End the Criminalization of Migrants for Steering Boats!
A project from de:criminalize e.V. in Berlin, Germany
Under the pretext of "fighting crime," thousands of people on the move are being imprisoned—sometimes for life—at Europe's borders, charged with smuggling simply for steering a boat or performing other tasks onboard. We’re fighting for their freedom!
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About this project
Julia Winkler from de:criminalize e.V. is responsible for this project
Almost every day at Europe's borders, people on the move are arrested and imprisoned for years under smuggling charges.
Their "crime"? Steering a boat, calling the coast guard for help, or simply speeking English. EU laws are set up so these actions are treated as smuggling, criminalizing thousands of migrants simply for migrating. Under the pretext of "fighting crime", people are arrested from each boat.
However, the fates of these people are hardly known. Arrested immediately upon arrival, most of them are locked away unnoticed, without their names being known and with no access to support from outside.
People affected have limited access to legal assistance and the judgments are pronounced despite lack of evidence and poor quality of translation. In Greece, for example, these kinds of trials usually last only around 30 minutes, leading to an average sentence of 46 years and fines of over 332.000 Euro.
With our work, we fight to end criminalisation!
- We provide direct support for those affected: we accompany and connect people, organize legal support and solidarity campaigns and monitor trials.
In recent years, we could support over 60 people during their court cases, ensuring they received a strong defense and that their cases gained attention! Among them were, for example, the Paros3, Amir and Razuli, as well as the so-called #Samos2 – N. and Hasan. - We fight at a political level to end this criminalization: we research and document cases, practices, and developments; compile reports and studies as well as informational materials; and organise public events and campaigns.
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