkey's For- HCA/rlap produced a report on deten- coordinated by Frontex. eigners' Guesthouses, http://www.hyd.org.tr/?pid=610 tion centres for foreigners in Turkey17, 16 After registering with UNHCR, asylum seekers in According to the agency’s official data, Turkey must register with the police to be able to enjoy a whose main findings were arbitrary deten- the number of migrants intercepted in temporary right to asylum. Asylum seekers are assigned tion and ill-treatment. to residence in one of the «satellite towns» that are des- 2008 has doubled, with 29,100 intercep- ignated by the police. They must obtain permission for The absence of judicial control on the any movement out of this town. If they are stopped out- tions, mostly around the six nearest islands 12 Frontex, 2008 annual report, http://www.frontex. detention decision entails arbitrary deten- side the satellite town without written permission from the europa.eu/gfx/frontex/files/justyna/annual_report_2008. police, they may be placed in administrative detention. to the Turkish coast (Lesvos, Chios, Sa- pdf. tion practices. In spite of guarantees writ- About the Turkish asylum system: «Le droit d’asile turc : 13 http://www.ambafrance-gr.org/france_grece/spip. état actuel et changements à venir avec l’entrée de ten into the Turkish constitution and inter- php?article1714. la Turquie dans l’Union Européenne», 3 April 2006, 14 Interviews with coastguards, Patras port police offi- Isabelle CAILLOL : http://emi-cfd.com/echanges-par- cials and Evros region border police officials tenariats2/article.php3?id_article=660 17 See the mentioned HCA/RASP report. 18 19 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

national conventions signed by Turkey, cular vulnerability of certain detainees is the centre, with a capacity of 200 places, is Bosnian refugees since 1992 and refugees there is no judicial control. not taken into account (serious health pro- systematically described by migrants as from as of 1999. Today, the camp Neither the duration nor the reasons blems, children, pregnant women ...). being overcrowded. The organisation Hu- operates more as a detention centre for for detention are communicated to the The attitude of police officers towards man Rights Watch (HRW), which visited it migrants than as a refugee camp. Prison people concerned. The decision to release detainees sways between indifference and in June 2008 counted more than 700 detai- conditions are relatively better in Kırklareli: someone often takes place when it is im- hostility, or even violence. Several cases of nees at that time21. while the capacity is 2,500 places, the num- possible in practice to carry out a person’s torture (falakas19) and of people placed in Descriptions of the centre by people ber of detainees is paradoxically lower than forced return. solitary confinement have been reported. interviewed for this survey corroborate in Edirne. Kırklareli detainees are not al- Thus, foreigners of nationalities that No investigation concerning violence by those presented in the HRW report. Apart lowed to move freely inside the camp en- Turkey does not deport are released after a the police has been conducted to date. from overcrowding, migrants describe the closure. They have no access to legal aid, certain period (one month or more) and It would seem that the situation is al- lack of ventilation, lack of blankets and or even to an interpreter. Asylum applica- sent back to Istanbul18: migrants coming most identical in most «Misafir Hanes». beds, as well as appalling sanitary condi- tions are dealt with depending on the from other countries may be detained until Those detained in the eastern cities near tions. Thus, many migrants catch skin di- benevolence of the police. the procedures to establish their nationality the border with Iran or Iraq are at risk of seases. Food is not distributed in sufficient and then to expel them are carried out. being led back to the border and expelled quantity and migrants have no access to Detention in the Aegean region As forced return procedures are extre- in a violent an illegal manner. Migrants ar- drinking water. In the region of the Aegean Sea, the mely expensive, the Turkish authorities re- rested elsewhere in Turkey who have Migrants have no access to care or me- Greek islands are just a few kilometres quire detainees to pay the costs of their passed through Iran and Iraq are liable to dication. They are only taken to hospital in away from the Turkish coast. The main de- deportation. Thus, detention can last until suffer the same fate20. extreme cases, hardly ever. tention centres are located in Izmir and the detainees or their families are able to The guards in the Tunca centre have Aydin. The centre in Izmir has just been pay for a return ticket. The detention centres in very little contact with detainees and do refurbished. Evidence gathered during the The right to seek asylum in detention is areas close to the border not enter the cells. The Human Rights research describe prison conditions similar virtually non-existent in practice. The with Greece Watch report highlighted the lack of man- to those in other centres, with a particu- authorities, particularly in rural areas, lack power assigned to the Tunca (4 guards for larly high number of prisoners due to the knowledge and information on the asylum Two detention centres for foreigners 700 inmates on average)22. Nonetheless, intensity of controls in this region. Howe- procedure. The police may refuse to consi- are close to the land border with Greece acts of violence by the police have also ver, migrants can be detained in gendarmerie der and transmit the asylum application to (those of Tunca, in Edirne, and Kırklareli). been reported by former detainees. stations after being arrested while trying to the competent authorities. Finally, the ab- Their common feature is the detention of cross into Greece. This is true of a police sence of translators is a major obstacle to people caught before they attempt to cross Gaziosmanpaşa centre in Kırklareli station near Dikili where migrants were access to the asylum system for persons in into Greece, or after their expulsion or re- The second detention centre on the detained for 5 months before being trans- detention. Often asylum seekers are detai- foulement by the Greek authorities. land border with Greece is Gaziosmanpaşa ferred to the competent civilian authori- ned for as long as the time of the asylum refugee camp in Kirklareli. Having histori- ties. procedure lasts, instead of being transfer- Tunca detention centre in Edirne cally served as a refugee camp, it hosted Despite the inhumane and degrading red to a satellite town. Tunca is the largest detention centre for Turkish speakers fleeing Bulgaria in 1989, conditions of detention in Turkey and the Detention conditions do not meet mi- migrants caught at the land border before violence experienced by detainees, Turkish nimum standards in this field: the centres they attempt to enter or after their expul- authorities do not speak of imprisonment, 21 Human Rights Watch, Stuck in a Revolving Door, are overcrowded, sanitary conditions are sion from Greece. Iraqis and Other Asylum Seekers and Migrants at the but rather, of reception. Yet, they are areas Greece/Turkey Entrance to the European Union, No- deplorable, water and food are not distri- According to witness accounts, deten- vember 2008. of lawlessness in which the length of de- buted in sufficient quantities. Access to tion conditions there are particularly bad: 22 Migreurop adressed a request to the Turkish in- tention depends on the discretion of poli- terior ministry, and to the directorate general of the fo- health care is not guaranteed and the parti- reigners’ police, in order to be able to meet the staff in ce officers and on a deportation procedure 19 Torture practised with a stick that is used to strike charge of Tunca detention centre in Edirne. As the centre whose legal framework remains unclear. blows on the sole of one’s feet. was undergoing refurbishment, the request was not suc- 18 Somalia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Burma and Palestine. 20 See the HCA/RLAP report, op. cit. cessful. The deputy chief of the general depart- 20 21 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

ment of the immigration police in Ankara Serious incidents and riots Testimony of migrants detained in tem that is intended to persist24. claimed23 that detention centres in Turkey On 12 June 2008, detainees in the Gazi gendarmerie stations The centres are managed by the Greek do not accommodate more people than Osmanpasa centre in Kırklareli staged a police and, depending on the circumstan- Extract from an interview in Izmir on their capacity allows and that all asylum ap- revolt against their detention conditions 22/03/2009: «The room was very small, 10 m2. ces, by the local prefecture. plications filed by prisoners were dealt with and against the abuse they are subjected to There was no window and no ventilation. There Apart from official centres, any police as quickly as possible. Thus, he said, detai- by the police. The police opened fire and a were small toilets and the only way to get some air premises may be used as places of deten- nees would not spend more than a month prisoner was killed. According to the poli- was to open the toilet window. But it was too small tion for foreigners. Most of the time, de- in detention. The HCA/rlap associa- ce, he supposedly fell off the roof, while and suddenly it stank too badly because of the toi- tention takes place in police custody cells, lets. There were 22 of us in this room. We stayed tion’s legal aid programme for refugees re- the detainees claim he was shot. there for a month and then we were transferred to and the length of detention in those pre- ceives calls directly from detention centres. There were also two uprisings in the de- another gendarmerie station. Conditions were slight- mises is arbitrary. Migrants have consistently reported the tention centre in Kumkapı in Istanbul, one ly better, but people were also frustrated because poor detention conditions, police refusals on 13 October 2008, and another one on they had been there for too long and they did not Length of foreigners’ detention to consider and pass on asylum requests, 19 December 2008. On 19 December, the know when they would be released. Until July 2009, the maximum length of as well as detainees finding it impossible to centre’s detainees rebelled against deten- In the second place where we were held, there the administrative detention of foreigners were 85 of us in two rooms. To eat, they gave us a have access to medical care. Serious vio- tion conditions and ill-treatment by the small piece of bread and a small plate of something in Greece was three months. Since then, lence by the police is also mentioned very police. On the banners that they hung on else. But this is not enough for one person for one the National Assembly has voted in a new often. their cell windows, one could read: «We are day. Inside the room, people were fighting over a law extending it to six months, or even one not terrorists, we are not dogs either!» piece of bread because there was not enough to year under certain conditions, in particular On 7 December 2008, the Tunca centre eat for everyone. We fought and I was injured be- when foreigners do not cooperate with the Extracts from interviews with mi- cause of that. They treat us like animals». grants who had been detained in Tunca in Edirne burned. 12 detainees were trans- authorities or in cases when consulates do detention centre in Edirne ferred to hospital after they were intoxica- not issue travel permits. Interview conducted in Istanbul on ted by smoke from the fire. 2. The system for the In the past, migrants who could not 27/12/2008: «After 6 days they took us to Edirne detention of foreigners be expelled were released after three prison. There were between 700 and 800 people European projects to build months in detention, and they were then there, Pakistanis, Afghans, Sri Lankans. I spent three in Greece given one month to leave the country. If months there. You can spend one month there, so- new detention centres in they stayed in the country, they could be metimes two months, this time, I spent three Turkey months there». The system for the deten- detained again for another three-month Interview conducted in Istanbul on The EU has provided substantial finan- tion of foreigners period. A young Afghan met in Patras 12/12/2008: «The prison of Edirne is really a terri- cial assistance to Turkey to build new de- explained: «I was locked up for three months ble place, you are forced to sleep on the floor. There tention centres for foreigners. It has signed Places of detention upon arriving in the country, then again a few are no blankets, and there are too many people. a project with a view to building two new The first detention centres in Greece months later. I’ve had enough: since I left my Even if you want to sleep on the floor, you do not have enough room. And there aren’t any windows. centres in Erzurum and Ankara: the bud- were opened during the years 1998-2000. country, Iraq, I have spent more time in prisons It’s a big problem, others smoke heavily». get is 19 million euros, with the EU com- Requisitioned buildings were used as de- than outside them, without committing any Interview in Istanbul on 03/01/2009: «They mitting to contribute up to 15 million tention places, particularly former mer- offence»25. are violent. With us Africans, it’s not so bad. They hit euros to it. The project partners are Gree- chandise warehouses. New centres have The report submitted to the Assem- Afghans a lot. Because they say they are Palesti- ce, the Netherlands and the United Kin- been built since 2004, in particular in the bly on the detention law justified exten- nians, and the police do not believe them, then they hit them». gdom. They will operate in the same way Dodecanese* islands (Mytilene, Chios, ding the length of detention by arguing as existing centres and there is no mention Samos) and in the region of Evros of a right of access for civil society, judicial where the new centre of Filakio opened 24 , STEPS report, The condi- tions in centres for third country nationals, Report on the oversight of the legality of detention or its gates in 2007. These second-genera- visit to Greece . REF: IP/C/LIBE/IC/2006-181, 10 De- 23 Interview in the directorate general of the police, about a limit on the length of detention. tion detention centres mark a shift from cember 2007, http://www.anafe.org/download/rapports/ foreigners’ department, interior ministry in Ankara on 25 Rapport_final_PE.pdf. March 2009. an emergency system to a detention sys- 25 Interview in the Filakio camp. 22 23 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

that three months had proved insuffi- of migrants who passed through the opened in August 2007, may be viewed as have been arrested at the border near Ko- cient in practice in cases when there were centres in 2006 was 39,853. 17,130 of the «showcase» of the new detention for fo- motini, or on the road linking the Evros no travel documents («laissez-passer») them were actually expelled. reigners centres in Greece. Hence, it differs region to Patras or Athens (they are trans- when they were issued too late, or when Generally, expulsion is only executed from the Mytilene centre on the nearby is- ferred there after some time spent in de- certain countries refused to comply with for certain nationalities: thus, out of land of Lesbos, where living conditions tention in the capital’s police station). the international obligation to readmit 16,475 irregular Albanian nationals de- are extremely poor. This former warehouse for merchandi- their nationals on their territory. The tained in Greece in 2006, 12,000 were The Samos centre cost 5 million euros se is located in a closed down railway sta- law’s rapporteur even argued that in- actually expelled. Whereas out of the of which, according officials in charge of tion that was turned into a detention cen- creasing the detention period could 4,286 Afghans detained during the same the centre, the Greek government provi- tre in 2002. The buildings are dilapidated contribute to the fight against racism by year, 15 were actually deported28. Out of ded 50% and the other 50% came from and the structure resembles a prison: the reducing the Greeks’ feeling of insecu- 4,367 Iraqis detained, 155 were deport- European funds. centre is divided into six large cells, each rity, since the population had expressed ed29. Regular social and medical services are of which can hold from 35 to 40 migrants. concerns about the sight of irregular mi- Insofar as these two last nationalities are provided (one social worker and a doctor). Sanitary conditions are appalling: lack of grants roaming freely in the country’s concerned, detention is a punitive and dis- For emergencies and during weekends, mi- ventilation (migrants told us that only po- large cities26. suasive practice, since the expulsion grants are transferred to the island’s hospi- lice officers are allowed to open the only The field survey (carried out when the measure cannot be executed in practice. tal. two windows; at the time of our visit, they detention period was three months, al- In fact, Greek detention camps fulfil se- The centre is divided into two sections: had remained shut continuously for seven though it was often extended to six) also veral functions: migrants are held there in one is for men, and the other one is for days), the food is poor, there is a lack of made it possible to ascertain that the actual order to be identified (when they arrive in women and children. Hence, families are water, not enough toilets and showers, a detention periods varied, depending on the the territory) or with a view to their expul- often separated. lack of hot water, changes of clothing, and centres and nationality of detainees. sion. From the moment when deportation As in all the centres visited, the detai- one razor is provided for a number of de- In the centres in the Aegean islands, it is not possible, they constitute a means of nees complain about their inactivity. Some tainees. appeared that detention was often limited «dissuasion». Some migrants met during this are «hired» for maintenance work in the Apart from these material conditions, to a few days (except for certain nationali- study could not be expelled because they centre. detainees complained about not being able ties, particularly Iraqis, Syrians and Iranians came from «dangerous countries», others were to buy telephone cards. who were sometimes held for several held in the centres while they awaited the Venna detention centre31 Opportunities to go out into the open months). On the other hand, migrants de- renewal of their asylum seeker’s card. The Venna detention centre is 16 km air are very limited. Detainees spend the tained in the centres in the Evros region Finally, these centres are a temporary away from the town of Komotini. The whole day locked up in their cells and may are seldom released before the maximum stop with a view to organised illegal depor- border police manages the centre. At the only leave them once every three days, for three-month period had elapsed, regardless tations towards Turkey. time of the visit, 138 migrants were detai- an hour or two. of their nationality. Finally, it seemed as ned, mainly Pakistani, Iraqi and Burmese A violent attitude by police officers was though detention measures were also deci- The detention centres nationals. On average, they had been held reported. Finally, during the visit, there ded on the basis of the number of availa- for between 60 and 70 days. None of were at least two detainees who said that ble places. During this study, it was possible to visit them had applied for asylum because they they were minors, who claimed they were four detention centres: knew that they had no chance of obtaining recorded as adults. Execution of expulsion measures any sort of protection in Greece. and purpose of the detention Samos detention centre30 According to data provided by the Ko- Filakio detention centre32 According to a report prepared for Samos detention centre, which was motini police, 1,500 migrants passed Filakio detention centre opened in the European Parliament27, the number through this camp in 2008. March 2007. It is half an hour away from 28 These returns were certainly readmissions to other Migrants detained in the centre may Orestiade, the second checkpoint on the 26 http://www.migreurop.org/article1464.html. countries. 29 European Parliament, STEPS report, op.cit. 27 European Parliament, STEPS report, op. cit. 30 Visit to the centre on Friday 6 March 2009. 31 Visited on Tuesday 11 March 2009. 32 Visit to the Fellakio centre on 11 February 2009. 24 25 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

Plans for the construction Greek-Turkish border after Alexandrou- of new centers III - Returning, to be returned without a prior return deci- poli. It is managed by the national police. sion: does this mean that Albania has read- Unlike other centres in which access is According to an article published in mitted over 87,000 people who were inter- not granted to any organisation, a pro- the newspaper Courrier des Balkans33 in Expelling cepted in Greece? gramme financed by European funds was April 2009, the Greek interior ministry In the absence of further explanations, set up in June 2008 for an eight-month is considering transforming a 100,000 While Greece and Turkey signed a re- it is reasonable to wonder whether this fi- period that provided for the presence of a m2 plot of land that used to host a admission agreement that came into force gure also refers to extra-legal expulsion «socio-psychological advisor», a lawyer (once a NATO military base into a detention in 2002, and envisaged that each state par- practices such as those observed at the week) and an interpreter. centre. The place had been used as a ty accept the return of migrants in an ir- Greek-Turkish border. This programme was coming to an end «refuge» regular situation intercepted in the other at the time of the visit. for drug addicts, homeless people and, party State back into its territory, most of 1. Expulsion of migrants The centre’s psychologist explained that more generally, others liable to «tarnish» the the forced returns from Greece to Turkey from Greece to Turkey the social programme was coming to an city’s image in the period leading up to the are not executed in application of this end due to a lack of funds despite the fact organisation of the 2004 Olympics. This agreement, but rather, illegally. Once they that most of the detainees were stuffering land reportedly includes a number of buil- are sent back to Turkey, migrants, regard- Expulsions to Turkey outsi- detention-related psychological problems. dings that would enable it to host up to less of their nationality, run the risk of be- de the implementation of The centre’s appearance is very much 2,000 migrants. ing returned to their country of origin or the readmision agreement like a prison: it comprises seven cells (one Also, according to the Courrier des Balk- to third countries. Returns to war-torn of which is reserved for women) for 30 to ans journalists: «Eight months ago, officials from countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq In order to implement the readmission 50 people each and can hold up to 370 mi- the Greek police visited the reception camp built by have been denounced by human rights or- agreement, the Greek authorities must ob- grants. Migrants are locked in day and ni- the Italian authorities on the island of Lampedu- ganisations34. tain a quota of migrants that Turkey will ght (going out into the open-air walking sa, in order to find inspiration for their own camp According to a European Commission accept to readmit into its territory from area is limited to one hour per day, accor- projects. Three different locations were inspected in report35, Greece holds the record for «ef- the general section of the foreigners’ poli- ding to the regulations, and no more than Greece, all of them in Attica. The latter could be fectiveness» in the removal of foreigners. For ce department. As for Greece, it will have 15 minutes according to migrants’ ac- turned into detention centres for thousands of peo- the 2005-2007 period, the «effectiveness rate» to prove that the migrants have passed counts). ple: a former factory in Piraeus, former barracks (the ratio between the number of actual through Turkey. A majority of the migrants present had in the northern extremity of the region, and the expulsions and the number of expulsion Authorities in both countries criticise arrived in Greece at least a year earlier and Aspropyrgos camp near Athens. According to po- decisions) was 260%. During that period, the scant application of this agreement lay- had been detained twice for three months. lice data, there are over 1,400 irregular migrants, while there were 54,608 expulsion deci- ing responsibility for its dysfunctions on They had been arrested in the cities of Pa- a figure that is far higher than the accommodation sions issued, 141,777 migrants were de- the other party. The Greek authorities tras, Corinth and Athens, and also in the capacity. In most cases, the people stopped spend ported. This means that nearly two thirds blame the Turks for systematically ques- countryside. three months in those camps and they then return of the migrants expelled from Greece tioning where the migrants have come Although the police explained that one onto the street, because the number of irregular were sent back without them having re- from, or for agreeing too late to their re- cell was reserved for minors, an unaccom- migrants who are actually expelled is very small». ceived an expulsion order. The Commis- turn (after the migrants detained in Greece panied six-year-old minor was nonetheless sion explains this discrepancy through the have been released from the detention detained in a cell with 54 adults. The police existence of readmission agreements (in centre). The Turkish authorities defend then claimed that he had arrived only a few particular with Albania) that allow people themselves by accusing Greece of seeking days earlier and that they intended to trans- to send migrants to Turkey who have nev- fer him elsewhere. er set foot on its territory but have trav- 34 Human Rights Watch, op.cit. 35 European Commission, Third annual report on the development of a common policy on illegal immigration, smuggling and trafficking of human beings, external bor- 33http://balkans.courriers.info/article12843.html. ders, and the return of illegal Residents, 9 March 2009. 26 27 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

