186 organisations demand EU leaders change course and end your war on migrants

In October 2024, 70+ migrant-led organisations and 140 supporters wrote to EU institutions to demand alternatives to the EU’s deadly border regime. Following further announcements of rollbacks on asylum rights and of deportation plans, and in a context of an ever-accelerating global fascist shift, we reiterate our call for EU leaders to change course and end their war on migrants.

Attacks on migrants’ rights are the beginning of attacks on everybody. Anti-migrant politics and the subsequent degradation of rights have opened the door for rollbacks in women’s rights and the right to abortion, anti-gender movements, youth movements, anti-worker shifts and the widespread repression of civil liberties. Collectively, these trends disproportionately impact communities at risk of state violence, including poor people, (undocumented) migrants, women, racialised, queer and trans people, young people, and sex workers.

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We, organisations led by migrants and racialised people, along with our supporters, reiterate our call to European leaders to condemn the violent, punitive and immoral turn in European migration politics in recent weeks. 

In recent months, we have watched the acceleration of a global fascist shift. Trump’s victory in the United States and the electoral breakthrough of the far right in Germany further legitimise hate narratives and exclusionary politics all over the world. By imposing their racist and imperialist agenda, far right forces normalise attacks on migrant and racialised communities, including in countries governed by alleged centrist governments. These trends spur the erosion of international law and of the protection of human rights. 

In Europe, we already see the rights of asylum seekers severely harmed. From the suspension of the right to asylum in Poland, to Austrian plans to halt family reunifications for refugees, Germany’s reintroduction of the payment card for asylum seekers, Italy’s attempt at offshore processing of asylum applications, and to the hasted freeze of Syrian asylum requests in several countries, European governments have reached a point of no return. 

The demonisation and the criminalisation of our communities is also embodied in plans to facilitate the deportation of migrants. Germany’s new deportation centre for asylum seekers at the border with Poland, as well as its pilot programme to transfer refugees to Greece, along with the Netherlands’ proposal to send failed asylum seekers to Uganda are just a glimpse into the wider EU strategy to accelerate the pushback of migrants. 

On March 11, the EU announced a new legal proposal called the “Return Regulation” which is another brick in Fortress Europe’s inhumane and punitive approach to human movement. Under the guise of “efficiency” and “innovation”, it proposes an insidious new approach that increases racial profiling and surveillance to ‘detect’ migrants, promotes off-shore detention centres, and even allows child detention. 

The EU is not only declaring a war on migrants within its own boundaries, but also turning neighbouring countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Morocco into yet another frontline, with devastating consequences for those seeking safety and those showing solidarity. For instance, the Tunisian government, bolstered by EU funding under the guise of migration control and economic development, has escalated its repression, targeting not only migrants and people on the move but also those who dare to help them. Activists, aid workers, and even ordinary citizens offering assistance and denouncing racism, are being imprisoned and are facing charges of treason and conspiracy against state security. 

This criminalisation of solidarity mirrors the EU’s own growing hostility towards humanitarian action, as Member States vilify and obstruct those who challenge their inhumane policies and endorse authoritarian governments in doing so as well. The EU’s new Facilitator’s Package presented in November 2023 further criminalises migration and acts of solidarity with migrants, using the fight against people smugglers as pretext for police power grabs and punitive laws that target migrants and humanitarian actors. In general, Member States are increasingly repressing and policing activists showcasing solidarity. Recently, Germany has weaponised migration laws to order the deportation of three European and one American citizens over their alleged actions at pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide demonstrations. Police brutality is also escalating during protests, with threats to the right of peaceful assembly across Europe. These attacks against those who organise are facilitated by increased spending on policing infrastructures, including on surveillance and digital tools. 

Instead of wasting billions on new offshore detention centres, illegal and costly deportation procedures, and the militarisation of borders, European leaders could implement policies in compliance with human rights, toward economic wellbeing, safety and community care, and invest in long-term solutions to address climate degradation, conflict, and economic decline. 

