In the run-up to the EU Council Summit, The Left in the European Parliament stands in solidarity with activists coming to Brussels to denounce the EU border policies and externalisation.

The  Left is supporting a series of events organised by NGOs and activists in the framework of “action days” dedicated to denouncing the EU’s deadly migration policy and its impact.

The latest catastrophe in the Mediterranean, the Pylos shipwreck, should be a final wake-up call for the EU to change its migration policies and put people’s lives and human rights first. At least 82 people lost their lives and more than 500 are still missing after their boat sank off the Greek coast. While people embark on perilous journeys, as they don’t have any alternatives, hoping to reach safety in Europe, EU leaders keep strengthening Fortress Europe. While people drown, EU Member States ignore their distress calls, continues pushbacks of people on the move, talk about building walls at Europe’s borders and are outsourcing the responsibility for migration to unsafe countries.

The International Organisation for Migration reports that over 27,000 people have gone missing or died in the Mediterranean since 2014. As many as 84 per cent of those who perish trying to cross the Mediterranean are officially unidentified.

Agenda:

Reading/performance “We kindly request you to stop killing” 
When: Wednesday 28 June, 12:00 – Friday, 30 June, 12:00 (non-stop)
Where: In front of the European Parliament (Place Luxembourg), Brussels
Every year since 2014, the Alarm Phone, a hotline for boat people in distress, sends thousands of SOS emails alerting authorities about urgent situations at sea. Thousands of repeated requests for rescue, many of them unanswered. From 28 June to 30 June, Alarm Phone activists will be reading out more than 1,000 of these distress emails that the network has sent since the beginning of 2023 during a 48-hour non-stop action in front of the European Parliament in Brussels. The action coincides with the European Council meeting (29 & 30 June).

Press conference “From Tripoli to Brussels: Amplifying the Voices of Refugees in Libya” 
Refugees and migration activists share their first-hand experiences.
When: Thursday, 29 June, 11:00-11:30
Where: European Parliament, Brussels, Paul-Henri Spaak, 0A50
Speakers:

• Miguel Urbán Crespo, MEP The Left
• Hela Kanakane – migration activist, Alarm Phone Tunisia
• David Yambio – migration activist, Refugees in Libya
• Moctar Nalossou – migration activist, Alarm Phone Sahara

Journalists are invited to attend and ask questions, in person or online at https://ep.interactio.eu/66e2-hy1p-1w4u

Round table with MEPs, Refugees in Libya, Solidarity with Refugees in Libya and Alarme Phone Sahara
When: Thursday, 29 June, 12:00 – 13:30
Where: European Parliament, Brussels, PHS1C051
Representatives of Refugees in Libya and people on Sahel-Sahara migration routes are meeting with MEPs to discuss demands and solutions.

Speakers:

• Representatives of Refugees in Libya and of the alliance “Solidarity with Refugees in Libya”
• Moctar Hamado Nalossou and Moctar Dan Yayé, Alarme Phone Sahara
• Video testimonies from Libya and Niger
• Left MEPs Cornelia Ernst, Özlem Alev Demirel

  Left MEP Miguel Urbán Crespo (Anticapitalistas, Spain) commented on the actions:
  “When the important thing is to pay obeisance to surveillance and security companies, when the discourse of the extreme right can be bought and when we treat migrants as superfluous humanity, we have, as a result, agreements such as the new European migration pact. We continue to denounce this shameful pact, and that is why this week we will be welcoming several organisations working on the ground to denounce, in particular, the consequences of this migration policy in Libya, Niger and the Sahel.”

  Left MEP Cornelia Ernst (Die Linke, Germany):
  “The roundtable hosted by the Left is part of bigger action Days organised by Alarm Phone, Refugees in Libya and Solidarity with Refugees in Libya and aims at bringing members of the Parliament together with refugees and refugee organisations. It is crucial for members working on the EU’s deadly migration policies to hear testimonies from Libya, Niger and the Sahel-Sahara-routes and to be presented with concrete demands and needs. This is even more obvious at the moment, looking at the new deal that the EU is aiming at with Tunisia in order to prevent people from reaching safety.”

  Left MEP Özlem Demirel (Die Linke, Germany):
  “While the EU is planning a brutal attack on the fundamental right to asylum, we are organising a roundtable with NGOs to hear voices and testimonies from Libya, Niger and the Sahel-Sahara routes. The EU creates the causes of flight and destroys livelihoods with its trade, economic and foreign policies as well as its arms deliveries while, at the same time, it seals its borders. We oppose the dirty deals with autocrats and militias, such as in Libya, Tunisia or Turkey, to intercept refugees, and we struggle for a policy of justice instead of the militarisation of the EU’s external borders.”