2. Returns by Turkey to- elled through Libya instead36. to Turkey, and a part of them were set free a Greek brand, etc…). we were being returned to Turkey. In Souflione, The officials who we met in Ankara37 because the detention sites were full. This Witnesses also described night-time wardsthey put us inthird prison, conditionscountries were really claimed that Turkey had readmitted 15,146 «migrant hunting» policy led to the «closure» operations: after ensure that there are no bad. They locked us up there, and there were 35 people already. There were 70 of us in total. migrants since 2002, in application of this of the Patras campsite after it was des- indiscrete eyes on the Turkish side, the DetentionWe stayed there for as two a days. means We had noto blan - agreement, but without telling us the troyed. It also created a veritable atmos- Greek police officers make migrants board facilitatekets or mattresses. returns Then they brought 10 more number of requests submitted by Greece. phere of terror in Athens, where some little boats in groups of 20 and then push people in. The women were elsewhere. migrants were the target of punitive ac- the boats towards the Turkish part of the SeveralTwo days reasons later, they maymade preventus come out Turkey and tions by far-right groups. river Evros. The migrants are then aban- fromsign some effectively documents. executing We did an not expulsion know what de - Mass arrests followed by was written on them. Talking or asking ques- illegal expulsions According to testimonies that we col- doned in the middle of the night, without cision:tions was doubts forbidden. about People the who nationality tried to speak of a lected, the practice of illegal deportation them knowing where they are, deep in the foreigner,were beaten. refusal by the country of origin Mass arrests in Patras and Athens to Turkey had been used since approxima- forest. Witnesses claim that they were then to issueThere awas travel a child permit, who spoke or theGreek, financial but Many migrants have suffered these tely 18 months earlier in order to «clear» the arrested by the Turkish police and detained costthey didof notthe allow expulsion. him to translate Hence, for migrants us. They mass arrests in Athens and Patras, and places where migrants tend to gather. The- in Tunca centre in Edirne. mayasked be us detained where we for wanted months. to go, to Athens, to have then been expelled to Turkey. se arrests apparently take place at regular Account by an Afghan national, a vic- Europe…In order I said to toenable England. the Then expulsion they made of usmi - sign the document. Round-ups usually take place in areas intervals, every month or month and a tim of round-ups in Patras and deported grants,After Turkey signing thehas document, signed a numberthey made of us re- where there are large numbers of migrants, half. to Turkey. admissionwait for two agreements hours. We thought with thatthe theymigrants’ such as in Patras and the neighbourhoods We were able to collect accounts from countrieswould release of us,origin: but another agreements bus, an army are bus,cur - in Athens with a high concentration of the victims of round-ups in November rentlycame andin forcethey made with us Syria, board Ukraine, it. They closed Roma - migrant population, like Agios, Pantelei- and December 2008, as well as those in Ja- niathe anddoor. WeKyrgyzstan. looked outside Police and sawcooperation that there was another bus filled with people. Along the monas, and Attiki in the city centre. nuary 2009. These arrests are intensifying Interview in Istanbul in November agreementsroad, they stopped or «memoranda to pick up otherof understanding people. It » There was an exponential increase in in some neighbourhoods, where they take 2008 thatlasted include 30 minutes. clauses Then onthey readmission made us get out. have raids in the capital during the months of place every two or three weeks. «I had been living in Patras for 4 months. I had beenThere signed must have with been Italy, around Belarus 200 of and us. ThereGeor - May and June, with police patrols and roa- In Patras, arrested people are placed in tried to find work but it was very difficult. Then, in gia.were Moreover, armed soldiers Turkey waiting has for commenced us. They orde ne- - November, I was arrested by the police. The police red us to go straight towards the river. They dblocks whose main purpose was to iden- the police station or in premises inside the arrested us all over town: they arrested me in the gotiations with a long list of countries with tify migrants. The government also issued harbour. In Athens, they are locked up in apointed view to their signing weapons readmission straight at us. agreements It was as if street while I was walking. I did not recognise them, they were trying to be discreet, because they public statements about its will to «clear» the police station for as long as it takes to they wore civilian clothes and no uniform. They withkept lookingthem, atin the particular Turkish side with to make Ethiopia, sure 38 Greece of the problem of immigration. gather around one hundred people, in or- bound my hands, so tight that I could not feel my Iran,there Iraq,was nobody Libya there. and AzerbaijanIt seemed as though. Apart Numerous arrests followed, while controls der to take them to Alexandroupoli by bus hands anymore until I got to Turkey. They put us in fromthe Turkish the readmission authorities knew of nothing nationals, about some this. a car and brought us to the police station. We There was a small boat, and they made us based on physical traits greatly increased. or by boat, and then make them cross into stayed there for an hour, and they took us so- agreements may also provide for the re- The campsite in Patras was a target of this Turkey through the river Evros. admissionboard it in groups of migrants of 25. The who boat wentonly back passed mewhere else. There were 23 of us. They took and forth in order to take everybody to the repressive policy as well. In June and July our fingerprints and said that they would pre- throughother side. the It wassignatory at night country and we were in transit. in the 2009, there were round-ups inside the Expulsion operations across the ri- pare a document for us. They told us that they middleThe of financial the forest. cost of an expulsion campsite (police officers previously limited ver Evros were going to take us to Athens. Then, in the measure is a further difficulty that accounts themselves to arresting migrants outside The migrants we met explained that evening, they made us board a bus. They picked for the fact that migrants coming from up 15 people from another police station. We the campsite, in the harbour). Some of the they only stayed in detention premises in rode along for five or six hours, then we began countries to which expulsion proves costly people stopped were locked up in deten- Patras or Athens for a few days before they to realise that we were not going to Athens. (in particular nationals of sub-Saharan Af- tion centres, others were illegally deported were transferred to Alexandroupoli by They told us that we had to go to Alexandrou- rican countries), may be detained for boat or by bus. They were sent back to poli first, and that we would then head back to months without being sent back. Thus, 36 They also stress the fact that among the requests Turkey after they were stripped of any evi- Athens, for the documents. We travelled for 12 made in 2003, Turkey had accepted to readmit 8,000 hours. They took us to Souflione. We thought people, whereas Greece was only able to send back dence of their stay in Greece (official do- that they were going to place us in detention 38 However, Turkey is unenthusiastic about signing 2,225 migrants. cuments, asylum seekers’ cards, Greek readmission agreements with European countries and 37 Directorate general of the police in Ankara, Forei- and that we would be set free after three even more with the EU, as it is aware that only the mem- gners and asylum department. transport tickets, items of clothing bearing months, but then we began to understand that ber states will benefit from them. 28 29 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

41 Turkey demands that migrants facing expul- nationality . Account by an Afghan national arres- camp. Ten days later, the police officers threate- sion to accept responsibility for the cost of ted in Patras in December 2008, illegally ned to expel us to Afghanistan, and said that we their return. In these cases, the practice of deported to Turkey then expelled to had to pay for our plane ticket because othe- detention may be considered a means of co- Afghanistan - Interview in Calais in rwise they would deport us by land, leaving us ercion used to push the detainees or their August 2009 at the border with Iran. Turkish police officers When I arrived in Athens I had no more know perfectly well that there are many kid- families to pay for the return ticket at the money, I used to sleep in parks. Hence, I deci- nappings of migrants in that region in order to earliest possible moment. Since there is no ded to go to Patras and to try to cross into Ita- extort money from their families. Sometimes set maximum length for detention, foreign- ly. I would run after lorries in order to hide kidnappers cut migrants’ fingers or their nose ers may be detained for several months39. beneath them and be able to board a ship. One because the money does not arrive. So I had night, the harbour police found me in a lorry. my family send me the 500 dollars that I had to They made me get out and beat me very vio- give the Turkish police to pay for my expulsion Refoulement of migrants to lently. They then took me to a detention camp flight to Afghanistan. I was expelled on a regular Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan next to the town of Komotini, the Venna deten- flight, there were 20-30 Afghans deported and tion centre, more than a day’s bus journey away around 20 Turks who were going to Afghanistan Turkish authorities find expulsions to from Athens. on business trips. Once in Afghanistan I stayed Iran and Iraq less costly and easier to exe- In the Venna camp, we were held in cells in Kabul, I did not want to return to my region cute, as the two countries share a common containing 30 people. We could leave our cell of origin, as it would have been too dangerous. where there was neither air nor light for one A few weeks later, I resumed my journey to Eu- border with Turkey. The two countries’ hour every two or three days. There were only rope. nationals are deported there very conven- two phones outside the cells. The police kept Illegal deportations at the iently, by bus, without the Turkish authori- insulting us, they called us «malaga» (an insul- ties expecting any financial contribution ting and dehumanising term in Greek). When I eastern borders from the migrants. Once there are enough first arrived in the camp, the police told me that Some of the deportations taking place I would be detained for three months. But they detainees to fill a bus from the Edirne cen- did not release me after three months had at the eastern borders are conducted in an 42 tre, migrants of Iraqi or Iranian origins are elapsed, and gave no justification for this. The illegal way: for instance, on 23 April 2008 , taken back to Turkey’s eastern borders. Greek police officers only let me out after 6 in the region of Silopi, the Turkish authori- The report published by Human Rights months’ detention. The police transferred me ties requested the readmission of a group Watch in November 200840 described the with 15 others (a Pakistani, 3 Arabs and 12 of 60 migrants into Iraq. The Iraqi authori- deportation of two asylum seekers from Afghans)* to a military camp near Alexandrou- ties accepted the readmission of 42 Iraqi poli where several hundred people were loc- Iraq who, after they were sent back from ked up in a single room. We only stayed in that nationals and refused the other 18. The Greece toTurkey and then detained in Ed- camp for a few hours. At around midnight, the Turkish gendarmerie then forced the 18 mi- irne, were handed over to the Iraqi Kurd- soldiers called me and 50 others and made us grants to leave Turkish territory by swim- ish authorities. They were jailed and tor- board an armoured military truck. They brou- ming across the Tigris river. Four of them tured in Iraq. ght us next to the river Evros, after a 1 hour lost their lives. and 20 minute journey. The Greek border poli- 43 Turkey also maintains good relations ce made us board small boats in groups of 20 On 12 September 2008 , services of with Afghanistan and returns Afghan mi- and pushed us towards the Turkish side of the the foreigners’ police department in Van grants on condition that they can afford to border. summoned a group of 25 Uzbeks, men, pay for their return ticket. However, Turk- We started walking through the forest wi- women and children, asking them to come ish authorities were unable to provide fig- thout knowing where to go, we were afraid and and get food as well as school materials for ures showing the number of returns per we were cold. After walking for a few hours, we the children. These people were deported saw a house. So we asked for help, for some- thing to eat. The owner of the house told us he to Iran on that very day. Police officers first could only help us after calling the police, othe- rwise he would have had problems. So he called 42 Website of the HCA/RLAP association, http://www. 39 Some figures are available in the HCA/RLAP report, 41 Interview in the directorate general of the police, forei- the Turkish army and they arrived some hours hyd.org.tr/default.aspx?sid=17. op.cit. gners’ department, interior ministry in Ankara on 25 March later. They took us to the Edirne detention 43 See the press release about the event by HCA/ 40 Human Rights Watch, op.cit. 2009. RLAP: http://www.hyd.org.tr/?pid=677. 30 31 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

1. A dehumanisation pro- confiscated their money and their personal Neither the nationality of the migrants nor worlds without any protection from all sorts belongings, then brought them into the the legal bases for the expulsions are fur- cess of abuses, in particular by landlords, but mountains where they were forced to head ther specified. also by employers who take advantage of towards the Iranian border under the threat Arbitrary detention in degrading condi- Degrading living conditions this unregistered and cheap labour force. of shotguns. Yet 22 people in the group and police violence Acts of racketeering and harassment by the were recognised had been acknowledged as police have also been reported by migrants refugees by UNHCR and were in order IV - Dehumanising, In Turkey like in Greece, detention in Istanbul. with the Turkish police services. On 22 conditions, humiliations and police violence In addition to these destitute living September the group managed to return to Killing turn detention centres into sites of dehu- conditions and violence, migrants have to Turkey. In testimonies collected by human manisation. face the hostility or indifference of Turkish rights associations such as Amnesty Inter- society. While migration is a hot topic for national44, the women reported being tions, physical and psychological violence, In Turkey debate in Europe, in Turkey, on the other threatened with rape by the police and the the risk of death at borders, roaming and The border between Turkey and the Eu- hand, it is not a priority concern for society. group explained that they had been held as waiting in uncertain living conditions, daily ropean Union starts in Istanbul. Migrants The majority of the Turkish population hostages by traffickers for a week. denial of their rights: these mark the mi- gather in certain neighbourhoods in the have almost no idea about this phenome- However, the authorities in Van arrested grants’ «epic» journey on their way to Euro- town: Aksaray is an almost compulsory stop non. The media are only beginning to ap- the same group again on 11 October, held pe. The situation at the Greek-Turkish bor- for many migrants in transit. It is the place proach the issue now, and some civil society them in detention for two days and then der is an example of these journeys, sown where they come together, where they pre- organisations are starting work concerning deported them to Iran on 13 October. All with pitfalls and sometimes punctuated by pare the crossing (like looking for informa- the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. contact with this group was lost after that. violent deaths. tion, preparation the journey, meeting the Extract from an interview in Istanbul According to the local press in eastern smugglers, deciding the details of the jour- on 27/12/2008 : Turkey, in the regions of Van and Silopi ney, etc.). Many migrants’ testimonies were «You know, you are not welcome in Greece.* (on the Iranian and Iraqi borders), expul- collected there. Some people tell you very harsh things, they get sions of migrants are fairly frequently. Migrants in Turkey live in difficult and very annoyed with you. What they say is really har- uncertain conditions, dangerous for their mful and depressing. Because you have prepared mentally for the journey, it is hard and dangerous, health and with disastrous psychological and you hope that this time you will get through. 45 consequences . They cram into flats most But when they catch you, you just collapse. You are of which have unhealthy conditions (insula- depressed. If you start shouting as well, if you try to tion problems, fungus on the walls, invaded say something, they hit you. You know, we don’t even by cockroaches and other insects…) but ask them for some respect, but if they also hit you, without being able to escape exploitation at you know… The Turkish police, the gendarmes, they are the hands of their landlords. really violent, they hit you hard. In their prisons, The journey into Greece is so perilous they don’t give you any food, they don’t give and unpredictable that migrants may conti- you anything. They don’t care if you’re old, if nue living in such conditions for several you’re sick, if you’re pregnant. You don’t have months or even years. During this waiting the right to speak to them, nor the right to ask to go to hospital. If you do so, if you talk to period the migrants, most of whom are un- them, they beat you. documented, fear being arrested and detai- Once, there was a detainee in our cell who was Afghan camp in Patras - Greece - February 2009 ned. So they survive in parallel and invisible very sick. He was really sick, we thought he would die, he was unconscious, he did not move any more 44 Amnesty International press release, «A group of refugees in need of protection», 14 October 2008, http:// and did not answer. We started making noise to www.amnesty.org/fr/for-media/press-releases/turkeyiran- 45 Beyzad Yaghmaian, Embracing the Infidels, Sto- act-now-protect-refugees-20081014. ries of Migrants on their Trip to Europe, Delta, 2006. 32 33 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

alert the police, to tell them that he was dying. Four Extract from an interview in Izmir on of them came and asked us what was going on. We Thus, over 1,000 Afghans were awaiting 22/03/09: ten they are deemed the sole guilty party for told them that the man was dying. One of them a perilous and uncertain passage into Italy in «I tried to get through ten times, but they retur- taking these risks, and are criminalised even had a bottle of water. He came in and emptied the a shantytown next to Patras harbour. On 12 ned me ten times, in the same way. You get really ti- though they have no choice but to risk their bottle on him. He said: “He is better now”. I don’t July 2009, the camp site was razed, after red, you know. Every time you try, they send you lives. know why he did that. When we were released, he months of police harassment. The migrants back. You try again, they send you back again. I lost Many victims also perish during the sea was taken to the hospital and stayed there for over a lot of money, but most of all I lost all my energy two weeks. That was in Turkey». dispersed into makeshift shelters in the along the way. It is really unfair. They send you back crossing: to reach Greece by sea, migrants nearby town, awaiting a passage into Italy like that. Why do they think we try so hard to get cram more than 20 or 30 persons into a In Greece that is becoming increasingly difficult. through, just for fun, or what? After so much travel- boat. Grocery stores in the Basmane neigh- After crossing the border and often after Growing numbers of migrants give up on ling and so much time, so many dangers, do they bourhood sell life jackets. If their budget a period of detention, migrants head to- the idea of hiding under a truck and set off think we want to be sent back because we have no allows it, some will buy one. Others have right to be there? If we had a choice, we would not wards Athens and Patras in order to try to along the land route through Macedonia, come this far to be treated like dogs, what man already paid all they had to the smuggler: a reach another European country (usually Serbia, Hungary and Austria to finally reach would choose to go through that?» one-way journey to Greece in a zodiac boat Italy). Here, again, their stay may last for Italy. Extract from an interview in Istanbul costs 1,500 dollars, without any guarantee some months or years. On the opposite side of the harbour, on 9/03/09 : of arriving there alive. In Athens, where they often come to- some 200 migrants who mostly come from «They don’t even ask you your name. They say The Greek-Turkish border is mined gether by nationality, migrants concentrated Somalia, Nigeria and Palestine are in an even nothing to you. There were 100 people in the prison. from Kastanies to Nea Vissa. According to They send us back in boats, in groups of 30. There in certain neighbourhoods in the city, where worse situation: they seek shelter under a were three Iraqi women and a Somali one, all of an article in Ta Nea on 26 October 2006, 90 they generally live in extremely poor condi- tree under which they pile their belongings, them with children. They just don’t care about doing people died on that border because of the tions. Unhealthy lodgings such as the they use cardboard to cover themselves and that to children». mines47. Apart from the numerous deaths, «Afghan Hotel» (which served as a shelter for wait until they can resume their journey. one must also add those who are wounded. hundreds of migrants until it was closed 2. Deaths at the borders In the Alexandroupoli hospital, a «cell ward», down following a spectatular police opera- Deportations that deny any Extract from an interview in Istanbul tion in December 2008 ) represent waiting Many migrants have died as a result of human dimension on 27/12/2008: places where many migrants survive. trying to cross the few kilometres that sepa- «Of course I’m afraid. Because it is a huge risk. They are exposed to acts of violence by The deportations towards Turkey of mi- rate Turkey from Greece, along the sea or Here we are talking about it as if it were a joke, but the authorities and the population alike. The grants caught in Greece are carried out in land routes. it is no joke. Really. Some people die here. When you increase in social tensions in Athens has tur- ways that disregard humanity. They are de- According to the Fortress Europe press walk to this border, you can see plenty of things. 46 Others lose their arms and feet because of the cold. ned migrants into a prime target for attacks ported collectively, forced to remain silent review , 1,074 migrants have died in the Some are seriously injured. It really isn’t easy. You and violence by far-right groups. The hos- for fear of being beaten, and turned back Aegean Sea since 1988, 112 people died of may believe in God, but anything can happen there. tile attitude of part of the population to- towards Turkey in an almost mechanical hypothermia as they sought to travel across Anything can happen, and none of it is fair. The po- wards migrants encourages operations re- way, without even being asked their identity. the mountains in Turkey and in Greece, 92 lice really could behave better than they do. They ferred to as «neighbourhood cleansing». They are treated like a burden that must be people lost their lives in the minefields in don’t have any reason to hit you. Because, basically, Living conditions worsen for those who disposed of as quickly as possible. Thrace, and 33 were killed by bullets fired we don’t do anything wrong. We travel because we don’t have anything in our country. I just travel. We cram into the Patras harbour with a view to by the border police. These figures that only don’t travel for drug trafficking or to become terro- trying to cross into Italy by sliding under the take into account cases reported by the rists. We are simply people who want to go elsewhe- chassis of a lorry. Violence and harassment press, only reflect a part of the tragic reality. re. Because we really have nothing in our countries. form part of their daily life. In Patras you Determined to enter Europe, migrants seek You know, most of the people who leave their often come across migrants with a swollen to pass using increasingly dangerous routes, country like that have no idea of what they are going to find. If it’s their first time there, even if you eye, a broken arm, bruises, traces of blows. placing their lives even more at risk. Too of- tell them, they won’t believe you, because they won’t When asked about their wounds, they believe that Europeans do things like that». answer «the commando», referring to the port 46 http://fortresseurope.blogspot.com/2006/01/forte- police. resse-europe.html. 47 European Parliament, STEPS report, op.cit. 34 35 Illegal deportations at the Greek-Turkish border

guarded by police, is reserved for migrants: An account of roaming gathered in Patras on 2 February 2009 several of them stay there after undergoing K. left Afghanistan in 2006. He crossed the surgery, which are often amputations. Once border with Iran, then the one with Turkey. Af- they leave the hospital cell, they are transfer- ter a six-month stay, he crossed the border into red to detention centres or return to the Greece: with a group of 100 people, he walked Oujda : Buffer zone between open air camps in Athens or Patras. through the Evros region. He was arrested by the Greek police and detained in the Venna camp. His fingerprints were taken. He was re- Morocco and Algeria, 3. Roaming leased after three months and asked to leave the Greek territory within a month. The 150,000 migrants who breach the He then went to Patras, on his way to Italy airlock to Europe European borders every year through Gree- where he said that he had always dreamed of li- ving. He was returned twice by the Italian poli- ce are potentially condemned to roaming. ce, and the third time he managed to board a In accordance with the Dublin II Regu- ship to Venice. After he was arrested in Venice, lation, the country through which a migrant the Italian police took him to a reception cen- has entered the European Union is one of tre. the criteria determining which of the EU K. believed it was the start of a new life, states will be responsible for examining their learned Italian, followed a course for integra- tion into employment, but was sent back to asylum request. Migrants who have passed Greece six months later in application of the through Greece and managed to leave this Dublin II Regulation. country, hence risk being sent back there if In February 2009, he was living in the Patras their fingerprints have been recorded in the camp again, with the asylum seeker’s document Eurodac database. that he was issued in Athens airport, but which does not give him a right to anything. In effect, although the system for the He is trying to leave Greece again, to return protection and reception of asylum seekers to Italy. is absolutely failing in Greece, several EU K. ends up saying: «I just need a place to settle countries continue to returning migrants down in. I can’t believe that Europe is a shantytown there. After a journey that often lasts several in which you spend the day running after a lorry. I months to reach another European country, would like a place in which to start my future. I would like a place where I could finally stop running. months to get to a country in which to ap- ply for asylum, a forced return to Greece is sometimes carried out years later. Back in Greece, the migrants find them- selves in Athens airport, just with an asylum seeker’s document on them. They are condemned to roaming and most of them decide to leave Greece again, but as they are do not have a right to claim asylum in another European country, they will be condemned to the non-status of un- documented migrants.

Grave, Christian cemetery, , Morocco, 2009 36 Oujda : Buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria, airlock to Europe

The drafting of this part has been provided, following a mission to Morocco (April 2009), by Jean-Pierre Alaux (Gisti-Migreurop) and Diane Kitmun, participant in the dle of the Sahara or into the mined no man’s migration. This little «game» that consists framework of the mobility programme of the association Échanges et Partenariats. land on the desert border with Mauritania, in exhausting migrants and dissuading This section owes plenty to the work, documents and assistance of the Associa- as happened again in the autumn of 2008. them from continuing their journey to- However, the deportations are most often wards Europe is, in effect, highly apprecia- tion Beni Znassen pour la culture, le développement et la solidarité (ABCDS), the even more symbolic than those practised ted by the European Union. A series of Groupe antiraciste d’accompagnement et de défense des étrangers et migrants by the states of the European Union affec- diplomatic and political-legal events during (GADEM), Caritas, Médecins sans frontières Spain (MSF-E) and the Association de ting asylum seekers in application of the which EU representatives have presented sensibilisation et de développement des Camerounais migrants au Maghreb (ADES- Dublin II Regulation. In both cases alike, it agreements with Morocco and cooperation CAM). is likely that the majority of victims will re- in the field of migration policy as exem- turn – it is a matter of a few months or plary bear witness to this. Referring back to weeks in Europe and, insofar as Morocco just the last six years, one can note: - About systematic refoulements to Al- is concerned, of a few hours or days. March 2003, the EU assigns its new I Controlling, geria «It is a permanent game of ping pong between «neighbourhood policy» with the goals of A few hours in the working class neighbour- Morocco and Algeria», Hicham remarks. «Al- seeking «to ensure the good functioning and safe Stopping hood of Takadoum, on the outskirts of , are enough to collect the testimonies of a most all the times people are stopped result in the management of the future eastern and Mediterra- number of victims of «refoulements» to Algeria. police or gendarmerie carrying out this sort of ope- nean borders, to promote lasting economic and so- «Morocco is like a bank of migrants that it Almost everyone has experienced them, often rations with regards to which the Algerians look cial development in the border regions and to pursue moves like others move capitals to make them several times, even if they have only spent at the other way. The foreigners are abandoned in the regional and transnational cooperation1». The or- yield», explains Hicham Baraka, of the asso- least a few months in Morocco (Testimonies wild on the Algerian side. If they express some der of the goals clearly sets the hierarchy ciation ABCDS (Association Beni Znassen collected by Migreurop, Rabat, 18 April 2009). immediate whim to return to Morocco, some shots of priorities. - Sidi, 20 years old, Senegalese, in Morocco pour la Culture, le Développement et la Solidarité), since 2002, 5 refoulements to Algeria; are fired in the air to dissuade them. On the other 26 June 2003, Morocco adopts its 02-03 based in Oujda. It is in a prime location to - Malik, 29 years old, Senegalese, in Morocco hand, sometimes, it is the Algerian soldiers who fire law «concerning the entry and residence of observe these movements. The town is since 2003, 7 refoulements to Algeria; to push them back into Morocco as quickly as pos- foreigners in the Kingdom, irregular emi- around fifteen kilometres away from the - Keita, 26 years old, Malian, in Morocco sin- sible. In any case, those who are deported return gration and immigration». For , Algerian border, which has been officially ce 2006, 3 refoulements to Algeria, including there because it is where they seek to set off for emigration without prior autorisation from one to the Sahara (700 kilometres in 15 days to closed since 1994. While the border post return); Europe from». Deemed sterile insofar as the their own territory became a criminal of- on the main road that leads to it stays shut, - K., in Morocco since 2002, 5 attempts to repression of irregular immigration is fence (art. 50). As for the irregular immi- some routes across the fields are unceasin- go to Europe (twice by climbing the fence in concerned, instead, these expulsions are a gration of foreigners in Morocco, it is re- gly used by the Moroccan law enforcement Melilla, three by sea routes), 5 deportations to godsend for looters from all over the place pressed using a model that was deliberately agencies to discretely «remove» more or Algeria next to Oujda; and from both countries –civilian, police copied from French regulations. less numerous groups of migrants who are - Ousmane, 25 years old, from Burkina Faso, or soldiers- who, according to consistent In 2007, Morocco received 190 million one year in Morocco, 1 attempt to enter Ceuta, stopped throughout the country from its 1 refoulement to Algeria in Oujda; testimonies, steal from the unfortunate mi- euros to «support the priority goals of the ENP 2 territory. Generally, the law enforcement - R., Malian, 23 years old, three or four years grants on both sides of the border. The Action Plan ». For the 2007-2010 period, it agencies leave them at night a few hundred in Morocco, refouled each time he tried the first predators act ruthlessly in the police was assured 654 million euros and the metres away from or, at most, a few kilo- crossing; stations in Morocco during police custody. metres into Algerian territory. - K., in Morocco since 2002, 5 attempts, 5 There, all the money that is not well hidden refoulements to Algeria near Oujda; 1 European Commission, Paving the way for a New In 2009, whoever speaks with migrants and mobile phones change hands, even Neighbourhood Instrument, 2003, http://eur-lex.europa. - M., 4 attempts, 4 refoulements; eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!D in an irregular situation, who are mainly - C., 2 attempts, 2 refoulements; when the models are not greatly liked. ocNumber&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2003&nu_ sub-Saharans, inevitably hears stories about - Fabien, 30 years old, Cameroonian, 6 years Setting aside these small collateral bene- doc=393&lg=fr in Morocco, 5 refoulements; 2 European Commission, The European Neighbou- a number of these refoulements. Returns fits, this ping pong is of no use to Mo- rhood Policy – Morocco, MEMO/08/211, 3 April 2008, to distant places are relatively rare, but mi- - Fred, 33 years old, Nigerian, «at least» 4 rocco, other than to act upon the EU’s http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?referenc refoulements to the area around Oujda. e=MEMO/08/211&format=PDF&aged=1&language=FR grants are sometimes deported to the mid- pressure in terms of fighting «illegal» im- &guiLanguage=en 38 39 Oujda : Buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria, airlock to Europe