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SIGNATORIES

Signatories

1. Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice
2. International Women* Space
3. Greek Forum of Migrants
4. #DiasporaVote!
5. ACAT Belgium
6. Africa Advocacy Foundation (Mi-HealthEurope)
7. Afrosocially
8. AlgoRace
9. All African Women’s Group
10. All Faiths and None
11. Anti-Racist Forum ry
12. Antizionist Jewish Alliance in Belgium
13. Apna Haq
14. APROSEX
15. ASAMBLEA PLAZA DE LOS PUEBLOS
16. Asociación Por Ti Mujer
17. Association Tunisienne des Femmes Democrates
18. Avocats Sans Frontières
19. BARAC UK
20. Chaska asbl
21. Chkoun Collective
22. Climate justice Berlin kollektiv
23. Collectif des Femmes
24. Comitato 3 Ottobre
25. Dalla Parte Giusta della Storia
26. DeZIM
27. Diaspora Climate Platform
28. Documatism
29. European Network against Racism
30. European Sex Workers Rights Alliance
31. Feminist Collective of Romani Gender Experts
32. Feministas en Holanda
33. Flüchtlingshilfe Iran e.V
34. Garaldea Ecofeminista
35. Glitch
36. Global Asylum Seeker Human Rights Defenders Committee (GASHDC)
37. Global Women Against Deportations
38. Greek Forum of Refugees
39. Hidden Goddess
40. Humanity Diaspo ONG
41. Infokolpa
42. International Civil Society Working Group for the PFPAD
43. International Coalition for People of African Descent ICPAD
44. Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX)
45. Migrant Tales
46. Migrationsrat Berlin e.V.
47. Missing Voices (REER)
48. Mouvement Uplited Africa -MUA
49. Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland
50. New Horizons Project
51. New Women Connectors
52. Northern Ireland Council for Racial Equality
53. Pacific Migration Partners
54. Racism and Technology Center
55. Refugiados Bienvenidos España
56. Revibra Europe
57. Romanian Women’s Association in Italy (Associazione Donne Romene in Italia – ADRI)
58. Romnja Feminist Library
59. Siempre ong
60. Sobre los Margenes
61. Soectrum
62. SOEPIC
63. SOS Racismo
64. Sos Racismo Madrid
65. Space2Grow
66. TAMPEP Network
67. The Channel Monitoring Project
68. UNESCO IPL- People of African Descent & the SDGs E-Team
69. VERVERIPEN
70. We Are Monitoring Association
71. WIDE+ Gender and Migration Working Group
72. Women of Colour in the Global Women’s Strike
73. Supporters
74. Abolish Frontex
75. Abolish Frontex Belgium
76. Academics for Peace-Germany
77. Access Now
78. Agora Association
79. Ariadni Lesvos
80. Aspiration
81. Avocats Sans Frontières
82. BIDs Belgium
83. borderline-europe – Human Rights without borders e.V.
84. Catalyst Institution of Arts and Technology
85. Center for Legal Aid “Voice in Bulgaria”
86. Centre for Peace Studies
87. CITAD
88. Collective Against Environmental Racism (CAER)
89. Comisión Legal Sol
90. Coordinadora Obrim Fronteres
91. Dreaming Beyond AI
92. EAPN – European Anti-Poverty Network
93. Egala
94. Equal Legal Aid
95. Equinet
96. European Alternatives
97. European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
98. European Civic Forum
99. Flüchtlingshilfe Iran e.V
100. Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen
101. Flüchtlingsrat Schleswig-Holstein
102. forRefugees
103. Fundacja Inicjatywa Dom Otwarty
104. Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women
105. Guerrilla Foundation
106. Hoffnung leben e.V.
107. ILGA Portugal
108. Infokolpa
109. InterAlia
110. InterEuropean Human Aid Association 
111. Kif Kif vzw
112. KISA – Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism
113. KOK German NGO Network against Trafficking in Human Beings
114. La Cimade
115. Life Quality Improvement Organisation FLIGHT
116. Louise Michel
117. Migrant Tales
118. Migration Consortium
119. Mobile Info Team
120. Network for Children’s Rights
121. No Name Kitchen
122. Nomada Association
123. Ocalenie Foundation
124. Panoptykon Foundation
125. Podróżnych Ugościć
126. Polish Migration Forum Foundation
127. Pour la Solidarité 
128. Queerowy Maj (Queer Maj)
129. ReFOCUS Media Labs
130. Refugee Legal Support (RLS)
131. Samos Volunteers
132. SCI Catalunya
133. Sea-Watch
134. SOLIDAR
135. Solidary Wheels
136. Steunpunt Asielzoekers Lubbeek
137. STOWARZYSZENIE EGALA
138. Students for Palestine Finland
139. TAMPEP, European Network for the Promotion of Rights among Migrant Sex Workers
140. To Proste Foundation
141. Transitional Justice Institute
142. Transnational Institute
143. Über den Tellerrand e.V.
144. URGG
145. We Are Community
146. WeMove Europe
147. Women Against Fascism
148. Women Against Violence Europe
149. Yoga and Sport with Refugees
150. Alexandra Keiner 
151. Alyna Smith
152. Andrea Soler 
153. Andreas Beyer Gregersen
154. Angeliki Polatidou
155. Ann Singleton
156. Anna Troeng
157. Barbara Pomfret
158. Cecilia Wachter
159. Clementine Zill
160. Denisse Vasconez
161. Dorrie Wilson
162. Erika Piazza
163. Francesca Spinelli
164. Gisela Murillo Guinart
165. Ilaria Aversa
166. Ioana Turcan
167. Jasmina Al-Qaisi
168. Josefine Laule
169. Joseph-Éléazar Duhot
170. Juliette Goulet
171. Klara Körbi
172. Kloé Marin
173. Kristiāna Bruce
174. Lea Höppner
175. Leïla Dimou
176. Leticia García Fons
177. Lisa-Marlen Gronemeier
178. Lucy Alice Thomas
179. Marga Burgui Artajo
180. Maria Pisto
181. Marina Pico Cabiro
182. Marlene Scholkmann
183. Nidzara Ahmetasevic
184. Peter Ebbinghaus
185. Sarah Diedro Jordão
186. Theresa Klettke
187. Viliam Matomäki
188. Zina Weisner