Kompass-newsletter No. 101 - 02/2022

 

On 6 February: global day of CommemorAction +++ Eviction and detention in Tripoli and solidarity actions +++ Caminando Fronteras to Canaries: Deadliest Route in the World +++ Alarm Phone: Shipwrecks Aegean ++++ Journal of the Transnational Migrants Coordination +++ Appeal of Pro Asyl: Implement the right to stay effectively now! +++ Committee of Inquiry on Hanau Murders +++ Asylum for K.O.M.I.T.E.E. in Venezuela +++ Review: Action Day Abolish Frontex +++ Outlook: Freedom Conference for El Hiblu 3 end of March 2022 in Malta; Transborder Summer Camp II in July 2022

Dear friends.

„ We are relatives and friends of people who died, have gone missing and/or are victims of enforced disappearances along the land or sea borders of Europe, Africa and America. We are people who survived an attempt to cross borders in search of a better future. We are solidary citizens who help migrants during their journeys by providing medical aid, food and clothing and by supporting them in dangerous situations so that their journeys can end safely. We are activists who have collected the voices of these migrants before they disappeared, who try to identify the anonymous bodies in the border areas and who provide them with a dignified burial. We are one big family without borders and nationalities, who struggle against the death regimes of death imposed at all the borders of the world and who fight for the right to migrate, for freedom of movement and for global justice for all.“ With these sentences, a transnational alliance is calling for decentralised "CommemorActions" for 6 February 2022, a combination of commemorative events and protests against the daily "border crimes", against the murder at the borders.

"Caminando Fronteras", one of the most important human rights organisations in Spain, published shocking figures at the beginning of January 2022. According to their information, in 2021 at least 4404 people died or disappeared trying to reach Spain from North Africa. 91% of these deaths were counted on the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands alone. 4404 more victims of the EU border regime, it remains a horror.

In the days around Christmas, the Alarm Phone documented several shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea and still accompanies survivors and family members of the victims. Alarm Phone writes about this: „Instead of getting help to deal with their traumatic experience, most of them were detained in the Amygdaleza’s Pre-Removal Center. Among them many people who lost their loved ones, often children. While they are in prison, they have no possibility to search for or identify their loved ones. At least five people are being accused as “boat drivers” for the four shipwreck of Christmas 2021. They are imprisoned and facing unimaginable charges. Again, we demand the immediate release of all imprisoned survivors, psychological and material support for all those who need it and an immediate stop of the criminal persecution of boat drivers."

The date of the CommemorAction day remembers to 6 February 2014, when Guardia Civil fired rubber bullets at swimmers on a beach in Ceuta, killing 15 people. From the appeal: „ The Tarajal massacre is a symbol of what has been happening every day for over 20 years now: victims without justice, graves without names, borders without rights.“

After a transnational conference with joint actions in February 2020 in Oujda, Morocco, the CommemorAction network is planning another central event in Tunisia for September 2022. But first now, a decentralised mobilisation is on the agenda: in the days around 6 February 2022, actions have already been announced in many cities across Europe and North and West Africa: from Calais to Dakar, from Berlin to Valetta, from Milan to Tunis, from Casablanca to Chios.

Let’s make the 6th of February a Global Day of Struggle against the Deathly Border Regime and for truth, justice and reparations for migration victims and their families. Migrate to live, not to die! They are humans, not numbers! Freedom of movement for all!

In the spirit of this call, for a strong 6 February!

The Kompass Team