promise to pass from a status of normal Saharan». The repression of this «scapegoat» by in detention in 2007, according to Ci- ularly after the events in Ceuta and Melilla, association with the EU to one of «ad- the Maghreb states seeks to ensure them a «geo- made). to multiply deportations to the middle of vanced association» designated to be pro- graphical revenue for the protection of Europe from Hence, Morocco’s control of emigra- the Sahara with deadly consequences that gressively included within a «common eco- which to draw political dividends»; for Libya, it is tion movements from its territory quanti- aroused the disapproval of human rights nomic area»3. «reintegration into the international arena»; for tatively affects its own nationals at least as defenders and the press throughout the In October 2008, the principle of «ad- Algeria and especially Morocco, economic and fi- much as nationals from other countries. world. At the time, several hundred expul- vanced status» is granted during the 7th nancial benefits. This blocking of national emigration is sions were recorded, mostly collective, to- EU-Morocco Association Council. The Even if they can serve as a tree capable particularly paradoxic in a country in wards countries of origin. Even at the time EU «welcomes the efforts by Morocco to of concealing the forest of Maghreb-coun- which, according to the World Bank, of this hard phase of repression, it had tackle illegal immigration, which have led try emigration, from official figures one unemployment affects 20% of the urban been inevitable to recognise the evidence: to a substantial decrease in the flows arriv- finds that there are sub-Saharans in almost population, particularly young graduates, overall, the migrants returned. ing from this country»4. half the interceptions of migrants who set precisely those who are most willing to Morocco and its taskmaster, the Euro- In the kingdom, between 10,000 and off irregularly from Morocco6. According conceive leaving as the only possible esca- pean Union, had to adjust their aim, as 15,000 people are supposedly foreigners in to Mohamed Khachani, researcher and pe from the deadlock in which they are their respective images were being seriously an irregular situation. A derisory figure, if president of the Association marocaine stuck. damaged. Today, these «removals», which considered in relation to a population of d’études et de recherches sur les migrations This shows up to what point the Euro- are probably just as numerous, are far less 34 million inhabitants. It is hence not (AMERM, Moroccan Association of mi- pean Union has imposed its needs upon spectacular. For migrants, they mainly re- mainly for its own interests that Morocco gration studies and research), during 2007, Morocco, as it also has upon its Algerian semble harassment or exhausting and cost- persecutes sub-Saharans, all the more so as out of around 15,000 interceptions and at- and, to a lesser degree, Libyan neighbours. ly punishment. For the Moroccan authori- they do not intend to settle there. Moreo- tempts to leave towards Europe, a little less A year after the publication of the new ties, they arise from a tactical gesture, or ver, if sub-Saharans represented a vital than half involved Moroccans7. In applica- Moroccan law on immigration, in Decem- even a form of speculation, to return to threat for the Rabat authorities, nationals tion of the 2003 law, they are liable to pay a ber 2004, the EU released 40 million euros Hicham Barakas metaphor. When neces- from the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger and Se- fine of between 3,000 and 10,000 dirhams for a cooperation programme in the field sary, the market is that of aid from the Eu- negal would not continue to enjoy an (approximately from 300 to 1,000 euros) of «border control management» based on ropean Union and, secondarily, that of an exemption for short-term visas. and to imprisonment for between one and institutional support (Directorate on immi- underlying conflict with Algeria in several According to the Algerian academic Ali six months, without prejudicing possible gration), training, awareness-raising cam- fields among which migratory movements Bensaâd5, «irregular migrations concern Magh- penal prosecutions. These measures are far paigns and equipment (radars, infrared ca- between the two countries is not the main reb-country nationals including Algerians more from being merely symbolic if one is aware meras, electro-magnetic, seismic or acoustic one. than sub-Saharans, while the focus is laid upon the of the role of irregular immigration in the sensors, 4x4 vehicles and lorries, etc.). The- Since 1994, the official border post of latter, and the official discourse in Maghreb coun- main Moroccan communities in Europe. se funds were finally paid out in 2006 Zouj Bghal, a few kilometres away from tries has found them to be a means of concealing Thus, the number of Moroccans without a alongside an additional envelope of 30 mil- Oujda, is among the most closed things the guilt of the tragedy of their own migrants by residence permit was estimated at 100,000 lion euros. that exist9. Chicanes, barriers, armed police ''transferring'' it onto the sub-Saharan 'scape- in Spain in the year 2006 (for 500,000 regu- Sub-Saharans are the collateral victims officers and soldiers wearing a variety of goat''». He feels that it is a «backlash» in countries lar migrants). In France, where there are of a Euro-Moroccan policy that far out- uniforms make its closure spectacular. All «where the clandestine was someone else, the sub- 800,000 Moroccans, they are, behind Alge- weighs their own cases. In 2004-2005, they along the road that leads to it, there are rians, the second foreign community that is were subjected to 20,000 particularly harsh 3 Council of the European Union, Joint EU-Morocco 8 most hit by expulsions (3,742 people held refoulements . In this period when Mo- 9 In 1994, after the attacks known as «of the Atlas document on the reinforcement of bilateral relations/ Assni hotel» in Marrakech, in which some French with advanced status, October 2008, http://ec.europa.eu/ex- rocco had to demonstrate its «good will» Algerian origins had participated, the Moroccan authori- ternal_relations/morocco/docs/document_conjoint_fr.pdf towards Europe, it did not hesitate, partic- ties organised a vast operation of reprisals and expulsion th 4 7 EU-Morocco Association Council, European 6 Le Matin (Morocco), «La migration subsaha- of French with Algerian origins and of settled Algerians Union declaration, 13 October 2008. rienne au Maroc: quel état des lieux?», 26 March or those visiting Morocco. A visa requirement was also 5 El Watan, «Harraga / Hagarra: le binôme du désas- 2009, http://www.lematin.ma/Actualite/Journal/Article. 8 Panapress, «Le Maroc appelle à un plan Marshall established for Algerian nationals. Algeria immediately in- tre», 16 March 2008, http://www.elwatan.com/Harraga- asp?idr=110&id=110326. pour l'Afrique noire», 12 October 2005, http://www.afrik. troduced reciprocity on visas and replied by closing down Hagarra-le-binome-du. 7 Ibid. com/article8788.html. its land border with Morocco. 40 41 Oujda : Buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria, airlock to Europe

the Middle East a part of whom, after who expressed interest for this programme12. Some more than ten years, end up on the coasts may request reinsertion assistance that may be as of the Calais region after having crossed much as 600 dollars (migrants, rather, mention a the continent. figure of 400) that most deem insufficient to be an While it does not stem their arrival, Morocco incentive. has managed to block these migrants. «Rather of- «If I wish to go to Europe at all costs, I would ten, transit becomes a stay that is more or less not rent a room in Rabat on my own. I would save lengthy in difficult conditions»,stressed researcher up.», a Cameroonian answers about the fu- Mohamed Khachani in 2008. «The difficulties ture that he imagines. After six years in posed by the crossing of the Strait [of Gibraltar] Morocco and four unsuccessful attempts, or of the ocean towards the Canary islands turn one of which dramatically ended with the Morocco into a permanent stopover for sub-Saha- death of one of his travel mates, he hesita- ran migrants. According to a study by (...) tes to roundly state that he may have defi- AMERM, the average length of the stay in Mo- nitively given up on his initial dream. rocco is of around 2.5 years for the overall number However, he is not sure that he has firmly La valla-November 2008, heavy rain has destroyed groundwork of the fence, of interviewed sub-Saharan migrants. Around a made up his mind about this. He simply Melilla Spain, 2008 quarter (24%) have a migration seniority of 4-12 notes that this is not, as it was before, his years»11. For around ten Africans interviewed in fixation. For all that, it is out of the ques- fuel sellers, posted in front of their drums, ropeans walking along paths get too close to this the streets and in two «homes» in the Takadoum tion to envisage returning to his country which turn the reality of the closure into border that is permeable for sub-Saharans, they are neighbourhood in Rabat in April 2009, the aver- of origin. something relative. Like the sub-Saharans immediately spotted by some invisible observers to age was five years. Associations confirm this trend His only document is his passport with- arriving for the first time or their equiva- the orderlies of the small countryside posts, who towards forced longer stays, that entails an increase out any visa. Curiously, it protects him lents returning after «removal», like traf- intercept them straight away. This double dealing in the number of people who give up, who remain when there are controls, undoubtedly be- fickers of all sorts of more or less lawful in border controls undoubtedly also applies to the very much a minority. This currently translates cause the few Blacks possess one. For him, products for consumption, they have used Saharan border with Mauritania. In 2009, from into an increase in people who contact the Interna- like for a minority of migrants from Africa the small paths that start running from a different association sources, a fresh upsurge can be tional Organisation for Migrations (IOM) with a who, out of lassitude, end up putting up few dozens of metres away from this com- observed in the arrival of first-time migrants com- view to «voluntary» repatriations. Omar Diao, a –unless they settle– in Morocco, it is unim- edy border point. If Morocco sought to ing from this region that is nonetheless under strict Senegalese and a social worker, deems that five aginable to dream of obtaining a residence control or block migrants, they would un- military control due to tensions concerning the sub-Saharans arrange an appointment with this permit. Since June 2003, the date when the doubtedly engage in a different way to sur- Western Sahara. institutions services every day. Generally, this step immigration law was adopted, no imple- veil their movements at night starting from Thus, Morocco only slightly controls would take place after an average stay in Morocco mentation decree has been published. This the Algerian city of Maghnia, «the 'small Al- the entry of sub-Saharans into its territory. of at least five years. However, he clarifies, «when does not stop, as the Groupe antiraciste gerian Sangatte''»10. Located around ten kilome- Is this because there are not so many of five leave, there are ten others who arrive. For ex- d'accompagnement et de défense des étrangers et des tres away from the border, it is, as is notorious, the them? Might it have drawn a lesson from ample, yesterday twenty new arrivals have become migrants (GADEM, anti-racist group for place where many of the Africans and Asians who the experiences of its European mentor permanent». In September 2008, the IOM set the the accompaniment and defence of for- seek to use the Mediterranean coastline of the and taskmaster? Although they are equip- number of beneficiaries of its assistance for returns eigners and migrants) stresses, «some of the kingdom as a platform to set off towards Europe ped with far superior means to its own (le- at 1,286, 850 of whom during the year 2007. It most repressive measures, like the condemnation of gather. Moreover, when the Moroccan law enforce- gal, and in terms of police and equipment), was essentially Malians and Senegalese (1,178) so-called ‘’clandestine’’ emigration and immigra- ment agencies wish to do so, they can. If some Eu- the EU’s main countries do not manage,

or do so only slightly, to stem the flow of 11 Mohamed Khachani, La migration clandestine au 12 IOM Morocco, quarterly bulletin no.7, October 10 Salah Ferhi, Maghnia, est-elle la ''petite Sangatte'' thousands of people leaving their coun- Maroc, Analysis and summary notes Carim 2008/50, 2008, http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/ algérienne?, September 2008, www.reseau-terra.eu/ http://cadmus.eui.eu/dspace/bitstream/1814/10094/1/ mainsite/activities/countries/docs/rabat_newsletter_ IMG/doc/FERHI.doc tries from eastern Africa, central Asia and CARIM_AS&N_2008_50.pdf fr.pdf. 42 43 Oujda : Buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria, airlock to Europe

tion, from being applied, while the collection of more accessible. He walked for 21 days to are meant to be a little tired. There is a swimmer Ceuta and Melilla, fortified in the name measures allowing the establishment of procedures reach it. 15 kilometres away on the oppo- and his passenger. The tower gets into his bladder of free movement (...) granting some guarantees to migrants (...) are site coast of the sea, there are Gibraltar [inner tube of a tyre] and swims with some 13 Located on the Moroccan Mediterranean almost never implemented» . The issuing of and Algeciras. But the eight-kilometre fen- flippers. Behind him, the passenger allows himself coast, Ceuta (opposite Gibraltar) and Melilla permits thus depends on favours. No long- ce that protects the peninsula is just as so- to be towed inside his own bladder. Between the (further east) belong to Spain and, as such, are term irregular sub-Saharan resident would phisticated as the one in Melilla and more two, there is a rope». part of the European Union. That is where their consider applying for one. Morocco does complicated to breach due to the uneven Fabien has always been «unlucky». So- attractiveness lies for third-country nationals not do anything to attract or to stabilise terrain. metimes, he was stopped at sea; on other who wish to enter continental Europe without risking their lives in perilous crossings of the Me- this category, minimal for the time being, The only alternative to the impossible occasions, on the Spanish beach from diterranean. This is because in the past, sub-Saha- of guests that it inherits as a consequence climbing of the fort, is the sea route. Em- where he was returned to the Moroccan ran migrants who managed to unlawfully enter of a policy that is driven according to oth- barking onto a dinghy or entering the wa- authorities. «Generally, the Spanish take us on these bits of Spain could look forward to being er interests than its own. ter at night in a life belt near to a seaside board to later drop us off in the water near to the transferred to continental Spain. Today, except town on the Moroccan coast from one of Moroccan coast, around 50 metres or 30 metres for exceptional cases, the chances of enjoying the favourable points that is known only to away from the Moroccan shore. They then block this sort of dispatch to Spain are scarce: generally, the Spanish send the few chancers who manage specialists. Navigating or swimming wi- the way to force us to go there. Afterwards, we are to enter Ceuta or Melilla by taking increasingly II - Holding, thout being spotted. If everything goes refouled to Oujda, and we walk 600 kilometres to large risks of getting injured or drowning back to well, landing on this bit of Spanish land at come back». Morocco. But the dream lives on. Detaining the edge of Africa. Then awaiting admis- Fabien’s story is emblematic. Because in The very small minority that the Spanish do sion into «Spain», the real, continental, one. it, Morocco appears in the position of the not refoule is admitted into centres of tempora- ry stay for migrants (CETI) that ensure they have This is the plan, or rather, the dream. sub-contractor, which is effectively its nourishment and accommodation. Language Fabien has been wandering around Mo- For a payment of 1,200 euros, some function. It takes its orders from the Spa- courses, legal advice and sports activities are also rocco for five years. In Melilla, a minuscule Moroccans and Algerians offer their servi- nish who, in turn, are entrusted with this offered. The people taken in can generally leave (13 km2) Spanish possession in the Moroc- ces to tow a device comprising two life task by the European Union and do not the centre at the authorised times after under- can province of Nador (eastern Rif) next belts bound together by a rope. The swim- hesitate to use expeditious solutions – ille- going some checks (scanning of their card’s bar to the Mediterranean, he has tried to mer on the lead rubber ring makes the gal, if necessary - to protect their coasts code and their fingerprints). There are hence a few hundred of them wandering «freely» in the breach the closure three times – 12 kilo- towed person clinging onto the tailing life and to send back migrants found in their streets, some of them improving their normal metres of parallel walls with wire fencing, belt pay. But as soon as a Moroccan or territorial waters to Morocco. This daily conditions through small moonlighting jobs. At crowned by barbed wire and packed with Spanish police boat appears, the mercenary pressure by a European state and, through the end of the more or less lengthy assessment electronic devices. This Cameroonian who smugglers abandon their clients in the high it, by the whole of Europe on the African of their request for admission to reside in Spain, is around thirty years old only managed to sea. Among sub-Saharans, there is no continent reflects a history that is by now almost all of them are issued an expulsion order, whether this is to their country of origin or to enter the Spanish enclave once, but he was chance of betrayal. It does not serve anyo- lengthy, of negotiations and blackmail with Morocco, through which they have travelled, in quickly ejected back to where he came ne’s interests because, in the most likely regards to the economic partnership that application of a bilateral readmission agreement. from. After each attempt, the Moroccan case of an inspection, there is «equality of dates back to the 1990s. Since 1992, Spain This is because in the spring of 2008, after 18 police «removed» him by force to Algeria, treatment»: smugglers and smuggled are has managed to sign an agreement with months in detention for most of them, 67 In- a little further than the border at the level both dropped off in Algeria, next to Morocco concerning the movement of dians decided to leave the CETI in Ceuta to seek of Oujda. He returned from there straight Oujda. people in transit and the readmission of refuge in the nearby forest, in Spanish territory, to try to avoid being expelled. «It is inadmissible away. After a year in Melilla, Fabien learned «With a friend, we discussed the interest in foreigners who have entered it illegally. In for Spain to deport us after having made us lose 18 2 that Ceuta, the other minuscule (18 km ) learning to swim to avoid relying on smugglers», 2003, joint Moroccan-Spanish patrols have months of our lives», their spokesman* argued. In Spanish colony in Morocco, would be Fabien recalls. They found an irrigation or been set up in the framework of the SIVE April 2009, they «celebrated» the first anniversa- fish farming pond «that was 1.20m deep». (Integrated Electronic Surveillance Sys- ry since they went into hiding in some huts that They trained there. «The departures take place tem) programme launched by Spain in resemble those of the Moroccan «tranquillos» or 13 GADEM (Rabat), La chasse aux migrants aux the «jungles» in north-western France. frontières sud de l'Europe, June 2007. at around 1 or 2 a.m., when the surveillance forces 1998. It spreads across Spain’s entire 44 45 Oujda : Buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria, airlock to Europe

southern border, from the Canary islands was a raid, that we had to get into a police car. I their identity or administrative situation also testifies: I« was detained for 15 days, with- to Almeria, passing through Ceuta and told him that I had my papers. He told me that he being checked. The colour of their skin out the possibility of contact with the exterior in Melilla. did not need them. It was the same for the others makes it possible to assume the irregularity spite of repeated requests, before being refouled to- In this way, Morocco contributes to the who were arrested. They took us to the 3rd district of their situation. It also happens that wards the Algerian border»17. The indifference control and surveillance of the European police station, where tensions were running high in some arrests are justified on the basis of with regards to the law spreads like gan- Union’s southern borders. There, sub-Sa- a humiliating atmosphere. They confiscated our the regulation that was abrogated by law grene all the way to the justice system. «Two haran migrants are the victims of perma- mobile phones to stop us communicating and used 02/03, as is shown by records from 2007 days in police custody and six days to be refouled, nent police harassment. «Peculiarly, some threatening words when we showed them our refu- based on the out-of-date dahir [Berber without having been judged or having been able to particularly spectacular raids have taken place, in gee documents as if to say that these papers were law] of 16 May 1941. see the prosecutor18». The testimonies of phys- repeated fashion, at the time of meetings or official not valid here in Morocco and they didn’t give a While, following the French model, the ical violence are too numerous to leave any visits of a European character», notes Hicham shit about them, the inspector said. However, we law provides for the setting up of deten- room for doubt. The same is true as re- Baraka, president of the ABCDS associa- had already alerted UNHCR. There were 60 of tion centres, detentions take place in police gards thefts or the destruction of goods tion, thus highlighting the degree of op- us. They freed the students who had residence per- stations, any sort of country houses or, in by the police, gendarmerie or soldiers: «Over portunism that Moroccan «good will» mits first, then, after long discussions between them the case of particularly large-scale raids the four days, I wasn’t interrogated. But I was contains. Again, pure intention to please and the inspector, they asked ‘’who are the ones such as those in late 2005, in barracks. beaten up, a Cameroonian remembers. The with the adoption in 2003 of the law best that have refugee cards?", and after checking them «Twelve people in a three-by-four metre cell ( ). It’s commander came. He said, 'is it you who smug- known by the name «02-03», concerning in the presence of a representative of UNHCR- a cellar. You don’t know if it’s daytime or night. gles? [who is a smuggler]''. After that, he said the entry and residence of foreigners, im- Rabat, they freed us»14. You are in a basement where you are entirely re- ''Your brother is dead, have you seen? He’s dead, migration and irregular emigration. This This carelessness with regards to rules moved from the world of the living. In 2007, when he’s dead? Your brother has died. You will die copy of the French regulation is a further was such that it ended up causing emba- I passed through there, there wasn’t a lightbulb soon, I expect that you will die soon''. That night, opportunist concession granted to the Eu- rassment for Europe. Brussels was made there. There, there were high-intensity lightbulbs some Algerians who were stopped arrived. They ropean Union, at the price of a colonisa- to glare at it and recommend a bit more that shone in the daytime and at night. ( ) A small beat them. They broke their mobile phones. Mine tion by consent of Moroccan legislation. decency, at least for the benefit of refu- pipe with a mix of several materials. You didn’t was hidden». This does not stop some offic- There are two reasons for this new come- gees, whose persecution is even less tolera- know where this water came from, but that was the ers from sometimes showing a bit of hu- dy: first, obviously, imitating Europe to ble as there are only a few more than 800 water you drank. ( ) It’s a water that tastes very manity. «On the first night, the commander please it; then, at its request, to appear to on the entire Moroccan territory. Respec- bad ( ) once you were in the cell, you couldn’t escape bought us some bread and milk. On the second become a state governed by law by codi- ting their international status is thus not the lice. ( ) The water from the toilets advances to- night, there was an elder gendarme who I knew fying violence. It goes without saying that very costly. Since 2008, refugees stopped wards those who are pressed against the toilets, not because, having already been refouled four times, I the European Union would never gang up during raids are hence spared from remo- to speak of the smells. ( ) You are forced to endure had met him under the same circumstances. He with a rogue state… Appearances suffice val even if they do not possess any autho- all of that. ( ) »15. said to me ’’4 times!’’. He agreed to charge my for this exchange of good behaviour. This risation for residence and must settle for a The reasons for the arrests and refoule- mobile.»19 law is massively ignored by the police, the UNHCR certificate, about which the agen- ments are not notified, which prevents any Most of the time, the arrests end with justice system and all the administrations cy deems it a great advance for it to no possibility of appealing before the courts. refoulements to the Algerian border. that are supposed to implement it. Arrests, longer be a paper, but rather, now coated As confirmed by S., during« an attempt to en- «When they refoule us, they take everything, our detentions, expulsions, are thus carried out in plastic. But everyone, refugees, asylum ter Ceuta, I was arrested and held in a cell for six money, our mobiles and even our shoes», stresses outside of any legal framework. seekers or «ordinary» migrants, continue to days in difficult conditions and without access to a Minister, a young Nigerian who has been «It was Friday 25 April [2008], at around 5 be stopped due to their features without lawyer or the chance to contact my embassy16». M. in Morocco for nine months already. «They p.m. in Rabat, when the plainclothes Moroccan force us to go to the other side of the border, in police stopped us. I was grabbed by my trousers’ 14 Testimony presented to the member associations 15 Testimony of J., Rabat, cited by GADEM, Rap- of the Euro-African manifesto on migrations, Rabat, 8 port relatif à l’application par le Maroc de la Convention 17 Testimony of M., Rabat, cited by GADEM, Ibid. belt. At first, I thought it was an attacker. I want- April 2008, cited by GADEM, Rapport relatif à l'applica- internationale sur la protection des droits de tous les ed to defend myself. That’s when the gentleman in tion par le Maroc de la Convention internationale sur la travailleurs migrants et les membres de leur famille, Fe- 18 Testimony of T., Rabat, cited by GADEM, Ibid. protection des droits de tous les travailleurs migrants et bruary 2009. 19 Testimony collected by Anne-Sophie Wender, Ci- question told me that it was the police and that it les membres de leur famille, February 2009 16 Testimony of S., Rabat, cited by GADEM, Ibid. made, Rabat, 18 December 2007 46 47 Oujda : Buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria, airlock to Europe

Algeria. Then it is the Algerians who push us III - Dehumanising, edy ended with the death of between 29 thought we were lucky. Because, usually, when you back into Morocco». Victims of this game of and 33 sub-Saharans. Among them, four see the Guardia throw away the flippers, piercing ping pong between Morocco and Algeria, Killing women and four children. the bladders, this means that they will take you the migrants return to Oujda and try to set The dehumanisation of migrants that is back to Spain. But he only left one inner tube in- off again in their journey towards Europe. inherent in their repression does not just tact. It was the mother’s inner tube. He placed it Plenty of them then find themselves stuck Because Europe asks it for this, Moroc- do away with restraint in the sadistic attitu- around the mother, whom he pushed into the water. only a few kilometres away from the Alge- co settles for keeping foreigners who do des among Moroccan law enforcement of- He went to look for the Senegalese, who shouted rian border, almost compelled to stay in not want to stay there in its territory. The ficers. Their Spanish counterparts also use that he could not swim without his bladder. But he Oujda. Firstly because they are very often Moroccan authorities boast about prevent- them to «entertain themselves», sometimes pushed him. The Senegalese grabbed hold of an stripped of their money and most precious ing 4,811 attempts to enter the European in a deadly manner. Fabien remembers iron bar from the boat. In the meantime, the second goods by the Moroccan and Algerian law Union illegally in 200720. However, as it is a what happened to him on 25 September Guardia pushed the Ivorian. As for me, I got ready enforcement agencies or by ordinary cri- state governed by the rule of law only po- 2007 in Ceuta, during his last attempt to to jump in, but I wanted to see what happened to minals, and can no longer buy train or bus tentially or undergoing a difficult gestation enter Spain with the help of «bladders» (the the Senegalese. He started banging with his fingers. tickets to to the point where they were ar- process in this direction, «blunders» -which inner tubes of tyres). On that night, two When he fell into the water, I jumped in. The rested, which is, as in the cases of Casa- are not something exclusive to it– are plen- «teams» of them had entered the water. Guardias laughed as they put us in the water. As blanca, Rabat or Ceuta, several hundred tiful. This is the price of effectiveness. The other was led by an Ivorian man. Some if it were the cinema. I heard the cries of the Sen- kilometres away from Oujda. Those who Among the crimes that are best known, time after they set off, they were spotted by egalese man twice, or three times. He surfaced again have avoided these thefts, as sometimes as it goes without saying that others go un- the Moroccan navy. «We started to swim, swim, three times. I was very tired myself. I started drink- happens in Europe, soon bump into rail noticed, there is the tragedy of Al Hoceima swim, swim. Some Moroccan soldiers realised that ing mouthfuls [of water]. I shouted out at the station and road staff who have clearly re- in April 2008. In two dinghies, 183 emi- there were people in the water. They started to search women to move to get closer with the life belt. I grab- ceived orders to check their identity and grants – including 117 sub-Saharans and 69 the night with their torches without seeing us. After bed hold of it. When the Guardias finally realised the regularity of their presence in order to Moroccans – took to the sea heading for so much swimming, I was already on the Spanish that it was a serious matter, one slipped on his life limit their movements. The migrants thus Spain. At around two o’clock in the morn- side of the water. There, they could not stop us any jacket and jumped into the water. In that moment, face great difficulties to travel. If« one is not ing, one of the two vessels was intercepted longer. There wasn’t any Spanish boat. I swam, the Senegalese man already looked dead, floating on checked when buying a ticket, it almost always by the Royal Moroccan Navy and towed swam, swam. I was 50 metres away from the Spa- the surface. happens once they are on the train, especially on towards the coast. The second one did not nish beach. That is where the Spanish boat arrived. I swam, swam, swam, swam and reached those leaving from Oujda towards Rabat». They stop. «We continued on our way for a few minutes. It stopped us. It started to deal with the Ivorian the beach. While I approached, I noticed will then be «invited» to get off the train or The Royal Navy followed us at the same speed. The who I had caught hold of again.» some Moroccan soldiers making gestures. reported to the police, during checks that soldiers equipped themselves with a rod to which Finally, the Guardia Civil intercepted The Guardia also swam, with the Senega- are carried out outside of any legal basis. they had attached a sharp object. They deliberately them. «Well, but fate worked against us. We were lese. He laid him down on the beach. Then The ABCDS office that is active in the pierced the inflatable dinghy»21 says Éric, a already near the shore, but it speeded up and came the Guardia saw that the man from the region confirms the setting up and mainte- 37-year-old Ivorian, one of the survivors. to block us. This pushed us back into the high wa- Ivory Coast was about to drown as well. nance of a very strict control of commu- In a few minutes, one side of the Zodiac ter. I got hold of the mother and made her climb He set off again to rescue him. He laid him nication routes leaving Oujda by the Mo- deflated, causing it to capsize. A soldier onto the boat that I got onto myself, straight after- down somewhere. The boat got closer to roccan authorities, in order to block the then cried out to the migrants: «Now you can wards. The Senegalese and the Ivorian were lying the beach. The Guardia tried mouth-to- movements of migrants who pass through continue along the route to Spain…». This trag- down, tired». Fabien will not forget what fol- mouth resuscitation to revive the Senega- there. Due to this, the city has a large mi- lowed soon: «Having reached the Moroccan side, lese. He pumped his stomach, pumped his

grant population, who mostly come from 20 RFI, «La stratégie marocaine en matière de migra- instead of leaving us near the beach as usual, we stomach, pumped his stomach. Nothing. Africa and particularly from Mali, Nigeria, tion», 29 May 2008, http://www.rfi.fr/actufr/articles/101/ remained in the high sea, a lot further away, a lot He left him to take care of the Ivorian. He article_66864.asp. Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of 21 AFVIC, Rapport relatif au naufrage de migrants further. Something struck me, he took out a knife touched him on the neck, surely to check if Congo and Ivory Coast. au large des côtes d'Al Houceima dans la nuit du 28 au and started slashing all the inflatable inner tubes. he was still alive. He returned towards the 29 avril 2008, 19 September 2008, http://www.algeria- watch.org/pdf/pdf_fr/afvic_mai_2008.pdf. When he pierced the bladders with the knife, I Senegalese. He realised that he was dead. I 48 49 Oujda : Buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria, airlock to Europe

How many deaths? who went close to it. no longer shown any signs of life; many of by Federica Sossi, Guilty victims: bloc- Fabien analysed the them have already experienced shipwrecks; king Africa state of mind that pre- almost all of them have been intercepted at sides over such mon- sea in the previous months or years. But In Spain, a Guardia Civil internal note dated 21 December 2005 states that over the 45 pre- strosities very well. He this does not change anything: «That's how it vious days, between 2,000 and 2,500 people said that he and those is. We don’t have a choice». And they explain embarked in Mauritania, that only 800 or 900 like him are that, in spite of everything, when they re- reached the archipelago, and hence suggested a «objectified»23 and that, ceive news of a successful crossing, they figure of 1,200/1,700 deaths. It was in March with this degrading will hurry if they have the money required. 2006, because the mass media only started talk- metamorphosis as a «When a dinghy succeeds, it’s the right time to try». ing about this internal note, which may not even exist, with some months’ delay. On the starting point, the Omar Diao wonders: «How many deaths are other hand, the director of the Mauritanian Red worst things become caused by the slightest bit of good news?». Cross, interviewed on 7 March, spoke of possible. How many deaths? Nobody knows. Ac- 1,200/1,300 deaths since [the previous] No- These worst things cording to a partial record kept by Fortress vember, and estimated that, in any case, 40% of occur on a daily basis Europe24 on the basis of information pub- the vessels suffer shipwrecks. The spokesper- sons of the Red Cross in the Canary Islands without any need for lished in the international press, we are cer- echoed their colleagues: thousands of deaths perverse individual tain of the death in 2008 of 1,502 migrants since the start of the year. The figures an- acts. The states of the in the Mediterranean and in the high sea nounced by representatives of the islands’ local European Union «ob- off the Western Sahara. In the 1998-2008 government were also close to the Guardia Ci- vil’s data. At the time of the debate that fol- Camouflage – December 2007, almost 200 Bengali jectified» migrants a period, the same method threw up a figure long time ago. They no of 14,639 immigrants who have died at the lowed the speech to the nation by Zapatero on migrants threatened to being deported, leave every 30 May [2006], Paulino Rivero, the Santa Cruz night the CETI (Centro de Estancia Temporal de longer conceive them as European borders, 6,309 of whom have de Tenerife MP for Coalición Canaria, reiterated Immigrantes) and return to the chabolas, sheltered anything other than masses disappeared at sea. the same figure as the Guardia Civil but attribu- from view, Melilla, 2007 of «illegals» who must be In Oujda, Ethan, a young 23-year-old ted it to the CNI, Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, neutralised, against whom Nigerian, tells the story: «We were no longer while Zapatero invited him to be more prudent started shouting ''They killed him, they they deploy military and very far from the Spanish coasts when we had an in the absence of confirmed data, perhaps for- getting about the information from the Spanish killed him''. The lady stopped me. She told surveillance means. Faced by walls and accident. A wave capsized us, there were 60 of us secret services. Consuelo Rumí (the Spanish se- me: ''If you shout, they could kill you''. I electronic eyes, patrol boats, by aeroplanes on board. Only 15 survived. The others died, and cretary of State for immigration) obviously calmed down. and helicopters, migrants only have the among them there were several pregnant women… based her claims on the position of the govern- A Spanish ambulance arrived. They opened the choice of risking their lives. Because the Earlier, in the desert in southern Algeria, there ment for which she works; for her, the 1,200 fence [that protects Ceuta] to reach the beach on possibility of dying does not stop them. «In were deaths as well, many deaths, too many… I deaths were no more than «pure speculation», the Moroccan side. They took the corpse of the spite of her age, the mom who nearly drowned in was travelling with a group of 75 passengers distri- and she continued, following Saint Thomas’ healthy logic: you cannot provide figures unless Senegalese into the ambulance, and they left through Ceuta with me, do know that she wants to try again buted in three jeeps. Two of them got lost. Some you find the bodies. But alarmed voices were the fence. A soldier then came to touch me. ''It one day?», Fabien confides. The same applies survived by drinking their urine, but the others...». also heard from Senegal: governmental repre- wasn’t us who killed your friend"»22. to the twenty or twenty-five Malians piled At sea, Ethan was rescued by the Guardia sentatives, imams, but also grieving mothers and The outcome of this little «game» by the into a room in the Takadoum neighbou- Civil. At the time, he was only 15 years old. relatives who were further removed, all expe- Guardias who lost their rationality as a result rhood in Rabat that they call «home»: they Taken into charge because he was an unac- rienced the same concerns: raising awareness, telling the youths about the risks that they of the orders to stop and inspect migrants all recall the departure of friends who have companied minor, he ended up obtaining a were facing, as if this were enough to stop at any cost: one death; three other migrants them. 23 Testimony collected by Laetitia Tura, photogra- 24 Fortress Europe, «Immigrés morts aux frontières Source : Cited by the TERRA-Ed. network, Coll. pher, and Hélène Crouzilla, director and editor, during an de l'Europe», press review, 1988-2008, http://fortres- “Reflets”, April 2006: http://terra.rezo.net/arti- 22 Testimony collected by Anne-Sophie Wender, Ci- audio-visual work that is underway concerning sub-Sa- seurope.blogspot.com/2006/02/immigrs-morts-aux-fron- cle562.html made-Morocco. haran migrants in Morocco: www.territoiresenmarge.fr tires-de-leurope.html 50 51 Oujda : Buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria, airlock to Europe

residence permit in Spain. Shortly before it V. F., a 25-year-old Ivorian who applied for route, I followed some Nigerians. They led us to promise of a job in Europe and by the of- had expired, he went to to pay his asylum in December 2004, paid the cost of this their tranquillo before Tamanrasset. We were re- fer of protection during the journey, they last respects to Pope John Paul II. There, juicy racket. Arrested and then refouled in Sep- ceived by their president. And there, they locked me find themselves kidnapped, raped by their tember 2007 by the Moroccan law enforce- he got himself arrested by the police, which ment agencies to the Algerian border near up in a small house with three other women and self-styled protectors and finally sold off or waited for his Spanish residence permit to Oujda, he decided with his travel mates to walk two men. Every day, the president would come to made to become prostitutes. expire before expelling him to Nigeria. back to Rabat. Between Oujda and Naïma, at choose one of us and raped her. Then, the Algerian The mafia-style smugglers are not the Now, he has returned to Morocco to take the first station on the railway leading to Fes, soldiers’ turn came and they raped us too. This is only ones who draw benefits from this war his chance at reaching Europe again. He they were captured by Nigerians who, with how it was, every day and every night». This type waged against migrants. The precarious si- some Algerians and Moroccans, occupied the does not want to put his life at stake at sea higher positions in the trafficking rings. They of testimony is not uncommon. tuation of the latter, initially arising from anymore. Like some others, he will take only had 800 euros on them in total. Under a On the basis of 7,500 medical checks repressive policies and by state agents that some more sophisticated avenues, but death sentence, their jailers demanded 1,500 carried out on 1,500 migrants in Morocco implement them, open the floodgates for which are also a lot more expensive, for euros per person. To convince them of their between 2005 and 2007, Médecins sans all sorts of other attacks. Those by criminal example in a vehicle in which the smugglers determination, they detained them, tied up, un- Frontières draws the statistical conclusion gangs; those by «homeless» people and, in have organised some hiding places to der a tent for a week without feeding them. that trafficking networks cause 23.8% of working-class neighbourhoods, by unscru- «The next week, they asked us to call our families breach the borders of Ceuta or Melilla. in order for them to pay our ransom. At night they serious injuries, few less than criminals pulous louts and poor people who view 3,000 euros for a few kilometres’ travel. hitched us to trees from our hands not to let us (27.5%) and a lot fewer than law enforce- these foreigners as preys within their reach. Ethan begs in the streets of Oujda, as he is sleep. My legs were swollen. We ate once every ment agencies (39.8%). One can thus draw In Takadoum, in the outskirts of Rabat, the still 1,000 euros short. Others try by aero- three days. In the morning, they struck us with ca- confirmation that the main cause of the residents crammed in their informal «ho- plane, placing borrowed passport and visa bles. Two weeks later, we had received a promise precarious conditions of migrants is an ef- mes» show the scars from knife blows that that the ransom would be paid. The blows stopped, details on their purchase order, as they are and we started eating once every day. We were still fect of the repression orchestrated by sta- they have received in nearby streets: in the- no longer issued. Year after year, professio- tied up. As far as I’m concerned, they received 400 tes, from which all the others follow subse- se alleys where they no longer venture other nal smugglers are gleeful about the euros at first, then 330. My relatives could not send quently. than in groups, it often happens that they strengthening of the border closure. the money to settle the payment until November, The Moroccan association AMERM, risk being murdered for a few dinars, a mo- They clearly earn lots of money from they held me with the others in a wooden box in on the other hand, stresses that 36% of bile phone or a jacket. Omar Diao recalls this, and a power that also contributes to which we had no choice but to squat. Four days and women and 5% of men have suffered that some years ago it was not uncommon four nights, without eating or drinking. The pain to «objectifying» their customers. The takings my knees was unbearable. After the arrival of the rapes during their journey. Once in Mo- to find the dead bodies of migrants at the drawn from leading people in perilous zo- payment and our release, it took us fifteen days be- rocco, sub-Saharan migrants are also vic- bottom of the gully next to Takadoum. «It nes –deserts, the sea, borders– are added to fore we could walk normally. I learnt from MSF that tims of Moroccan criminal gangs. Rosine was because, he explains, the owners of the rooms by other forms of exploitation of poverty, I had lost 17 kilos». -again-, this time a short way after the Alge- they rented out didn’t want any more trouble with particularly the taking of hostages. There is Testimony collected by MSF, Oujda, 2007. rian-Moroccan border, remembers her sec- the police. So they got rid of the corpses as if they nothing easier, thanks to the mobile pho- ond ordeal. «I was with three women and two were mere filth». While Moroccans no longer nes that many migrants possess. Some vio- must avoid, can contribute to their loss. men. Some Moroccan civilians stopped us and took throw away the corpses of sub-Saharans in lence, or even torture for those who resist According to the testimonies, several us to a tranquillo. They raped us. Then they made the Takadoum gully, the European Union, the most, suffices to obtain the numbers of tranquillos are fitted out with «black rooms», some other men come. Every day, they came to rape as far as it concerned, does not hesitate to their family in the country of origin. The some of them dug out in the sunlight. Pri- us again. I used to cry all the time and begged them sentence hundreds of migrants from all smugglers must do no more than to state soners are supposedly held in these gaols, to let me leave because I thought I was pregnant. over the place to death, whose largely ano- the terms of the blackmail: the payment of particularly those kidnapped for a ransom. After four days, one of them had pity of me and nymous bodies are the sign that, in its view a ransom or death. This is how the small Victims of the lure for gain, the sub-Sa- released me with another woman». Lone women at this point, there are two humanities of a means of communication, so useful to stay harans, particularly women, are also victims are the most vulnerable. Often, they must heterogenous nature, one of which can in contact with family and friends, which of sexual abuse. Rosine, a 33-year-old from team up with a «travel mate» for their pro- protect its prosperity at the price of the also enables migrants to communicate Congo, will not forget her ordeal in a hurry. tection. Others unknowingly get involved other one’s death. among themselves about the traps they «I was in southern Algeria. As I did not know the in trafficking networks. Trapped by the 52 53 Oujda : Buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria, airlock to Europe

IV - Lending tution, etc.). struggle against their dehumanisation. «At Casablance, the NGO also has a mobile The fact remains that, when it is dyna- the time of the shipwreck in Al Hoceima, I went to unit in Oujda. Apart from its regular rounds, mic, support organisation works. Migrants the place to investigate about those who had disap- this latter one also moves around the terri- assistance, who have come to replace smugglers put peared. I took plenty of risks to go to find informa- tory for urgent cases. «When one is ill or inju- their knowledge at the service of the others tion at the source. Having been stopped at Oujda red, you call them and they come to treat us in the Resisting for reasonable remuneration, or sometimes station, the police would not have allowed me to re- tranquillo», explains Minister, a young Ni- even free of charge. For daily survival, the turn to Rabat without the intervention of gerian who lives in a tranquillo near to Oujda Resisting repression, violence, conti- older ones help new arrivals to find their ABCDS», Fabien recalls. «It is important to be campus. If necessary, MSF transfers them nuing on their way to Europe regardless of bearings as best they can. «When a brother is able to give a name to the disappeared and to alert to hospital to allow them to receive adequa- the cost, this is the obsession of the mi- injured, he must go to the hospital’s A&E to get their family in a system in which we are objectified. te treatment and sometimes organises the grants blocked in Morocco. Victims of re- treatment. The problem is that they will leave him It is within this logic that I keep the identity of those repatriation of the most vulnerable ones peated refoulements to the Algerian border, there, without doing anything else. I have to call who wish me to in case they are made to lose their through Rabat. As a well-placed witness of which are as exhausting as they are finan- MSF to inform them of the case and arrange for lives», he explains. Others, like the Council the violences that they suffer, MSF criticised cially expensive, they nonetheless tirelessly him to be taken care of», explains Fabien Didier of sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco, mo- these in a report that was released in 2005. return to Morocco: «We have no other choice Yéné, president of ADESCAM (Associa- bilise strongly for refugees and asylum see- Although it noted an improvement in ac- than to continue our journey. We cannot return to tion for raising awareness and the develop- kers by regularly organising sit-in [protests] cess to care in Tangiers and Tetouan that our country with even less money than we had when ment of Cameroonian migrants in the Ma- in front of the UNHCR offices in Rabat to enabled it to close its branch in these places we set off. That would be a shame for our entire fa- ghreb, Morocco). For their survival, try to make their claims heard (demanding to strengthen its activity in other Moroccan mily. And if we are ever expelled to our country, we migrants are also supported by individuals, residence permits, travel documents, mate- cities, the taking into charge of migrants is will then return with ten other people, because then, who lodge them in their homes. During rial assistance…). More generally, migrant far from satisfactory. It still happens too of- we would know the route and be their guide». This raids, some even prevent any intrusion by associations have not stopped criticising the ten that MSF has to make up for the short- personal stubborness is not the sub-Saha- the police into their houses and thus stop violation of their rights. They carry out an comings of the Moroccan health service. rans’ only form of resistance. Some others the people they protect from being arrested important activity as regards information This cause is also shared by Caritas, in Ra- are collective. and refouled. There is also father Joseph and their claims, particularly through the bat, which, in partnership with Médecins du Resistance passes through organisation Lépine, the priest at Saint-Louis parish in Euro-African manifesto and Migreurop Monde (MdM), had reinforced the healthca- and solidarity, which, undoubtedly as a joke, Oujda, who has always lent a helpful hand networks. re part of its migrant reception programme. the migrants call «African unity». It may to migrants who need assistance. Plenty of Facing a well-lubricated repressive ma- Currently autonomous, Caritas offers ac- take the form of a «parliament» that adopts them also mention the solidarity of Moroc- chine, migrants thus have the support in cess to care through health structures. Mi- some shared rules after deliberation by cans who give them water, bread, milk, this unequal fight of Moroccan and Euro- grants can consult a psychologist and enjoy elected delegates or those designed on the some tomatoes, or even some dirhams. «We pean associations alike, that seek to improve other services to tend to their basic needs. basis of seniority – the «chairmen»25. In all have a member of our family without documents their living conditions in Morocco, struggle Caritas is not present in Oujda, the city clandestinity, any delegation of power easily in Europe, so we know what it is like to live in this beside them to defend their rights and where a large number of them are concen- degenerates into a dictatorship. Some chiefs situation, we try to empathise with them», stresses condemn the violence that they suffer. As trated. are tempted to use their power, small or a Moroccan at the exit of a mosque. It is a far as access to care is concerned, migrants In Oujda, only the Association Beni Znas- large as it may be, to become smugglers solidarity that is nonetheless tarnished by an can count on the assistance of Médecins sans sen pour la Culture, le Développement et la Solida- themselves or to exploit the weakness of underlying racism that migrants complain frontières - Spain (MSF), an association that rité (ABCDS) seeks to somewhat improve some isolated migrants for their own bene- about emphatically. «I was hungry, I was begging has been present in Morocco since 1997 the migrants’ living conditions. A Moroc- fit (kidnappings for ransoms, forced prosti- in the street and a Moroccan said 'dirty Negro'' to and has been helping migrants since 2003. can registered association, in late 2005 it me, I felt humiliated, wounded, I wanted to cry», a The goal they pursue is to improve access created a unit to lend assistance to migrants.

25 In Gérer les indésirables : Des camps de réfugiés Cameroonian recalls. to care within existing public structures The element that set off its activity was the au gouvernement humanitaire (Flammarion, 2008), Activist organisation also exists. Nume- through cooperation with Moroccan public discovery by activists from the organisation Michel Agier has observed this self-organisation by mi- grants and exiles in almost all the informal camps. rous migrants unite in associations. Some health services. Established in Rabat and of a seriously wounded Nigerian, injured 54 55 Oujda : Buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria, airlock to Europe

following the explosion of a gas container. dangerous activity in a country in which Since then, the latter have ceaselessly under- have made it possible to cause the Moroc- In practice, ABCDS strives to provide ur- freedom of expression remains limited. Re- mined the ABCDS’ work by regularly des- can and Spanish authorities to sway as re- gent humanitarian support (food, clothing, gularly followed by the Moroccan authori- troying the covers, plastic flooring and clo- gards some aspects of their deadly beha- covers…) as well as social-legal assistance. ties, sometimes interrogated, the associa- thes distributed by the association. These viour: the firing of live ammunition at Considering the spattering of tranquillos in tion’s activists must take many precautions repeated attacks entail considerable finan- migrants seeking to breach the barriers in Oujda and the areas around it, as well as the when they mean to report violent acts com- cial consequences for ABCDS and can also Ceuta and Melilla, refoulements to the mid- lack of means available to them, it is not mitted by the law enforcement agencies. have a sapping effect on activists’ morale. dle of the Sahara desert at the Mauritanian always easy for the activists to ensure a daily Their work to raise awareness among the ABCDS also works in cooperation with border, massive raids and refoulements of presence on the ground. Thus, they have European civil society about the situation several national and international NGOs pregnant women, minors, political refugees focussed their activity towards the most of sub-Saharan migrants blocked in Mo- that act in favour of migrants’ rights. Its and asylum seekers. Firearms are hardly vulnerable migrants (pregnant women or rocco is bothersome and sometimes gives commitment translates into the taking of used anymore, but plastic bullets continue those with children, injured people…). For rise to heated reactions. The information militant stands, as well as into its initiatives to cause many injuries and, more generally, this reason, they are in regular contact with campaign undertaken by ABCDS in spring and frequent participation in demostrations isolated deadly acts by Moroccan and Spa- the chairmen of the different communities 2008 in Paris, London and Hamburg was for the rights of migrants and, more widely, nish law enforcement officers remain topi- who inform them of the situation in their followed by a defamatory article published for human rights worldwide. cal (causing people to drown, in particular). respective tranquillos (vulnerable people, po- on 26 April 2008 by the Arab-language Mo- In Rabat, Cimade and the Groupe antira- While there have no longer been mass col- lice interventions, violation of their rights...). roccan newspaper Assabah under the hea- ciste d’accompagnement et de défense des étrangers et lective refoulements since the 2006-2007 In order to get closer to the migrants, they dline «a rabid campaign targeting Morocco’s image, migrants (GADEM, anti-racist group for the winter, refoulements, particularly those to have recently opened a second branch offi- a Moroccan association goes on a European tour in support and defence of foreigners and mi- the Moroccan-Algerian border in the north- ce near to the city’s largest tranquillo, located favour of refugees and harms Morocco». A discre- grants) are two associations that are active east of the country, have never ceased. The in the university campus. ABCDS also car- diting of the association that the Moroccan in the defence of migrants’ rights. The Ci- Moroccan law enforcement agencies stop ries out an important reporting work. It is a authorities could only be pleased about. made was one of the first associations that migrants in small groups and no longer in alerted European civil society about the si- their hundreds as they did previously, which tuation of migrants in transit in Morocco. does not therefore mean that less people As for GADEM, it has published several are arrested. At present, pregnant women reports that are highly critical about the vio- and minors are seldom refouled to the bor- lation of migrants’ rights. Beyong this very der, and hence law 02-03 is applied most of precious information work, these two asso- the time on this matter. Refugees and asy- ciations provide individual legal assistance lum seekers manage to have their status re- to migrants in an irregular situation and to cognised and avoid refoulements, but the asylum seekers. GADEM is particularly in- intervention by UNHCR is generally requi- volved in distributing the legislation that is red for them to be freed. These small im- in force and in developing a network of provements show that the road will still be lawyers who are willing to intervene to seek long before migrants are no longer the vic- to make access to the legal system more ef- tims of many violent acts and the violation fective. of their rights. Resisting, mobilising, reporting, raising awareness among the European and Mo- roccan civil societies, struggling on both a M. hold the picture of his son, Lontangue-Sidifati, disapeared on the 28th political and legal level, having a voice that of April 2008, at the age of 4 during the Al-Hoceima ‘s chipwreck, caused by is picked up on by the European and also Moroccan police. The corpse were never found. Morocco, 2009. the Moroccan media, these are the keys that 56 57 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

Migrants waiting-Calais-France-December 2008 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

I - Holding, A few thousand kilometres further in 2008 the two countries have offered a II - Controlling, away, in Morocco, another migrant who maximum of facilities for the same cross- was a Nigerian, had also evoked the same ing to 23 million passengers on leisure or Detaining image to him in the spring of 2009, that of business trips (around 14 million in the Stopping a cage, to explain the impossible crossing ports of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais and in France of the Mediterranean, for which he said Dunkerque, to which the 9 million who To protect its insularity, the United Kin- Europe was responsible. have taken the Eurostar must be added)3. gdom has, in effect, stayed out of the In the late morning in one of the «jun- On the French side of the Channel, the The exiles, they, who come from coun- «Schengen area» of free movement which gles» in the brush of Calais, Irfan, a 28-year- authorities brandish the figures of this tries experiencing indisputable misery and abolished internal borders everywhere else old Afghan of Pashtun origins moans. confinement: 18,922 people stopped dur- violence, hoped to find a refuge in Europe within the EU. As a result of this, the Fran- «Why does France, which does not want to keep ing the first semester of 2009, including that ensured them political, economic and co-British border is an external border of us, stop us from leaving as well?». Around him, 9,174 Afghans, 2,786 Eritreans and 1,946 social security, that is, a normal existence Europe. This barrier is strengthened by a good dozen of his compatriots share his Iraqis, which gave rise to 5,865 people that was unforeseeable at home. When three bilateral agreements between the lack of understanding. They have all retur- placed in police custody1: a «record» that, they set off, a majority of them did not London and Paris governments, to which, ned from the headquarters of the Police aux regardless of its impressiveness on a quan- know too much about what their final des- in 2009, an «arrangement» was added: frontières (PAF, border police) located in titative scale, does not result in any pro- tination would be4. Whether they entered - the Sangatte Protocol of 25 No- Coquelles, where they were kept in custody ceedings in 70% of cases. By and large, the the European Union through Greece after vember 1991: it established, at least origi- for part of the night. Then, except for two same «score» as in 2007, when the stops of Turkey, through Italy from Libya, Tunisia nally, a surveillance of traffic concerning of them, the police released them, some 17,000 foreigners in an irregular situation or Algeria, or through Spain from Moroc- the tunnel under the Channel, which was without undergoing any further procedure, were counted between January and Sep- co, a large part of them is pushed towards inaugurated three years later, through jux- the other ones with a document that they tember, 8,600 of which were in the city’s England by the refusal to receive or inte- taposed national checks in the terminal do not understand. It is a prefect’s order to port or at the entrance of the Eurotunnel grate them that they have encountered buildings in Frethun, on French territory, be led away to the border (arrêté préfectoral de in Coquelles2, that is, near to the French during the different stages of their jour- and in Folkestone, on British territory; reconduite à la frontière, APRF), otherwise territory’s exit gates. Further interceptions, ney.. - the additional Protocol of 29 May known as an expulsion order, that the ad- which are apparently increasingly numer- And thus it is that, having come close 2000: it extended the previous protocol to ministration has not given itself the means ous, are carried out by the British police, to the last country in Europe where they the surveillance of exiles through joint of executing. on the other shore of the sea when ferries could expect to be received, these exiles, controls in Paris (Gare du Nord), Calais The group has had to walk for a dis- arrive in Dover or Portsmouth. These after over ten years, bump into a double and Lille in France and, in the United Kin- tance of 6 or 7 kilometres to get back to stops result in people being immediately wall: one of them is natural, around thirty gdom, in London (Waterloo and Saint- the brush that for them is their hideout sent back to France. kilometres of sea at the height of Calais; Pancras stations) as well as Ashford; among the dunes. There, exhausted, they While France and the United Kingdom the other is legal, and far more formidable - the Touquet Treaty of 4 February try to understand. Irfan is exasperated. It is forbid these few thousand foreigners –Af- for them to breach. 2003: it openend the possibility of bilateral the third time that he is intercepted in the ghans, Eritreans, Iraqis and Sudanese in border controls in the totality of «sea har- moment when he clandestinely climbs into particular- from crossing the Channel and bours of the Channel and of the North Sea loca- a lorry leaving for England. «Nobody wants the North Sea (13 million euros are spent ted in the other Party’s territory». us in Europe. But each country that rejects us does every year to render the Calais port secure), - the administrative Arrangement of not want us to leave it anymore. I don’t understand 6 July 2009: this was a clarification, aimed

anything about this». He mentions Greece 1 French immigration ministry, «Pression migratoire at being more binding for France, of the and Italy, where, like here, he was simulta- dans le Calaisis : Éric Besson présente le bilan des trois 3 Figures extracted from INSEE, «Bilan socio-éco- Touquet Treaty. In the first phase, the «ar- premiers mois de mise en œuvre de son plan d’action», nomique 2008 du Nord-Pas-de-Calais», Dossiers by neously forbidden from staying and lea- 29 July 2009. Profils, no. 94, May 2009 - http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/ rangement» envisages the setting up of the ving. He ends by letting slip that he has the 2 Report on the activity of the Departmental Directora- document.asp?reg_id=19&ref_id=14679. «latest detection technologies» financed by the te of the border police (DDPAF) in Pas-de-Calais, cited in 4 Smaïn Laacher, Après Sangatte... nouvelles immi- «impression of being in a cage». La loi des «jungles», report by the CFDA (Sept. 2008). grations, nouvelles questions, Paris, La Dispute, 2002. British, who would ensure their mainte- 60 61 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

nance, in exchange for France decreasing dom from refouling the exiles back to it in October 2008, to which the manager of Extracts of a report to the French As- the number of foreigners in an irregular without evidence of their previous passage a bed and breakfast confided his satisfaction semblée nationale [the lower house of situation at the common border and its through France (see below: Removing, Expel- following the «disappearance of this wave that parliament] before the ratification of the Touquet Treaty (Louis Guédon, 18 De- surrounding area; in a second phase, the ling). seemed perpetual». «The great difference dates back cember 2003) extension of this Franco-British surveillan- For what reasons did France allow itself to (...) the setting up of [English] immigration ce to Boulogne and Dunkerque harbours to be convinced in 2009 to watch over the services in Calais» which has «pushed back the Two states, partners in dissuasion (which had already been promised by the impregnability of the border, when for a British border onto French soil», the spokes- «Since around five years ago, the United Touquet Treaty), as well as in Coquelles; long time it had been somewhat cheating woman of the Labour MP for Dover ob- Kingdom has been facing a considerable in- 6 crease in clandestine immigration that often ta- French participation in «joint activities in the through Eurodac? Because the closure of served gleefully . kes the shape of an asylum application field of returns, in particular joint returns by air» Sangatte in 2002 and the signature, a few Regardless of what the British and addressed to the British authorities: the num- with the implementation, at a national le- months afterwards, of the Touquet Treaty French governments may say at present, ber of asylum applications, that was around vel, «regularly», of «forced returns towards their which granted British authorities powers the effectiveness of this progressive shift- 45,000 in 1998, passed to 76,000 in 2000 and countries of origin of a significant number of fo- to control immigration in France, had har- ing of the border, set up in 1991 and ex- to 84,000 in 2002. reigners in an irregular situation of key nationali- dly translated into the actual prevention of panded in 2003, gave rise in March 2009 to This phenomenon concerns British political authorities and public opinion alike, particularly ties», in particular those who «do not request passage. That would have had to await the radical extraterritorialisation ambitions when illegal immigration attempts turn into tra- asylum or an not eligible for asylum on the respec- signing of the July «administrative Arran- with the planned opening in Calais of a gedy, with the death of immigrants during the tive territories of France and the United Kingdom gement», for France to appear to pass detention centre that would pure and sim- journey, whether it is by sea or by railway. These in which they are staying», and those who «re- unenthusiastically from the virtual plane to ply obey English rules. It would have al- tragic accidents, like the difficulty and cost of fuse an offer for voluntary return»; finally, the reality. «It is not my duty to comment on (…) the lowed the English police to punish exiles managing such a large number of asylum appli- cations as well, have led the British government elimination in France of «concentrations of choice made by our British friends not to adhere to in France just for their presumed intention to have several stricter laws approved in the foreigners in an irregular situation at the common the ''Schengen area’'», a choice that «forces us to cross the Channel, and to expel them field of asylum and immigration. border and its surrounding area». today to set up extremely cumbersome and costly from Europe. The project was nick-named (...) The British authorities wish to pursue a A priori, for the French state, there are border controls», explained Éric Besson on the «Calais Guantanamo» by the English firm policy of dissuasion. Hence, the British only inconveniences in protecting the 23 April 2009. newspaper the Independent, which is gener- have demanded the closure of the reception United Kingdom from the arrival of exiles. «Today», that is, with six years’ delay. ally not prone to exaggeration7. Even if it centre set up by the Red Cross in Sangatte, which they obtained on 15 December 2002. At The more they cross the sea, the less they The French immigration minister had to was not successful, the fact that the idea present, the British authorities deem that the stay on its territory. Moreover, prior to the bow to intense pressure from Great Brit- managed to attract some political authori- measures taken -hardening of national legisla- closing of the camp in Sangatte in late ain which, at this point, was exasperated by ties is significant: for several among them, tion, heightened cooperation between authori- 2002, France had carefully avoided record- its tricks that resulted in it not only obtain- respecting the law is effectively perceived ties, closing of the Sangatte centre and the ing the fingerprints of around 70,000 of ing a multiplication of British police posts as a nuisance when it comes to that con- setting up of detection systems in ports- have contributed to dissuade part of the potential those who, as of 1999, had taken each in France, but also the installation of de- cerning migrants, undesirables against immigrants. To these measures, one should add other’s place in the huge hangar. This vio- tection facilities whose operation is re- whom any means may be used. the search for and stopping of an important lation of European rules was still practised served solely to British experts. This illus- number of smugglers by the French authorities. in 2008 in several port cities. Through this trates the level of trust between the two (…) But these dissuasive measures have cheating, France avoided the presence of states… France did not decide to yield to also had the effect of displacing the flow of im- any records in the European Eurodac da- its neighbour’s claims until it became evi- migrants towards other French ports like Le 5 Havre, Dunkerque and Boulogne, and even to- tabase , which forbade the United King- dent that the United Kingdom itself had wards Belgian ports. managed to make the exiles’ crossing more This is why France and the United Kingdom 5 Eurodac is a Community database that has been complicated. «It was only a year ago that Folke- 6 «A Douvres, migrants invisibles», la Voix du Nord have signed this treaty [of Touquet] on 4 Febru- operative since 15 January 2003, which stores finger- (France), 15 October 2008. ary 2003, which is, as it were, the corollary of prints on the basis of which the only EU member state stone Road [in Dover] was full of migrants seek- 7 «The Calais Guantanamo», the Independent, 21 responsible for examining an asylum application can be ing a shelter or a train for London’s Victoria sta- March 2009, article translated by le Courrier Internatio- the Sangatte protocol, concerning maritime determined, to which all the others will send back the nal, 25 March 2009, under the title «Guantanamo en ports, the legal and practical issues regarding applicant. tion», noted the newspaper la Voix du Nord Calais». 62 63 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

control that appear to be rather similar in both fields (...) ». asylum in France to do so as far as possible that existed between the two states. In ex- in Paris, through which the majority of mi- The report by MP Louis Guédon to the from Calais, the French authorities had change for the destruction of the camp, grants pass before heading towards the French Assemblée nationale, in the context of gambled that the forced dispersal of exiles the minister had obtained, on the British United Kingdom, and in the woods or em- the ratification of the Touquet Treaty between the United Kingdom and France, had thus illus- into the countryside would lead to their in- side, a hardening of its regulation in the bankments that flank the motorways lea- trated the real reasons for the new specific le- visibility. But in September 2008, the asso- field of asylum that brought it closer to the ding to ports, where the lorries on board gal obstacle that the two states were preparing ciations that came together within the Co- French counter-model. Heightened inhos- of which they may seek to embark stop. to erect on the migrants’ route. ordination française pour le droit d’asile (CFDA, pitableness on one side of the Channel, Numerous informal camps thus appeared It appeared clearly in the report that although French co-ordination for the right to asy- more selective asylum on the other: they since 2003, some rather close to port cities, the majority of the exiles are asylum seekers (to disqualify them, it talks of «clandestine immigra- lum) showed, in a report entitled La loi des would jointly suppress any factors of «en- like those in Loon-Plage or Grande-Synthe tion that often takes the shape of an asylum ap- jungles, that in spite of being less visible, the couragement». near Dunkerque, others further upstream, plication»), the Treaty aimed to dissuade them from exiles were no less numerous, but rather, Six years later, these views have been like in Teteghem, or even further upstream: seeking protection to which they should have a ri- the opposite was true. And in 2009, all of belied: more exiles still wander in Calais in St-Omer, Norrent-Fontes, Angres... ght, of how the closing of the Sangatte camp (in the national and international press regu- and, under the effect of a permanent re- In France, access to emergency accom- December 2002) had intervened in this goal, and larly highlighted the increase in the number pression, their settlement has spread out to modation structures is not subjected to the of how the new legal instrument that was being submitted for ratification was conceived to of exiles along the French coast and in the six departments [administrative dis- condition of regular residence; it is nor- strengthen this policy of dissuasion. Six years later, Paris. «The number of migrants in the street is tricts] of north-western France – Pas-de- mally enough to find oneself in a situation in 2009, in spite of it being invalidated by events, unprecedented. They are about 1,100 or 1,200 in Calais, Somme, Seine-Maritime, Calvados, of distress. Now, in none of the towns this «ideological basis» is still prevalent. the streets of Calais and around 2,000 on the Manche and Paris10. where the jungles have been formed have northern coast. The crossing is increasingly difficult. Regardless of the means of control that the exiles been offered to be accommoda- It takes people between three and five months, com- have been set up, of their multiplication ted in this way. Where town councils have III - Hiding, pared with a month only a year ago», and it was and the perfecting of technologies that are made some gestures for the benefit of exi- in the region of a week for a long time, used, geography continues to impose the les, they have only offered some tents or notes, among many other newspapers, the localisation of the areas in which they ga- duvets here, a drinking water fountain the- (seeking to) daily Libération8. ther and the routes they pass through. re. Everywhere, the debates prior to such Now, possibly more than the truth, it is Thus, the Calais area remains the region decisions have been marked by the same Make invisible the evidence of the phenomenon that ex- that is preferentially used to seek to reach concern: that of «creating a new Sangatte», asperates the authorities in France, because England, on board of lorries crossing the the risk of «letting in a draught» [thus en- it allows everyone to gauge the failure of Channel on ferries or through the Euro- couraging migrants, translator’s note]. Throughout the existence of the San- the policy that is employed. At the time of tunnel. But, often after several unsuccess- The exiles who express their intention gatte camp, the refusal to inform exiles the closing of Sangatte, Nicolas Sarkozy, ful attempts to pass through Calais, some to apply to France for asylum should, they about their possibility to seek asylum and who was interior minister, declared: «We seek to pass through other ports all along at the very least, benefit from shelter in a the difficulties in the procedures that they [the United Kingdom and France] put an the northern coast of France: Boulogne, CADA (Centre d’accueil pour demandeurs d’asi- had to carry out in order to submit this ap- end to a symbol that is encouraging clandestine im- Dieppe, Le Havre, Ouistreham, Cher- le, reception centre for asylum seekers), but plication had made it possible to conceal migration worldwide»9. If there had been bourg, Saint-Malo and even Roscoff, to while their numbers grow and while it the request for protection that they were in some defiance and plenty of petty treason the west of Calais, and Dunkerque, Os- could potentially become far higher, no fact making. Thus, the French and British between the United Kingdom and France, tende or Zeebrugge, to the east. Moreover, new CADA has been established, neither governments had been able to claim that this declaration summed up the funda- the heightened surveillance in all these in the Calais area –the CADA in Calais their journey was the mistaken quest to mental agreement on ideological grounds ports has entailed the creation of many only has 40 places-, nor in Paris, and the reach the «Eldorado» that Great Britain places of transit and to stop in, particularly lack of accommodation in these specia- supposedly represented for them. 8 «Dans la « jungle » de Calais, la vie sous la peur de lised structures for receiving and assisting By closing the Sangatte camp in 2002, l’expulsion», Libération (France) 25 July 2009. asylum seekers contributes to discourage 9 RFI, «Sangatte: Fermeture anticipée», 3 December 10 Read La loi des «jungles», report by CFDA, Sep- by forcing those who sought to apply for 2002. tember 2008. possible asylum candidates. 64 65 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

explains 18 months of detention, lack of under- Instead of creating a «Calais Guanta- IV - Holding, well be subjected to lengthy detention, standing, solitude, annoyance, of time spent think- namo», France and Great Britain have thus pressure to accept «assistance to return», ing only of the past, of violence, rape. 18 months «shut out» the exiles, forcing them to wan- forced repatriations to their countries or to of daily humiliation, of pressure to accept the «voluntary return», of der, disperse, into permanent insecurity, Detaining in the European countries through which reproaches for «messing and in this way they still seek to render they have passed, including France. up the system», «how much people like her cost the country». The absence of the immigration them invisible. the United services. The absence of the Home Office. The ab- When, in 2009, Irfan wonders in Calais, Testimonies collected during a de- monstration in front of Yarl’s Wood deten- sence of the outside world. (…) then the micro- «why does France, which does not want to keep us, Kingdom tion camp near Bedford on 23 March phone was placed firmly on a telephone. And stop us from leaving as well?» and, like Fred in 2009: there, «inside» came into contact with the out- Morocco, he expresses his «impression of Those who, in spite of all the obstacles, Mr. W., a Ugandan who came to seek refuge side. In turns, women asked for help in good Eng- with his wife and children, four and one years old, lish, translated by those who have so many things being in a cage», he does not believe he is manage to set foot in England come into to say but are still more cut off from everything, speaking the truth so well. Because what contact with the hazards of an increasingly tells of his isolation for five days at Christmas, for «presumption of having prepared something». He they ask, they explain. Today, they do not know matters to the United Kingdom and to wary reception: if they are sheltered when was helping a fellow detainee to translate his ad- why they do not even have the right to go out France on their own territory as well as to they manage to request asylum there, ministrative letters. In detention, nothing is writ- into the corridor or to open their windows. the European Union on the territory of which few of them obtain, they can just as ten, everything is arbitrary, there is nobody to They suppose something must be happening the partner countries to which it en- complain to. He gives another example of a tech- outside […]. They explain where they come from, why they do not want to go back there, trusts the protection of its external nique to push people to the edge, to upset them so that they may wish to leave the country them- how they have been to prison in England becau- borders, is that, in the name of the selves: in turns, they tried to free them, but sepa- se, to protect themselves, they entered with fake theory of «not letting in a draught», rately. documents, they tell of the long months of de- the treatment of today’s migrants At first he refused and signed a paper deman- tention. Through simple words, they transmit serves as a dissuasive lesson for po- ding to be kept in detention […], he did not want their shock at feeling like criminals, they who to be separated from his family. Then some days sought protection and an improvement of their tential migrants. Irfan, like Fred, have lives. They speak a lot of the detained pregnant difficulty imagining that they are later, they suggested that his wife and children be released. Obviously, there is a dilemma: how can women, of their expulsion, while from a certain hostages of a policy that targets their one ask to stay when he can see his children point in the pregnancy that is no longer lawful, absent compatriots as much as them waste away as a result of detention? «It is all they explain the lies about the dates. The fear of and that, in this Machiavellian done to drive you mad.» «If they don’t want me those men in uniforms who enter the rooms at context, fundamental rights, for in this country, fair enough. In that case, let me any time to count them. The women who scream and are dragged along the floor, when which they had come here, are no leave! But why impose the country of destination on me? Who are you to choose what is good for they have not been broken yet, not yet tamed, longer topical. Because, in order for our family instead of us?» and they resist their expulsion. Most of all, they them to become involuntarily dissua- Ms. A., a Somali, tells of her 18 months «in- talk of the system, of «their system» to «them», sive agents of the «draught», it is ne- side», her arrival by plane and her detention in they refuse the fact of being there for abusing it, cessary for Irfan or Fred and those the hours that followed. First the detention, to and even of having come here to do so. They de- examine her asylum application, yes, that is how it clare that they could take part in the system as like them in this plight to spread ter- well, because «we are African strong women»! rifying information about their situa- is in England. Then detention because her right to asylum is dismissed. But, as a Somali, she is difficult That they do not want to live off charity and so- tion in Europe in their countries of to expel. And, since some time ago, it is no longer cial welfare, especially vouchers (to buy food), that origin. And for this terrifying infor- possible. Oh! Not because Europe has finally ac- they want to work. They ask how much their de- mation to exist, they must be terri- cepted to protect these people coming from this tention and that of their children, often for two fied themselves. This is what France country of blood and gunfire, and hence to be years, costs. The last one who talks says that she has never seen so much harassment against peo- and the United Kingdom are enga- the sanctuary that it pretends to be, that «Eu- rope of asylum». No! Just because the Islamic ple, so much contempt, hatred and loneliness. ged in at their common border. courts that establish terror in Somalia do not is- Testimonies collected by Lily Boillet: «Migrations, sue the necessary «passes» that allow someone l’errance ou l’exil», Carnet de route pour le pro- to be expelled. Her clear, firm, determined voice gramme Échanges et partenariat, 2009. 66 Jungle - Calais - France - December 2008 67 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

V - Removing, have been recorded by the police and trans- European rule effectively corresponds to a «prioritary» or not, that is, a fast-track pro- ferred to the Eurodac database. strategy to neutralise asylum for exiles in cedure whereby very few have a chance of In the absence of visas that no Europe- countries that have a reputation for respect- obtaining refugee status. Likewise, he did Expelling an country currently issues to nationals of ing it. France and the United Kingdom are not say anything about fears that applicants countries in ruin, these migrants are sen- among the prime beneficiaries of this strat- may be sent back without requests being The first key goal of this policy of ter- tenced to travel the world using the least agem. Thus, out of the 150 asylum requests examined to another European Union ror aims to sterilise the hopes of the exiles. controllable means of transport – march- recorded in May and June of 2009 by the member state such as Greece, where the They come from countries hit by wars or ing on foot and, clandestinely and often Calais sub-prefecture15, only around twenty recognition rate of this status is so low that violent crises and can they, as a result of with the help of indispensable «smugglers», have been deemed admissible. The others in April 2009, the United Nations High this, expect protection from countries on lorries, buses, etc. They inevitably leave fell under the responsibility of other coun- Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is- deemed to respect fundamental rights? The their first traces in Europe in its periphery, tries, primarily Greece. sued a recommendation for the Greek au- right of asylum will be neutralised. For rea- that is, on the territory of countries where, But it is in the field of dissuasion that thorities to «review» their protection system sons of image, it is done «softly». It is not a for different reasons, they do not have a the outcome reaches some peaks. Whereas «with great care»... As the new law on asy- matter, for example, of condemning the place, whether they are new EU member there are several thousand people wander- lum adopted in July 2009 made the system Geneva Convention. At one point, this was states (among others and increasingly of- ing all along the coast, only 228 Afghans, even harsher (especially by suppressing the considered: in 1998, Austria, which had the ten, Bulgaria, Hungary, Malta or Slovakia) 117 Iraqis, 110 Eritreans or 382 Sudanese right to an «effective appeal» before another presidency of the EU, had suggested that, with asylum policies that we will describe as have, for example, taken the risk of apply- judicial authority), UNHCR declared that, if it was not done away with, this obsolete «uncertain» and weak capabilities of inser- ing for asylum in France in 200816. Know- in these conditions, it could not participate instrument could at least be reformed. Fol- tion; or countries in the southern EU, char- ing that they are condemned to being sent in the instruction of first-ruling asylum ap- lowing the same reasoning, in 2003, the acterised by their near-ignorance of asylum back to the periphery of Europe, the oth- plications nor in examining the 30,000 British prime minister threatened to de- (Greece – 146,337 interceptions at the bor- ers have given up on making themselves pending appeal files17. Nevertheless, it is nounce the European Convention on Hu- der in 2008, according to Frontex, and a known. That is where the message against doubtful whether it will retire for a long man Rights, an obstacle to the immigration recognition rate of 0.04% on first assess- letting in a draught starts: an offer of asy- time from the masquerade of asylum in policy that it sought to conduct. We are no ment and of 2.05% on appeal in 2006 and lum that is inexistent in practice, but which, Greece, for which it has been a guarantor longer at that point. More subtly, it was in 2007, according to the Commissioner on on a theoretical plane (image), keeps up all for many years. the name of refugee protection that the human rights of the Council of Europe12) the appearances of international legality. In May 2009, UNHCR itself resolved to European Union adopted the «Dublin II» and/or their xenophobia (Italy, from which For example, during his passage in Cal- intervene in Calais by concluding «an ope- Regulation in 200311. Officially, it seeks to even refugee status holders must flee as a ais on the past 23 April, minister Besson rational partnership» with the association offer all asylum seekers a guarantee to have result of how much they encounter racist announced the transfer of the recording of France terre d’asile. But without the guaran- their situation examined in one of the Un- attitudes13). For them, in application of asylum applications from Arras to Calais, tees mentioned above, and without the cer- ion’s countries. Appearances have been «Dublin II», the rest of Europe is quite which corresponds with a long-standing tainty for applicants of being accommoda- kept up. In reality, it is a diabolical machine. simply forbidden14. claim by associations. However, he steered ted in CADAs, the operation seriously risks There is a sole examining country. It is be- In theory the guarantor of a systematic well clear of specifying whether the exami- ending up as a failure. In fact, two months yond the choice of the applicant. It is ob- assessment of every protection request, the nation of some of these claims would be later, only 170 requests for admission to re- ligatorily either the one that issued them a carried out using a procedure known as sidence on the basis of asylum were recor- 12 Report by Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Eu- visa for entry into Europe, or the one on rope Commissioner on human rights, following his visit ded in Calais, which had only resulted in whose territory the first traces of their pas- to Greece from 8 to 10 December 2008 - https://wcd.coe. 15 After the announcement in January 2009 of the the issuing of 31 permissions to stay, with int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1412853&Site=CommDH&BackCol upcoming erradication of the «jungles» in the north-west, sage, basically in the shape of fingerprints, orInternet=FEC65B&BackColorIntranet=FEC65B&Back the French immigration minister, Éric Besson, finally al- the others excluded either because their ColorLogged=FFC679. lowed the Calais sub-prefecture to record asylum appli- fingerprints were in the Eurodac database, 11 Council Regulation (EC) no. 343/2003 of 18 Fe- 13 «In Italy, we were like animals», an Eritrean, after cations. bruary 2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for several others, confides to the Guardian (UK), «The 16 2008 report of the Office français des réfugiés et determining the member state responsible for examining house of despair», 30 July 2009. apatrides (OFPRA, French office for refugees and state- 17 UNHCR press statement, «UNHCR will not parti- an asylum application lodged in one of the member sta- 14 Cimade, Droit d'asile : Les gens de «Dublin II» - less people).The ridiculous level of these numbers is the cipate in the new procedure in Greece unless structural tes by a third-country national. Rapport d'expérience, December 2008. same as that in previous years. changes are made», 17 July 2009. 68 69 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

Sardar: five years of «Dublin» ping pong or because it had been impossible to obtain supposed to play the role of a negative Sardar, born in 1984 in Iraqi Kurdistan has, if cross the Channel are relatively protected the fingerprints as the exiles had voluntarily communication agency and dissuade new one may say so, been lucky. Because eleven «Du- from effective expulsion towards their burnt their fingers in the hope of thus avoi- candidates for departure. blin» returns between EU member states over countries of origin. While, in 2008, Af- ding the finding by Eurodac of a previous Even the possibilities of removal offe- five years of wandering have led to a solution. ghans, Eritreans and Iraqis became the for- application filed in Greece, Italy or el- red by the «Dublin II» Regulation are used Whereas for thousands of his companions in eign nationals who were most often misfortune, there is never an outcome. 19 sewhere. sparingly. In April 2009, a high-ranking of- - start of 2003: enters the EU through Gree- stopped , France is a long way away from Thanks to this artifice –the apparent of- ficial of the French immigration ministry ce, which does not spot him; always executing removal measures con- fer of asylum, a lack of respect for the right only calculated a figure of 127 requests for - March 2003: detained for 35 days in Italy; cerning them. Those stopped are either re- of asylum in practice- the public powers, people to be «sent back» to other member December 2004: applies for asylum in Bel- leased straight away, or they are placed in helped by UNHCR, transformed the re- states in the first quarter (66 of whom from gium, where he has some friends; custody in a police station, at the end of - February 2005: Belgium sends him back to gion into a reserve for «clandestines» (those the Pas-de-Calais department) and 27 ac- Italy; which they may be released or taken into a of whom MP Louis Guédon spoke as tual transfers towards other member states - March 2005: 58 days’ detention in England, detention centre, from which a majority of «clandestine immigration that often takes the shape (12 to Italy, 5 to Austria and 2 towards which sends him back to Italy; them are once again released: either be- of an asylum application» –see the figure abo- Greece). As the years go by, a trend towards - November 2005: returns to Belgium, where cause France does not expel them because ve), and could lawfully ill-treat the forei- a decrease in the use of this weapon can be he stays for a year without initiating any adminis- of the situation in their region of origin, or gners whose only possibility of access to noted in Calais and its surrounding region: trative procedures; because their government does not issues - October 2006: unable to do so in Belgium, regular residence they had annihilated. 838 actual readmissions during the first he wants to try to claim asylum in France, where passes, nationals from these countries are Rather than a means, these ill-treatments nine months of 2006; 728 during the same he is directed to the Bobigny prefecture in the in fact impossible to expel and only some are also an objective as they only rarely lead period in 2007. Is it because a majority of Paris region, which he does not find; of them who are removed within the to the goal (expulsion) for which they are them end up returning to square one [de- - December 2006: believing a lie, he returns to framework of a Dublin procedure (see practised. For 17,000 people stopped in the parture] that France tends to be economical Belgium, where a second attempt to apply for above) are taken out of the French bor- asylum ends up with a new return to Italy; Pas-de-Calais and 5,500 removal decisions with them? Or because it suffices to only - September 2007: new arrival in France and ders. in 2007, the French police has only thus ex- exhaust a minority of the exiles to discou- asylum application in Amiens, where he is placed The «dirty job» of effectively returning ecuted 41 expulsions to countries of ori- rage all the others from applying for asy- into the «Dublin» procedure, involving several these foreigners to their countries of origin gin18. In essence, France is more concerned lum? European countries; falls upon Great Britain, which constitutes by the virtual or imaginary control of fu- Returns to other European Union coun- - November 2007: returns to Belgium for a the bottom of the European net and ture flows than by the treatment of exiles, tries enacted thanks to the implementation third attempt at claiming asylum which has as its beyond which it is impossible to continue outcome his detention for 18 days and has him whose legal dimension and «protection» of the Dublin II Regulation, including tho- sent back for a third time to Italy, where he stays one’s journey. The hardening of its policy side have been abandoned. This sterilisa- se that take on the shape of a game of ping irregularly until March 2008; towards asylum seekers and foreigners in tion of the right of asylum by overlooking pong, are not the only dissuasive weapon in - March 2008: asylum application in Sweden, general, heightened by an economic crisis the procedures and principles pertaining to the hands of the governments on both si- which places it into the «Dublin» procedure that directly affects the most unstable wage it is generally justified using the fact that des of the border. But the roles are distri- whose outcome he does not await; earners –firstly foreigners, many of whom - 15 June 2008: stopped by Germany at the that a majority of the exiles seek to reach buted in a heterogeneous fashion between French border, resulting in three months’ impri- work without being registered- progressi- England, and that plenty of them eventu- France and Great Britain. sonment and his being sent back to France; vely changes the situation, however. More ally manage to do so, through choice or the If the French government decides to - September 2008: in possession of an eight- and more, the exiles who have reached En- need to flee French inhospitableness. The make orders for the removal of foreigners day pass issued when he landed, he is surprised to gland mention their wish to continue until exiles who are confined in France in an in- in an irregular situation more effective by find his application accepted by France. Which the United States or to go back along their humane precariousness are, themselves, setting annual expulsion quotas (quotas grants him an autorisation to reside and lodges steps, while in France and elsewhere there him in a reception centre for asylum seekers. which also include Dublin returns and even Strongly marked by the time spent wandering 18 French immigration minister, «Pression migratoire people who have not accepted assistance and having aged prematurely, he is recognised as a 19 Cf. 2008 Report by CICI, Comité interministériel de dans le Calaisis : Éric Besson présente le bilan des trois for returns), migrants whose nationalities refugee straight away by OFPRA in a first instance contrôle de l’immigration (Interministerial committee on premiers mois de mise en œuvre de son plan d’action», the control of immigration), http://lesrapports.ladocumen- 29 July 2009. are those most involved in attempts to decision. tationfrancaise.fr/BRP/094000036/0000.pdf. 70 71 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

Two Eritreans who have lost their bea- for three years. This prospect terrorised him. He Ataullah Sultani, 31 years old, was repatriated rings wanted to leave. Without any reason for doing from Europe (…). In 2001, [threatened because charter flight. A first Franco-English «group He must have been around 25 years old. He so, he thought of Belgium, towards which he left. his family was deemed to be close to the Tali- flight» was organised towards Afghanistan came from a family that was certainly well-off in On the next day, he was in Calais. Intercepted ban], he dreamed of England, became indebted in 2005. In November 2008, the operation Eritrea, where he drove the lorries of his family by the Belgian police shortly after crossing the to his uncle and paid 12,000 dollars (8,500 was nearly repeated, but it was blocked on business. He must have first fled to Sudan. In border, he was told that asylum in Belgium was euros) to a smuggler who was meant to open the French side by a lawsuit against collec- 2007, he had passed through the jungle of Nor- not attainable. the gates to the West to him. He crossed Iran rent-Fontes. Six months later, he had reached En- Then, he sought asylum in France. by bus, and sometimes on horseback. Then Tur- tive expulsion orders, which are forbidden a gland, which placed him straight into detention key, where he met up with a group of Afghans, priori by international law. The Franco-Brit- and sent him back to Italy. In August, he returned is an increase in the numbers who claim Iraqis and Pakistanis with whom he was to share ish «arrangement» of 6 July 2009 nonethe- to France in Norrent-Fontes, where he explai- that they may seek asylum, under reserva- the rest of his odyssey. Refouled at the Bulgarian less envisages the resumption of such op- ned his deadlock. There was not much to suggest tion depending on the reception that they border, he changed route towards Italy. In Rome, erations, and everything leads to think that to him other than to try, in spite of his «Dublini- he slept in stations and was sheltered in chur- sation» (fingerprints recorded in Italy), to seek are given before crossing the Channel. This ches. Finally, he reached France, on a criss-cross they will be undertaken again by the end of asylum and not to rely on accommodation. He growing British inhospitableness became route on trains until Calais, the dead end for mi- 2009, within the delay that was announced excluded a return to Italy, recalling the squat in especially apparent in its «scores» in the grants longing for Dover. Twice, he snuck into a by the French immigration ministry for the which he lived. He left to think things over in Ca- field of group returns by charter flights. container but, caught by customs officials, he closing of the Calais jungles22. lais. Thus, from February 2006 to May 2007, 91 was dragged out of it. The third attempt would In late September 2008, he decided to try to T., 35 years old, officer in the Eritrean army flights were organised that left from the be the successful one. He hid under a Eurostar reach England again, as he absolutely did not carriage and, clinging onto the metal structure in and a Pentecostalist. As this religion was forbid- want to live in the jungles, regardless of whether United Kingdom: impossible conditions, he crossed the Channel den in his country, and even more so for officers they were in France or Italy. - 69 towards eastern Europe (Aardvark with his back just above the railtracks. at the service of the state, he had to flee from In mid-October, he was caught by officers Operation) From 2002 to 2008, he was an immigrant in his life, his wife and three children [to reach Ita- from the border police (PAF, Police aux frontières) Birmingham, where he found work in a delica- ly]. He needed to work to continue to provide - 18 towards Afghanistan (Ravel Opera- for the needs of his family in spite of his depar- in a parking lot when he shut the door of a lorry tion) tessen factory owned by an Indian. His status into which some of his compatriots had just went from precarious to illegal. The British ad- ture, and especially to pay the ransoms that the climbed. Eight of them were arrested, two of - 2 towards Iraqi Kurdistan (Consimilar ministration denied him asylum because «peace Eritrean state demands of the families of desert- whom said that they were beaten up during Operation) has returned to Afghanistan». His expulsion was ers (…) [In view of the “reception conditions”] their interrogation to confess that they had paid - 1 towards Congo-DRC (Castor Opera- inevitable. Thrown into a plane for Kabul, he he fled again and went to England to work. the lorry’s two «door closers». tion) found a country that he did not understand any Without documents, he could not envisage get- ting his family out of Eritrea, and it was perse- The group of passengers was released on the - 1 towards Vietnam (Naiad Operation)20 longer. «I have become completely different following morning. There was no further news cuted after his departure. After four years, he During the first three months of 2008, from the Afghans here.» about him for seven months. The «reconstruction»? He had a painful ex- wandered in Europe and had only managed to In fact, with another man, he was imprisoned 3,025 foreigners were expelled from Great perience of it. Sure, he did find a job as a «logis- work in England, where he was exploited. Twice, 21 in Loos (in France, North department) from Britain , including 270 Afghans who, in tics officer» in a construction company in Kabul. he was taken back to Italy; the first time, after fil- where he was released without any further for- spite of an increasingly heated public de- On the sites, he experienced getting beaten by ing an asylum claim, hoping that Italy had not en- malities in May 2009, without being notified of security guards. His wage hardly enabled him to tered his fingerprints in the database; the second bate about the war in Afghanistan, are no time, after having been reported by his employ- any court ruling. longer considered a «protected category» as survive in a city where the international manna Alongside his comrade in misfortune, he re- and drug money had caused the prices to soar. er, who had been well aware of his irregular sta- turned to Calais, from where he visited Norrent- regards expulsions. His uncle had just been abducted by a gang. tus when he hired him, but who was strangely Fontes hoping to receive some useful advice. But France and Great Britain, sometimes «There is no future in Afghanistan», he grimaces. seized by his civic conscience on payday. To com- there was very little to suggest to them to esca- with Belgium, regularly announce their in- Dreams of exodus take hold of him again. «This plete the anecdote, when he was expelled the pe the legal deadlock –being assigned to Italy, tention to jointly carry out expulsions by time, I will try for Canada», he confides while, second time, four days passed between his ar- where they knew that they found it unbearable- with a sad appearance, he stuffs his documents rival in Rome and his return to London, again through Calais. that was very likely not to have an outcome. 20 National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns into the black plastic schoolbag. Hence, he was willing to stay in France. His (NCADC), «United Kingdom: Increased use of charter « Les rêves d’exil d’Ataullah Sultani », Frédé- Account collected by Lily Boillet: «Migra- [court] appearance resulted in him being «re- flights» - http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/filed%20 ric Bobin, Le Monde, 17 August 2009 tions, l’errance ou l’exil», Carnet de route pour le newszines/oldnewszines/Old%2051-100/newszine79/ programme Échanges et partenariat, 2009. minded of the law», and it was stated that if he charter.html was found responsible of anything in the fol- 21 Corporate Watch research group, «Franco-British 22 Speech by Mr. Besson in Calais on 23 lowing three years, he could be imprisoned again charter flights to deport Afghan refugees», 30 October April 2009 - http://www.immigration.gouv.fr/spip. 2008. php?page=discours2&id_rubrique=307&id_article=1578 72 73 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

VI - Dehumanising, you cannot pick yourself up again.» «not been seen in France for dozens of years23». A they had envisaged an «anti-scabies opera- Whether they are found on the outs- year later, it was le Monde that, with regards tion» in the midsummer of 2009. The op- Killing kirts of cities, in woods, makeshift shelters to scabies, spoke of a «catastrophe that it is eration was short-circuited by the prefect constructed with recovered materials and impossible to erradicate», because of which of Pas-de-Calais who, a few days earlier, covered with rubbish bags, or whether «other diseases such as diabetes, asthma, bronchitis announced that the state services them- The impossibility for a majority of exi- they are urban squats, set up in former fac- or tuberculosis can no longer be treated – the pa- selves would enact an anti-scabies plan to les to have access to administrative solu- tories or dilapidated buildings, these camps tients who are too weak no longer dare to come». stop the epidemic. For the duration of this tions in Europe forces them into a perma- effectively only provide immediate protec- «Migrants are reduced to living like animals, plan, initially conceived as a «quick-strike» nent fear of arrest, imprisonment and tion from the bad weather and cold. There, and everyone does not a give a damn about it. One operation, some showers were made avail- expulsion, threats of which unceasingly people sleep on mattresses or covers that calls the SPA [Association for the protec- able after they were commendeered by the hover over them. In France like in Greece, were found in rubbish tips. Quickly, be- tion of animals] for a cat. For them, nothing. public authorities. However, the latter did to this, one must add their being left in mi- cause migrants only pass through and fol- They are treated like rats!», a nurse exclaims24. not finance any new material means, even sery in places which, whether they are in low each other in these places, the floor In the very heart of the wealthiest part though for years they had organised the cities or the countryside, share the charac- and area around them are strewn with all of Europe, exiles thus experience an un- shortage of places for personal hygiene in teristic of being unhealthy. sorts of waste. Often, access to water is parallelled misery. The comparison be- order to prevent the gathering of exiles – It is not without reason that the exiles difficult, particularly drinking water. The tween informal camps for exiles in north- always within the same logic of «dissua- have adopted the term «jungles», borrowed occupants wash as they can, in public ern France and refugee camps in southern sion». Besides, no counselling measures from the Persian jangal, to speak of the in- fountains or using hosepipes found on countries may appear excessive. Neverthe- were envisaged: no information for mi- formal camps in which they are made to building sites. They heat up their tea or less, in June 2009, UNHCR itself drew a grants in the different jungles, no provision hide. The same term had designated the food on small campfires between two comparison between the situation in Calais of security on the route to the showers majority of Afghan refugee camps in Pa- rocks, in containers that have been found and that which prevails in the southern (many exiles fear being arrested if they go kistan following the Russian invasion in here and there as well. hemisphere, while it announced the setting there), no instructions about the use of 1979. Afghans exported it to France to de- It is not difficult to imagine the conse- up of the «same mechanism as the one used when disinfectant sprays for clothing and bed- signate the unlikely sites in which they are quences for health of such unhygienic we intervene with regards to refugees in a crisis situ- ding, that the migrants have even sprayed forced to survive, like the exiles from other conditions. The volunteers who seek to ation […]. In Chad and Sudan, refugees do not their skin with. And most of all, without nationalities, following the closure of the lend some assistance to the exiles, like have the means to come to us, it is UNHCR that tackling the root cause of the disease: Sangatte camp. PASS (Pérmanence de l’accèss aux soins, Perma- goes to them. In Calais, the same thing will «medical treatment on its own doesn’t make any The word jungle expresses what charac- nent access to care) workers, witness the happen»25. sense. If one doesn’t improve the migrants’ sani- terises the totality of these places well. terrible effects of the living conditions im- The issue of the anti-scabies plan is as tary conditions, the scabies epidemic will re-sur- «''Jungle''», this means that we are like beasts who posed upon exiles; skin diseases, tubercu- indicative of the highly degraded situation face», noted a doctor from the association are scared of men. We hide in abandoned houses losis, infectious diseases, without taking of the Calais migrants, as it is of the hy- Médecins du Monde at the end of August or in forests. And, like animals, we only leave them into account the complications resulting pocrisy of public authorities. For some 200926. to eat», explains an Iraqi who has, only just, from neglected injuries or badly treated ill- months, associations had called for meas- And, while on the one hand the public avoided a police raid in a wood near Calais nesses, in the absence of effective access ures to tackle the scabies that affected the authorities pretend to oversee the well- by climbing up a tree. A Sudanese met in to health structures. In Calais, the arrival Calais migrants in vain – and especially for being and health of exiles, on the other June 2008 during the research mission by of ill migrants at PASS, which is over- easy access to a sufficient amount of they reinforce the harassment where they CFDA spoke of his surprise and pain at crowded, and their transfer to a hospital showers. To seek to speed up the process, live, and enact some operations to close being forced to live in such hideouts: «I centre, requires the activity of volunteers. down or destroy these jungles.

would have never imagined living in such a place In May 2008, the Collectif interassociatif 23 Collectif interassociatif Santé, 18 May 2009. For a few years, there has been a suc- (...). When I saw this entirely dilapidated hangar, Santé (Inter-association health collective) 24 «Calais : la jungle des mal-lavés», le Monde, I couldn’t believe my eyes (...). I had the impression reported the appearance among the exiles 26 June 2009. 26 «A Calais, le préfet soigne la gale, en vain», Libé- 25 «Le HCR prend ses marques», Nord Littoral (Fran- ration, 29 August 2009. of having stooped very low, into a place from which of epidemics of scabies and boils that had ce), 29 May 2009. 74 75 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

cession of testimonies by exiles concer- time for the purpose of dismantling smug- parks that for several years had become to lead to the question being asked about ning police harassment, often accompa- glers’ networks, like for example in April gathering points for Afghan and Iraqi the fate of human beings reduced to living nied by violence or humiliating acts. In its 2009 in the lay-bys on motorway A26, the Kurd exiles during the daytime, and their in the scandalous conditions provided by research in the spring of 2008 for the re- operation of 21 April in Calais kicked off main refuge at night. They had not pitched the jungles, and most of all to deciding to port La loi des jungles, the CFDA has taken a series of other similar operations against any tents or built cabins there. The opera- offer them dignified accommodation. stock of several types of acts of repres- different jungles: on 10 June the Téteghem tion was carried out without any interpre- Exiles are not killed in France, even if sion that were manifestly aimed at making camp was destroyed; on the 17th, the lar- ters, hence without any explanation provi- some have been victims of attacks by resi- them leave or dissuading them from ger Loon-Plage camp was entirely razed, ded to those moved out. For the 200 exiles dents of Calais or its surroundings, and staying. This behaviour has not ceased in and some of the exiles taken to Lille or the who were there, including around 70 asy- others, of fights. Nonetheless, every year, 2009 and affects all the informal exiles’ PAF in Dunkerque. The entire month of lum applicants awaiting a place in CADAs, in Calais as in other border towns, one can camps, as is confirmed by the testimonies June saw shelters destroyed, in the mo- and several minors, around 80 places for count the deaths resulting from attempts of the exiles themselves, and often those torway lay-bys near Dunkerque: Téteghem, urgent lodging were offered. Paris city to cross borders disregarding danger. of volunteers and members of associa- Moëres, Loon-Plage. council justified the operation by recalling Those people disappear like 13-year-old tions who come to help them. The mis- On 3 July, it was the turn of the occu- some aggressions apparently suffered by Zaher Rezaï, a solderer, Hazara, deeds committed range from repeated pants of a building belonging to the Réseau park guards, as well as the difficulties that born in Mazar-el Sharif in Afghani- identity checks, sometimes carried out at ferré de France in Calais to be evicted. Police municipal officers were experiencing to stan who died in Venice, crushed by the dawn, to unwarranted handcuffings, while officers and members of the CRS Corps( clean the parks from the excrements and lorry under which he was clinging to enter also involving the destruction of shelters, Républicaines de Sécurité) intervened following waste left there by the exiles. Italy27. They are the last ones in a the use of teargas outside of situations of a court’s decision on a lawsuit by the com- Again in Calais, it was the pretext of the long chain that had caused the most rebellion (which sprinkles onto sleeping pany that owned it. CRS, police officers, anti-scabies operation that justified the fragile to perish, laden with dreams bags and clothes, on the food), up until in- translators, bailiffs, SNCF [the French na- destruction of a site occupied by several of a better life in Europe. sults, throwing urine onto foodstuffs, tional railway company] representatives… dozen Afghan migrants on 20 August. At There are also the living conditions abandoning exiles without their shoes se- around ten lorries and vehicles arrived with around 10 a.m., several individuals wearing –and those of death- in the jungle. Céline veral kilometres away, etc. their sirens screaming in the parking lot fa- gas masks and white uniforms entered the Dallery, a nurse at the Calais health access To tackle what he called «the sedentari- cing the sea. Quickly, they swamped the jungle referred to as des Hazaras, located point, explains: «there are diabetics, asthma suf- sation of clandestine networks», the immi- place. Around ten Sudanese were checked close to the old hoverport terminal. They ferers, people injured by barbed wire, fractures, gration minister Éric Besson assured, in and led to some lodging centres. «The state destroyed the shelters and sprayed an irri- burns. An old 72-year-old Kurdish lady, in the his speech in Calais on 23 April 2009 –in services suggested to them, as of tommorow, to file tant chemical product on the exiles’ stuff, jungle, we have no time to take care of her. An which he brought together trafficking an asylum application or benefit from assistance to claiming that they were proceeding to di- Eritrean, six-months pregnant, she was in the jun- networks, scabies and tuberculosis carriers return voluntarily to their countries», the prefec- sinfect the site. Some cooking utensils were gle as well. She had been in Calais for two days. and asylum seekers- that he would have or- ture assured. The operation lasted less than polluted. The authors of this «disinfec- Her waters burst, a volunteer realised that some- dered the destruction of the Calais jungles half an hour. The site, declared unhygienic, tion» also collected and threw away the mi- thing was wrong. There was nothing that could be before the end of the year. «We will dismant- was to be destroyed. In the meantime, the grants’ personal effects. They arrested six done for her to keep the baby, she gave birth in the le the jungle», he said. Two days earlier, on 21 squat’s occupants who were not given ac- people, under the watch of several CRS A&E of the hospital to a baby weighing 800 April, an operation was launched in a Ca- comodation but held in custody and then police vans. grammes, we do not know if he will live. There are lais squat. Around 300 police officers and released, settled again around fifty metres As can be seen, the attacks carried out cases of tuberculosis as well, a young Iranian who gendarmes proceeded to identify 150 exiles. away from their old shelter. against the camps where exiles seek shelter had a heart attack in the jungle, he didn’t have any During the following night, gendarmes chec- Likewise in Paris, where an anti-jungle are always enacted using hygienic pretexts: anticoagulant left. He was admitted into hospital, ked 44 other people in the motorway lay- operation was undertaken in the month of it is either a matter of cleaning up excre- 27 See the tribute that is paid to them on the website bys between Calais and Saint-Omer. August by the mayor’s office which, with ment, or clearing out scabies, or getting rid of the Collectif de soutien des exilés du 10e arrondisse- Even though such operations had been support from the prefect, decided to make of the smugglers’ influence. On the other ment (Paris) that includes, in particular, extracts from his «travel notebook» : http://www.exiles10.org/spip. undertaken during previous years, each effective the night-time closure of two hand, concerns over hygiene never seem php?article1179. 76 77 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

he left again. I must take the time to explain to solidarity. They particularly use mobile des jungles report. This network him that he must manage never to be short again, phones to tell their travel companions who comprises most of the collecti- he could die.»28 have stayed behind about safe places, those ves that support migrants in the In June 2009, Aman, a young Eritrean, where neither the police nor the rackets are north-west of France, which re- drowned while, in the absence of a shower, present. It is to get around the controls, flect the carrying out of actions he sought to wash near a lock in a dange- not to suffer police harassment any longer and shared claims on a basis that rous place full of mud. and to loosen the smugglers’ grip that the is never limited to the sole hu- exiles tend to move away from the coast manitarian dimension. The Col- for up to a hundred kilometres inland. lectif de soutien des exilés of the VII - Lending Some have managed to free themselves 10th arrondissement [administrati- from the smugglers who controlled their ve division] in Paris has also jungle, as happened in Norrent-Fontes found a space in it. Its activists assistance, where the Eritreans, who had had enough are particularly involved in gi- of suffering the violence and exorbitant ving visibility to the exiles throu- Resisting rates charged by the racket, took back gh the press, intervening before control of the camp and parking lot of the political authorities, and raising Not all the exiles have going to England motorway service station. By now, there awareness among the neighbou- as their primary goal. Most are looking for are only small-time smugglers in the camp, rhood’s residents, while also len- the protection that they seek to obtain in who themselves are passing through, and ding them daily assistance (in- vain, from one European country to the open and shut the doors of the lorries for formation concerning an asylum next. Treated as animals for most of the a while before handing over the task to applications or the taking into time, according to their own terms, they others. Their rates are compatible with the care of unaccompanied mi- are rejected along the route that leads them migrants’ means, and go all the way to nors). inevitably to the north-west, towards En- being free of charge for those who are In Great Britain, the associa- gland, which is made inaccessible by the worst off, particularly women. This solida- tive mobilisation is not set up in sea. Blocked, mainly in Calais but also in rity organisation is the result of a collective the same way. A number of as- other port towns on the coast of the agreement. sociations nonetheless struggle Channel and of the North Sea, the exiles The appearance of makeshift jungles in Dieppe ‘s haven - France - 2008 on a daily basis to defend the ri- often try their luck for some months be- the forests or ditches of the small towns ghts of one or another group of migrants, fore they manage to elude the increasingly flanking the motorways has given rise to volunteers make an effort, as happens in or they fight against the system of detai- numerous and sophisticated controls that plenty of questions and commotion Calais, to assist the exiles as best they can ning migrants, for example, through the are set up in the ports. After a difficult mi- among the population and elected officials. towards their survival by providing clo- organisation of very regular demonstra- gration journey lasting several months, Numerous collectives to support the exiles thing, food, treatments, showers, shelter tions outside detention camps. they must still resist police violence, inhu- have been set up, for a long time already in and support. They counsel those who wish But things may change. The inter-asso- mane living conditions, quartered in dit- Calais with the associations C’Sur, Salam to apply for asylum in France through the ciative work that has begun within the «Jun- ches or forests, as well as the rackets that and l’Auberge des migrants, and then, pro- procedure. Some elected local officials par- gles» network has been reinforced and has monetise their crossing for a high price. gressively, wherever an informal camp was ticipate in these expressions of solidarity. become more international with the ap- Like in Morocco and elsewhere, their established, like in Norrent-Fontes and Since the start of 2009, these collectives pearance of the No Border movement in resistance passes through organisation and Steenvoorde with the association Terre d'er- have sought to co-ordinate, to exchange Calais. After having organised a one-week rance, in Cherbourg with the association information and knowledge, particularly camp in June 2009 aiming to promote Itinérances, or in Angres, where a collective through the «Jungles» network, that was freedom of movement and to criticise the 28 Haydée Sabéran , «Il est mort parce qu’il n’a pas pu prendre une douche», LibéLille, 16 June 2009. to assist migrants was also created. The created as a follow-up to the CFDA’s La loi living conditions of exiles in Calais, the No 78 79 Calais and North of France : roving zone, England doors

Border activists, mainly English, decided to obstruct the destruction of the jungles and the organisation of charter flights an- nounced by the French immigration mi- nister. The No Border activists particularly strive to assure a presence in the jungles in order to prevent daily police abuses and to testify about them. Working in connection with humanitarian organisations that are present on the ground and with French or- ganisations for the defence of the rights of migrants, they divulge information to the exiles and try to raise awareness among the population about their actions, on both sides of the Channel.

Jungle - Calais 2009

80 Lampedusa, sentinel’s Island of Europe

Lampedusa - Italia - August 2007 Lampedusa, sentinel’s Island of Europe

Fact-finding mission ring the possibility of including this effort I - Lampedusa detention centre: a On 23 February 2009, Migreurop drew within the framework of the campaign attention to the alarming situation in the «For a right of access to detention places» tradition of opacity and violation of migrants’ detention centres on the islands that was set up by the network. of Lampedusa and Malta in a press release: The report published by the REMDH migrants’ human rights Detention Camps in Malta and Lampedusa: Re- Network3 includes the mission’s chronolo- volts out of desperation1, and it decided to carry gy and report, and the recommendations Background was prevalent within the CPT5. out a fact-finding mission to Lampedusa made by REMDH to the Italian authorities The screen of silence appeared to dis- from 24 to 28 February 2009. The mission, and European institutions. The management of the detention po- solve in May 2006, when the Italian govern- in which Claire Rodier and Sara Prestianni In the first section, this note combines licy in Italy has always been characterised ment decided to turn the Lampedusa camp took part, was carried out jointly with the the Migreurop mission’s observations with by a lack of transparency. Since the creation into a showcase for Italian maritime border one by the REMDH (Euro-Mediterranean those by ARCI, whose members repeatedly of CPTs (Centri di permanenza temporanea, management policy (but nothing was chan- Network for Human Rights) delegation, went to Lampedusa between January and temporary reception centres) by the 1998 ged in the country’s other 20 detention cen- represented by the Tunisian League for February 2009, some of whom were able Turco-Napolitano Law, turned into CIEs ters for foreigners). Human Rights, CIR2 and FTCR (Tunisian to enter the detention centres. In its second (Centri d’identificazione ed espulsione, identifica- The «Lampedusa model» envisaged a first Federation for Citizenship on Both Sho- section, it is completed by an analysis of tion and expulsion centres) in 2008, the Ita- aid and relief centre with 800 places, in res), which is also a Migreurop member. the Italian context in relation to the lian governments have always sought to which migrants would only be held for a The mission was unable to visit the two concerns that Migreurop has made one of conceal what happened inside these few days before their transfer to closed de- centres on the island (Contrada Imbriacola the themes of its Borders Observatory, na- camps. tention or reception centres, either in Sicily and Loran), as the Italian authorities denied mely the effects of readmission agreements The island of Lampedusa, 169 km away or on the mainland. At this point, the cen- access on the basis of security reasons. The reached between EU countries and third from the Tunisian coast and 350 km from tre opened its doors to some NGOs and delegation met the associations that are countries, such as Tunisia and Libya in this Libya, which has become one the main ga- international bodies: the IOM, UNHCR part of Praesidium Project -the Italian Red case. teways into Europe with 32,250 arrivals just and the Italian Red Cross, then to Save the Cross, UNHCR, IOM, Save the Children-, in 2008, illustrates this opacity. At the start Children, in the framework of the Praesi- as well as the island’s mayor, Dino de Ru- of the 2000s, the Italian government esta- dium project, funded by the Italian govern- beis, and the group SOS Pelagie that mobi- blished a CPT on the island that was enti- ment and, initially, by the European Com- lised against the opening of a detention NB: the mechanism established in Lampedu- rely removed from any external scrutiny for mission. A little bit of light was thus shed sa by the Italian authorities at the start of 2009 centre in Lampedusa. that is described below and was criticised by a long time, using the pretext of the emer- on the centre. However, the regime that is Furthermore, Migreurop met the local associations as contravening national and inter- gency conditions resulting from ongoing in force there is not clear: migrants often ARCI chapter that was recently formed for national laws, was revealed to be a mere first waves of landings of migrants on the is- stay in the centre for up to up to 20 days, the purpose of mobilising against the ope- step towards some far more serious violations land. without always being able to receive infor- ning of a detention centre, in particular by of human rights and the right of asylum. In fact, In 2004 and 2005, Italian authorities or- mation to which they have a right. as of May 2009, Italy embarked upon a policy of proposing that a referendum be held on systematic refoulement of the boats of mi- ganised mass expulsions from Lampedusa’s A Migreurop mission to the island in the matter. The group also claim a right of grants, pushing them back towards Libyan pri- airport, which is next to the CPT, without August 2007 within the framework of access to the first aid and reception centre sons or death by drowning for hundreds of allowing NGOs or lawyers to intervene4. It ARCI activities (see box) criticised the li- to offer activities to the migrants who are people (close to 2,000 were stopped from arri- took a journalist, Fabrizio Gatti, passing ving conditions in the centre, which is often being held there, but most of all to know ving between May and August), without the EU himself off before the police authorities as overcrowded, the arbitrary nature of pro- the conditions they experience. authorities intervening. a Kurd who had survived a shipwreck to cedures to identify minors and the mal- The Migreurop delegation is conside- make the public aware of the climate of functions in guaranteeing access to asylum

3 See, REMDH: Fact-finding mission in Lampedusa physical and psychological violence that 25-26-27 February 2009: http://mawgeng.unblog.fr/fi- 1 http://www.migreurop.org/article1401.html les/2009/04/rapplampedusa15409.pdf. 5 See the investigative report Io, clandestino a Lam- 2 Italian Council for Refugees 4 http://ww.migreurop.org/rubrique173.html pedusa: http://www.meltingpot.org/articolo6003.html 84 85 Lampedusa, sentinel’s Island of Europe

procedures and in sea rescue operations. migrants would take place from the island. peninsula or, some of them, to the Loran those required to meet health and medical needs, in Information gathered during interviews Stays in the centre, which were only meant centre in Lampedusa (see below). relation to aid for foreign citizens for the time that conducted in 2009 lead to think that the re- to last for a few days, were further exten- Minister Maroni stated that he wanted is strictly necessary for their transfer towards compe- ception mechanism that has been operating ded. To accelerate deportation procedures, to «Make it perfectly clear to all migrants tent centres or the adoption of the necessary measu- in Lampedusa between 2006 and the end Maroni went to Tunis where he negotiated arriving in Lampedusa that they will be ex- res to implement specific forms of assistance that of 2008, although it is better than the one the expulsion of Tunisian nationals held in pelled directly from the island». For this fall under the state’s competencies». employed in previous years (and obviously the centre –over 1,500 on 20 January- with reason, on 22 January the former NATO The facility was envisaged for temporary better than the one established since Janua- his Tunisian counterpart (See part II: Notes base of was turned into a CIE on the basis reception (for a maximum of four or five ry 2009), raises a number of issues. We hi- on readmission agreements). of a text that has not yet been disclosed, days). After it became a CIE on 24 January, ghlight two of them: On 14 January 2009, 2,000 migrants contravening art. 14 of the immigration it now falls under articles 21 and 22 of - the system’s effectiveness basically rests were detained in the centre in Lampedusa, law. The island’s population opposed this D.P.R. 1999/394. As stated by art. 22 point on the very short length of the migrants’ including some asylum seekers, that is, mi- decision and demonstrated against it on 23 1, the management and organisation of stay in the CPSA (Centro Primo Soccorso e Ac- grants who had already expressed their January, alongside migrants who left the these centres is entrusted to the competent coglienza, first aid and reception centre). A wish to apply for asylum on the basis of centre to join the march. prefect [government official responsible brief transit period is indispensable to avoid art. 20 of legislative decree no. 25 of 28 Ja- On 26 January, in another memoran- for overseeing local authorities and with re- overcrowding, and also because the infras- nuary 2008. They should have been trans- dum that has not yet been released yet sponsibilities including security] in their tructure and modes of reception are only ferred to a reception centre for asylum see- either, the minister announced the transfer province. The running of the centre must suitable for the first few days after their ar- kers (CARA, Centro di accoglienza per of migrants from the CIE to the Contrada take place in accordance with «instructions rival. Now, the information gathered by the richiedenti asilo) on the mainland, to be heard Imbriacola centre that had been a first aid concerning organisation, administration and ac- mission shows that the two or three days by the competent ad hoc* Territorial Com- and reception centre until then, with the counting set by the interior ministry, through the that are envisaged in theory, often rise to mission responsible for examining their Loran centre reserved for the reception of signing of conventions with local institutions, public ten, or even twenty, days. This entails chro- requests for international protection. women and minors. or private actors» (art. 22§1 of the implemen- nic overcrowding, with peaks of 2,000 peo- However, in order to short-circuit this There are now two detention centres tation decree). If such an agreement is ple in the centre in August 2008. transfer, from 14 to 22 January, a delegation operating in Lampedusa: stipulated, the choice of operator will have - insofar as it is a “reception” centre, the from the Trapani Commission responsible - Loran receives asylum seekers, women to be carried out through a public proce- CPSA should have had a status as an open travelled to Lampedusa in order to inter- and minors. This decommissioned military dure, entirely transparent and while respect- centre, but its operation did not allow forei- view the 400 asylum seekers detained in the base that was turned into a CPSA and ing the professionality and plurality of par- gners to leave the centre freely, nor were centre in situ. CARA is on the lands of a natural reserve ticipants. visitors from outside allowed to enter it This was a flagrant violation of the pro- and is not equipped for this function: safety The prefect is the guarantor of the nec- freely. cedure provided for by legislative decree standards decreed by national and Euro- essary provisions for a good coexistence in 2008/25. There was no possibility to exer- pean legislation are not respected. A fire the centre (including indispensable mea- An imposition by the inte- cise the right to defence (contravening art. broke out and the migrants had to jump sures for people’s safety) and access to fun- rior minister 18 of DL 2008/25), nor to the right of ac- out of windows to escape it. The Agrigen- damental services to provide care, assis- cess to a means of appeal (art. 35). In fact, to (Sicily) public prosecutor opened investi- tance, human and social respect. Thus, the On 29 December 2008, interior minister due to the absence of lawyers on the island, gations into the case. management of each centre must guaran- Roberto Maroni put an end to the «Lampe- it was impossible to have any real legal as- - Contrada Imbriacola is a CIE to which tee «assistance for hygiene and health, the right dusa model», justifying this decision by ci- sistance during the interviews, or with a all the other migrants are sent. practise one’s religion, clothing, food, and anything ting the emergency situation caused by view to an appeal if the commission’s deci- Until 23 January 2009, the former that will be necessary during one’s stay in the centre» mass arrivals of migrants in boats on the sion turned out to be a rejection. After the Contrada Imbriacola first aid and reception (art. 22§2). If a foreigner cannot receive ad- island. He announced that transfers to Commission left, 270 asylum seekers, centre fulfilled its functions set by art. 23 equate care within the centre’s enclosure, other centres in Italy would cease and that, mainly from the Horn of Africa, were of D.P.R. (presidential decree) 1999/394, they must be taken to a place where medi- from that moment on, the deportations of transferred either to CARAs on the Italian namely «activities of reception, assistance, and cal care is available. Art. 21§4 states that 86 87 Lampedusa, sentinel’s Island of Europe

«the treatment may be provided by a CPT man Rights and art. 13 of the Italian when it is possible to assert one’s argu- sis of video recordings shot by the police, or a place for medical treatment in which Constitution, which states that «Personal free- ments that oppose a forced expulsion». and they were transferred to different loca- the foreigner is admitted as a result of an dom is inviolable. No form of detention, inspection The IOM (International Organisation tions in Sicily and perhaps on the mainland, urgent need». or search affecting a person, nor any other restriction for Migrations) which plays a role within either in prison or in detention centres. These articles have been systematically of a person’s freedom is allowed, unless it is due to a the centre by providing legal advice, infor- Over 15 days after these events, it was im- violated in Lampedusa. Neither safety re- motivated decision signed by a judicial authority and med the mission of the problems experien- possible to obtain information about this quirements (the case of the fire when mi- in the cases and only in the ways envisaged by the ced by detainees to file an appeal against matter, and hance to contact the people grants were kept on the site while it was on law.». It is only in exceptional cases of ne- repatriation measures issued against them concerned, a situation that poses serious fire, overcrowding of the centre which cessity and urgency, envisaged by the after they are notified (over a month having problems both as regards migrants’ right to holds between 1,700 and 1,800 people) nor Constitution, that administrative authorities passed between the date when they crossed a defence and the right to information for health requirements (during a visit by ARCI may adopt provisional measures of which the border and the measures adopted, as associations that wish to support them. and MEPs on 14 February, many migrants a judicial authority must be informed wi- well as the fact that they should have recei- In spite of the conditions in which the were experiencing critical medical and sani- thin 48 hours to the appropriate judicial ved expulsion rather than repatriation or- centre now lies after it was damaged by the tary conditions: dermatitis, wounds that authority, which will confirm or revoke ders, as repatriation designates a refusal of fire (far less places and no access to tele- were superficially treated, a foreigner had them within the following 48 hours. access into the territory). These problems phone booths until the end of February), been left on a bed, without treatment, with Now, some migrants in the Lampedusa are two-fold: on the one hand, there are no more than 500 migrants were still being a fractured tibia) are complied with, contra- CIE were informed of an expulsion order lawyers on Lampedusa, and on the other, held there. vening art. 32 of the Constitution which against them well after this 96-hour limit; due to jurisdictional competencies, the ad- After the revolt, the opacity surrounding envisages that «the Republic protects health others were notified of a measure for them ministrative court of Agrigento, designated the centre intensified, with access forbid- as a fundamental right of the individual and to be placed in detention (for a maximum as the authority before which appeals may den to any external organisation. For over a a collective interest», as well as art. 3 of the of 60 days at the time, a term that was ex- be filed in the refoulement notification do- week, even the organisations authorised to European Convention on Human Rights tended to six months in June 2009), using cuments, denies that it is responsible for enter the centre were kept at a distance which forbids inhuman and degrading the date when they were informed as a star- assessing the legality of the measures. from the centre’s closed sections (the «ca- treatment. ting reference, although some people had Through IOM, the Italian government ges»). The island looked as if it was in a These detention conditions are unbeara- been in detention for over a month. offers detainees 1,500 euros in aid towards state of siege: over 1,000 members of the ble for migrants: there were ten suicide at- Moreover, these migrants, who were voluntary repatriation (300 when they leave different law enforcement agencies (cus- tempts in a few days. On the eve of the vi- held far away from any court or lawyer, and 1,200 on arrival). For Tunisians, this toms police, carabinieri, police officers and sit on 13 and 14 February by several MEPs cannot exercise their right to a defence (in- return is envisaged without them receiving firemen) to keep watch over 500 migrants, to what had now become a CIE, police of- terview with a lawyer, collection of docu- any guarantees that they will not be arres- a population of 5,000 and a 22km² area. ficers made the detainees sign detention ments and evidence), even though it is con- ted when they arrive there. At the end of This overwhelming presence appeared dif- notices which stated that their detention stitutionally guaranteed by art. 24. The February, 50 people had accepted this of- ficult to justify and may have been a res- began in February, whereas they had been hearing to validate a foreigner’s being kept fer. ponse to a different motive than that of there since December. According to MEP in detention, which is attended by a court- maintaining security: it may have been a to- Vittorio Agnoletto, the police did not hesi- appointed lawyer who has not been able to The Revolt ken for the local population, which saw its tate to use violence in order to get the do- meet their client, nor to talk with them hotels and restaurants fill up in a season cument signed. about detention conditions, is more a pre- After learning that some migrants were that is generally slack. In reality, some were detained in the tence of justice than a verification of the transferred from Lampedusa to Rome in centre for a month, or even a month and a legal conditions that legitimate their being order for them to be expelled, the migrants Lampedusa, a camp for the half, without any judicial authority checking kept in detention. Now, from the moment in the centre started a revolt* and on 18 sorting of migrants? whether this deprivation of freedom was when their being held is validated, expul- February 2009, they set the centre’s main justified. Thus, it was a violation detailed by sion may be decreed at any time: hence, the structure alight. 18 migrants were identified The Italian government’s plan to sepa- art. 5 of the European Convention on Hu- confirmation hearing is «the only moment as being responsible for the fire on the ba- rate the migrants who land on the island 88 89 Lampedusa, sentinel’s Island of Europe

into two centers, on the one hand a first aid try nationals such as Egyptians, who are and reception centre whose capacity was presumed to be «economic migrants», The activity of ARCI, member of Migreurop, in Lampedusa between 2004 and increased to 2,000–3,000 places, on the would end up in the detention centre). Such 2007 other an identification and expulsion cen- a solution would constitute a violation of tre, associated to a legislative reform that the right to asylum, given that the Geneva ARCI, a Migreurop member association, has been able to observe the situation on the is- seeks to increase the length of detention to Convention on refugees requires that asy- land. six months, obviously poses the problem lum procedures be dealt with on an indi- The monitoring carried out in the framework of the activities of the Italian ARCI associa- of the status of this outpost of European vidual basis and cannot be satisfied through tion www.arci.it (as part of the Presidio Democratico project) between June and September in the Mediterranean. A series of questions the designation of categories based on 2004, highlighted the lack of transparency, both at the level of the centre’s legal status and as regards the number of detainees in it. concerning respect for human rights result physical traits. Unfortunately, this possibili- 6 The detention conditions (overcrowding, shortage of beds, problems with connections to from this situation : ty is not a mere academic hypothesis: in the water and sewer systems, dirty toilets, etc.), and «reception» conditions in the harbour - How can you turn a place conceived as early March 2009, the sorting of migrants do not respect any minimum standards. No specific treatment is envisaged for vulnerable ca- a transfer centre involving a maximum stay was enacted by customs officers in the high tegories (pregnant women, minors, people who are ill). No legal assistance is provided, apart of a few days into a long-term detention seas on a boat intercepted 25 miles away from that organised by activists from associations who are present on the island. centre –for up to 6 months– without en- from Lampedusa. See the complete report on ARCI’s presence in Lampedusa in 2004 http://www.tessera- dangering the dignity and the physical and - Insofar as there are neither courts nor mento.it/immigrazione/documenti/index.php?idnews=236 psychological health of the detainees who lawyers on Lampedusa, how can one en- From July to September 2007, the Italian association ARCI was authorised by the inte- are held in it? sure that Italian law is respected there (it rior ministry to enter Lampedusa’s first aid and reception centre (CPSA). In coordination - How can you make provisions for an envisages the presence of justices of the with other international organisations and with Migreurop’s cooperation, ARCI organised a additional stable population of thousands peace to notify detention orders and legal mission with the goal of providing legal information to the detainees and to offer guidance at of people on an island that has less than assistance for appeals against repatriation a social level. ARCI was able to collect testimonies, particularly from women, on the violence they were 6,000 inhabitants where there is a lack of orders), the decisions by the Territorial subjected to in the Libyan camps, and numerous people were finally able to give their ac- drinking water and there are already serious Commission that assesses asylum applica- counts of how they saw people starve to death, before their very eyes, in the boats. rubbish disposal, water channelling and tions, and European norms with regards to Moreover, this monitoring work made it possible to shed light on several violations of hu- waste water disposal problems? asylum procedure? man rights in the reception procedures in Italy, as well as the arbitrary nature of procedures - Following what criteria will the separa- - How can it be envisaged for mass ex- to identify minors, malfunctions in access to the possibility of applying for asylum and in ope- tion of migrants who will be «received» in pulsions to be carried out from the island, rations to rescue migrants at sea. In particular, ARCI noted: the first aid and reception centre and those as minister Maroni announced, when the - a lack of specialised training of the staff that runs the centre; detained in the identification and expulsion island’s only airport is only authorised to - frequent mistakes in transcribing personal details; centre be organised? In relation to current handle planes with small capacities and na- - poor conditions during transfers; practices in Lampedusa, the answer could tional flights? - an absence of psychological assistance; be a sorting process carried out when the - Finally, how will independent monito- - shortages at the level of interpreters, particularly for languages such as Amharic (the boat people arrive in the harbour, on the basis ring of the situation in the two camps in most spoken language in Ethiopia), Tigrinya (Eritrea) and Somali; - an absolute lack of information about legislation; of nationality (sub-Saharans, who are po- Lampedusa be allowed, whether it is throu- - a lack of communication between the migrants and institutions (a role taken on by de- tential asylum seekers, would be sent to the gh the intervention of NGOs, democratic fault by NGOs and associations); reception centre, whereas Maghreb-coun- control by civil society or visits by families - a lack of continuity in the provision of health care; and relatives, when transport links with the - problems in the distribution and the quality of food; 6 A few months after the mission, these issues were mainland are lengthy and costly? unfortunately no longer on the agenda, given that since - a lack of personal hygiene kits if more than 48 hours’ maintenance is required; May 2009 Italy embarked upon a policy of systematic re- - absence of facilities for the reception of young children. foulements to Libya to prevent boats from approaching Lampedusa. This situation allowed prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to ironically state, in August 2009: “This sum- mer the only empty beaches in Italy are those in Lam- pedusa.” 90 91 Lampedusa, sentinel’s Island of Europe

II - Comments on Italy’s foreign policy than three, four, or even five Tunisian citizens per If this is the procedure, why set six- month. Thanks to the agreement, we would now be month detention periods? Or why even 60 and the management of migration lows in a position to repatriate around 200 Tunisian days? Moreover, prefect Ronconi, just like citizens per month to tackle and curb the urgent si- the interior minister, appears to have for- What happened at the start of 2009 in Within the framework of this agree- tuation, before scaling down to a level of around gotten that in 2005 the European Union Lampedusa allows to gauge the growing ment, the Tunisian government accepted 100 monthly repatriations. This a great step condemned the practice of mass repatria- role played by the bilateral relations the expulsion of 500 migrants on condi- forward for us, both in quantitative terms and as tions from Italy to Tunisia that contravenes between Italy and its African neighbours in tion that their expulsions be «spread out» regards Tunisia’s willingness to respect the readmis- the non-refoulement principle guaranteed by its management of migration flows. over a period: that is, 150 migrants to be sion agreement». art. 33 of the 1951 Geneva Convention, by Italy has signed around 52 readmission expelled per month for the first two Furthermore: «the readmission agreement Art. 3 of the United Nations Convention agreements to date, according to prefect months, and then 100 per month in groups with Tunisia provides for the identification of a Against Torture and by Art. 3 of the Euro- Ronconi, head of the central directorate of no more than seven people per return. presumed Tunisian citizen within 15 days. It gene- pean Convention on Human Rights. for immigration and the border police. The overall number of people expelled rally takes four days to inform the consular authori- At the start of 2009, this reminder that Those stipulated with Tunisia were a sort in application of this agreement is not ties, which have four days to meet the person believed numerous Tunisians seek international pro- of pilot trial for the externalisation of the known: no official figure has ever been re- to be Tunisian to interview them and take their tection due to repeated violations of their detention of irregular migrants to transit leased, with the government limiting itself fingerprints. This data must then be sent to Tunis, fundamental rights by their authorities was countries. to issuing press releases detailing the total and Tunis must provide its answer within three particularly topical: a significant portion of number of people expelled, without divi- days. The procedure is complex, but it makes it the many Tunisians who arrived in Lampe- Italy – Tunisia Bilateral ding them up by nationality. possible to have an answer regarding a person’s dusa by sea in late 2008 came from a re- Agreements To find out the content of the latest identification in ten or fifteen days, whereby if it is gion, the Gafsa phosphate mining basin in agreement between Italy and Tunisia, one confirmed, the issuing of a travel permit is cer- southwestern Tunisia, where a very harsh On 27 January 2009, the Italian interior must refer back to the document that pre- tain». repression had been raging for over a year. minister, Roberto Maroni, alongside the fect Rodolfo Ronconi, head director for The readmission agreement sets a pre- For some months, inhabitants of this very chief of police, Antonio Manganelli and a immigration and the border police, submit- cise deadline for each phase, but what hap- poor and neglected region have embarked government delegation, went to meet his ted to the parliamentary committee (Senate pens in practice? The Italian police takes upon a protest movement against the social counterpart Rafik Belhaj Kacem in Tunisia and Chamber of Representatives) for the their fingerprints and sends them to the policies and the management of natural re- in order to negotiate the expulsion of Tu- implementation of the Schengen Agree- Tunisian general consulate which, in turn, sources by the powers that are in place, that nisians held in the Lampedusa detention ment: «The interior minister, the chief of police passes them on to Tunis. There are several was severely repressed: beatings, torture, centre. The agreement signed in this ins- (in a technical role), and my central directorate (in ways to dispatch this correspondence: the police round-ups, the firing of live ammu- tance provided for: an operational role) have reached an agreement with diplomatic pouch is the slowest, as it only nition, deaths and political trials with very - continuing Italian support in the fight Tunisia, in application of which the Tunisian go- sent once a week. If the fingerprints are harsh prison sentences. These events have against illegal immigration carried out by vernment accepts the repatriation of people from not sent on Thursday, one will have to wait been documented and there have been re- Tunisia, following the path set by an agree- their country using a fast-track procedure: supposed until the following week. The digital mat- ports about them and testimonies provided ment signed in 1998; citizens or irregular immigrants arriving from Tu- ching process will only work if the finger- by witnesses and observers, human rights - defining a plan that enables the simpli- nisia will be heard by Tunisian consular authorities, prints are already recorded in the police organisations and jurists. In this context, fication and speeding up of procedures to then their fingerprint-photograph* card will be sent database in Tunis, but if the person is not «enhanced cooperation» announced by Ita- identify Tunisians migrants held in Italian to the scientific police headquarters in Tunis and, if included in the database, digital identifica- lian and Tunisian authorities for the purpo- detention centres; their nationality is confirmed, a temporary travel tion will not be possible, and the travel per- se of enactive large-scale and quick returns - the «gradual and ongoing» expulsion document will be issued and the irregular migrant mit will not be issued. Like Morocco, Tuni- leads us to fear the worst. In fact, on the of migrants who had already been identi- returned to Tunisia. This procedure is detailed in sia currently collects the fingerprints of all one hand, it entails denying any political na- fied as Tunisians held in the facilities at the readmission agreement signed with Tunisia, but its citizens, using the pretext of guaran- ture to the fact that people from this re- Lampedusa at the time. until then it was very difficult to repatriate more teeing personal identity. gion, who are classified a priori as «econo- 92 93 Lampedusa, sentinel’s Island of Europe

to Tripoli, have reiterated their criticism of ment to assist the improvement of socio- this policy, and the Italian Catholic church’s economic conditions in Tunisia's deprived newspaper, Avvenire9, has denounced «the areas; West’s closed eyes» and a policy that disre- - intensification of controls by the two gards «the idea of what a human being is». countries’ law enforcement agencies along the Tunisian coast; The practice of signing ex- - readmission of migrants by Tunisia, pulsion agreements in Italy including non-nationals, who entered Ita- lian territory illegally after departing from the Tunisian coast. The Italian tradition of reaching bilate- ral agreements with migrants’ countries of Italy’s «economic commitment» to Tuni- origin and transit began in 1998, the same sia amounted to 150 billion lire (300 million year when detention camps for foreigners euros) in industrial credits over a three-year were introduced in Italy. period, of which 500 million lire (250,000 The signing of these agreements for the euros) would be used to build 13 detention Lampedusa - Italia - August 2007 readmission of irregular foreigners is envi- centres in Tunisia. saged by the law on immigration (law According to information that has often mic migrants», leave their country, making the subject of detailed analyses7. Like those 49/1998) that sets out that the foreign af- been reported, but neither sourced nor ve- the possibility of their application for pro- reached with Tunisia, they follow the same fair and interior ministries engage in discus- rified, 13 detention camps have supposedly tection in Italy having a positive outcome logic of disregarding international conven- sions with the countries concerned, so as to been completed since, one of them near unlikely. The visit to the centre of an offi- tions and the fundamental rights of mi- speed up identification and the issuing of Tunis and another between Gabes and the cial delegation sent by the Tunisian go- grants for the sake of a game of bartering documents required for expulsions. Libyan border. Not even the location of vernment on 23 February 2009, contrave- between States whose price, in terms of The first bilateral agreement in the field the other 11 is known. On this issue, the ning all the norms for the protection of human lives, is very high. Thus, the latest of immigration was signed by Italy with Tunisian authorities keep an absolute si- asylum seekers, is a sign of this disregard. event to date8 in a long list of tragedies Tunisia in 1998 under the center-left go- lence and no information seeps through on Secondly, it exposes expelled Tunisians to caused by the intention to prevent migrants vernment of Lamberto Dini. It was not a a matter that is especially delicate because it serious risks once they return, about which, from landing in the Italian EU ports, in- real readmission agreement such as those does not just concern sub-Saharans, but given the situation that exists there, it is volved the death of 73 Eritreans in mid- signed later, in 2007 with Egypt and in also Tunisian citizens who seek to flee from very difficult to obtain information. August during their crossing from Libya on 2008 with Libya, but it consisted of an «ex- Ben Ali’s dictatorship. So, at the beginning of 2009 the Italian a boat that drifted for 23 days during which change of files between Italy and Tunisia In September 1999, when the agree- government was primarily negotiating with they encountered a number of ships. Op- concerning the entry and readmission of ment came into force, the Italian govern- Tunisia. Just a few months later, resuming ponents of the new agreements between people in an irregular position». ment instructed prefects to intensify its approach from previous years, it pre- Italy and Libya on the control of migrants’ The points envisaged in the agreement controls, particularly those targeting irregu- sented its «partnership» with its Libyan ally. departures and the sending back of boats already evoke those that would be discussed lar migrants. Despair, suicide attempts and These agreements, which were as secret at in 2009: acts of self-harm spread across detention a legal level as they were extensively publi- 7 See the dossier on the Italian website Melting Pot, - a joint programme to fight illegal im- centres from Trapani (Sicily), to and particularly the articles by Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo: cised in the media at the political level, were http://www.meltingpot.org/articolo14602.html. In migration Turin. In December 1999, six migrants French, Claire Rodier “Externalisation des frontières au - a commitment by the Italian govern- burned to death during an attempted esca- sud de l’Europe. L’alliance contre nature de UE-Libye” in A. Bensaad: Le Maghreb à l’épreuve des Migrations pe from Trapani detention centre on the subsahariennes, Karthala, 2009. eve of the execution of the expulsion or- 8 The latest changes in this report were made in 9 Avvenire, 21 August 2008, editorial, http://edicola. August 2009. avvenire.it/ee/avvenire/default.php?pSetup=avvenire. ders against them. 94 95 Lampedusa, sentinel’s Island of Europe

In this first three-year phase (1998-2000) of the readmission agreements’ applica- tion, Italy supplied 20 million euros’ worth of material to Tunisia. In exchange, Tunisia received a privileged quota for «legal en- tries» (employment visas) into Italy: 3,000 in 2000 and 2001, 2,000 in 2002 and 600 in 2003. After the interruption of Italian fun- ding, a decrease in entry quotas and an in- crease in the arrivals of migrants by sea, in 2003 the Italian government decided to reopen negotiations with Tunisia to sign a new readmission agreement, which was reached at the end of the year. It also concerned police cooperation: Italy com- mitted to train the Tunisian police and to increase the legal entry quotas (which, after the agreement was signed, rose from 600 to 3,000 units). In 2004, Tunisia proved its goodwill by adopting a law envisaged harsh sentences for people accused of involvement in traf- ficking migrants, and the departures ofboat people partly shifted to neighbouring Libya.

96 Lampedusa - Italia - August 2007 NGOs members of Migreurop

Pictures : BELGIUM CIRE Coordination et initiatives pour et avec les refugiés et étrangers / CNCD Centre national de coopération - Sara Prestianni for the cover picture, Greece, Ca- au développement / LDH Ligue des droits de l’homme / SAD Syndicat des avocats pour la démocratie lais and Lampedusa www.flickr.com/photos/saraprestianni SPAIN - Laetitia Tura for Morocco Andalucia Acoge /APDHA Asociación pro derechos humanos de Andalucia / CEAR Comisión española de ayuda www.territoiresenmarge.fr al refugiado / MUGAK Centro de Estudios y Documentación sobre racismo y xenofobia / ACSUR Las Segovias - Fatih Pinar for Turkey FRANCE www.fatihpinar.com ACORT Assemblée citoyenne des originaires de Turquie / ACT UP / ANAFE Association nationale d’assistance Scale model and layout of this report has been done aux frontières pour les étrangers / ATMF Association des travailleurs maghrébins de France / Cimade with the kindly help of Anafé and Caroline Maillary. FASTI Fédération des associations de solidarité avec les travailleurs immigrés / FTCR Fédération des Tunisiens pour une citoyenneté des deux rives / GAS Groupe accueil et solidarité / GISTI Groupe d’information et de Maps extracts from : Migreurop, Atlas des migrants - soutien des immigrés / IPAM Initiatives pour un autre monde / JRS France Jesuit Refugee Service / MRAP Mouve- Géographie critique des politiques migratoires, Paris, ment contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples Armand Colin, 144 p., 2009.

ITALY ARCI Associazione ricreativa culturale italiana / ASGI Associazione studi giuridici sull’immigrazione / Melting Pot / NAGA Associazione volontaria di assistenza socio-sanitaria e per i diritti di stranieri e nomadi

MALI AME Association malienne des expulsés

MAROCCO ABCDS-Oujda Association Beni Znassen pour la culture, le développement et la solidarité / AFVIC Association des amis et familles des victimes de l’immigration clandestine / AMDH Association marocaine des droits humains Migreurop’s supports:: / AMERM Association marocaine d’études et de recherches sur les migrations / GADEM Groupe antiraciste d’accompagnement et de défense des étrangers et migrants / Pateras de la vida

MAURITANIA AMDH Association mauritanienne des droits de l’homme

PORTUGAL SOLIM Solidariedade Imigrante

GREAT BRITAIN Statewatch / Barbed Wire Britain Network

LIBANON Frontiers

SWITZERLAND Solidarité sans frontières

TOGO Attac Togo Born in 2002, the Migreurop network brings together activists and over forty associations from thirteen countries both north and south of the Mediterranean. Its goal is to collect information to reveal and denounce the effects of the European Union’s migration policies insofar as human rights violations are concerned, particularly in places of detention. The map of camps for foreigners in Europe and in Mediterranean countries drawn up by Migreurop, which is regularly updated, has become a reference in this field. Since 2008, the Migreurop network’s work has taken on the form, in particular, of a Borders Observatory that rests upon a number of tools: apart from the divulging of information on human rights violations at borders through its e-mail list and website, Migreurop has launched a campaign for a ‘Right of access in the places of detention for migrants’, and has set up a working group on the consequences of readmission agreements reached between the European Union and its neighbours. In September 2009, Migreurop published an ‘Atlas of migrants in Europe’, which aims to be a work of critical geography of border controls. Migreurop releases this report on the violation of human rights at borders, ‘Murderous Borders’, within the framework of the Borders Observatory. For this first edition, Migreurop has chosen to focus on four symbolic poles of the misdeeds of the policies enacted by the European Union: the Greek-Turkish border, the Calais region in northwestern France, that of Oujda, in eastern Morocco, and the island of Lampedusa in the far south of Italy. They represent as many stops, of varying length and too often tragic, in the odyssey of thousands of people who, every year, seek to flee persecutions through chosen or obligatory exile, or simply to escape the fate that is reserved to them, by attempting to reach Europe.

November 2009

Migreurop

21ter rue Voltaire 75011 Paris Tél : +33 1 53 27 87 81 Fax : +33 1 43 67 16 42 - [email protected] http://www.migreurop.org