At 12:17pm GMT on 13th June 2023, Alarm Phone, an NGO dedicated to sounding the alarm of migrants in danger at sea, received a distress call from a boat called the Andriana. As is clearly stated on their website, Alarm Phone are not able to stage a rescue themselves, but will mobilise their community of volunteers and activists to sound the alarm when any boat gets into trouble in the Aegean or Mediterranean Seas, in efforts to encourage, or force, coastguards to do their jobs and come to the rescue. On this occasion, their efforts failed. The Andriana sunk, and up to 750 migrants and refugees, including over 100 children, lost their lives.
Greek authorities were quick
to claim that they were not aware the Andriana was in trouble until
it was too late, and that when they tried to offer to support the boat manoeuvred
away from them. These claims were disputed by
Alarm Phone, and a subsequent BBC
investigation cast additional doubts over their validity. This would not be
the first time Greek authorities have lied about their response to boats in distress
in their waters. Just a few weeks earlier, in May of this year, video
emerged showing illegal “pushbacks” off the coast of Greece, in which
coastguards boats forcefully turned around approaching vessels, pushing them
back out to sea. Activists and campaigners around the world called for
independent investigations into this practice, but in Greece and across Europe
these calls fell on deaf ears.
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| The Andriana, as photographed by the Hellenic Coastguard. Source: El Pais English |
As a Professor at Athens University, interview by the Guardian, explained “The government’s stance [towards turning back migrants] may be hostile but it has also proven to be a major success.”. This interview was conducted just over a month before the Greek elections saw a sweeping series of victories for the far right, with conservative leader of the New Democracy party Kyriakos Mitsotakis winning re-election as President, but now sharing his Parliament with the far-right Spartans group, comprised of former neo-Nazi members of Golden Dawn. This rightward shift in Greek politics goes hand-in-hand with the inhumane treatment of migrants trying to reach Europe’s borders, and their fate will only worsen as the far right tightens its grip on Greek border policy.
This is not a new phenomenon. I wrote about the horrific
conditions migrants were subjected to in Lesbos
back in 2018, but since then, the Moria refugee camp has expanded
and further deteriorated, other camps have
emerged in Kos and other Greek islands, and an estimated 9,673 migrants
have drowned in the Mediterranean (according to IOM,
likely a severe underestimate). It is also not a phenomenon unique to Greece.
Just one year after the brutal Melilla
massacre, in which Spanish and Moroccan police killed at least 36 people
trying to cross the border of Spain’s territory in north Africa, disastrous
local election results for Spain’s incumbent Prime Minister have led to a
snap election in July which many fear will return
far-right leaders into power in the country. The UK government similarly refuses to dial down its
anti-immigrant rhetoric and hostile
policies, despite widespread condemnation from human rights groups
and the United
Nations. For those in the UK who want to protest these policies, the draconian
Public Order Bill will aim to silence them as the authoritarian reach of
the Conservative Party grows.
Governments across Europe are violently cracking down on
migrants trying to reach their shores, and the sweep of far-right policies and parties
suggests that, to at least a sizable portion of these countries populations, these
are policies they approve of. And this pattern is playing out across the world
in different contexts, as countries lock down their borders and push for
exclusion of outsiders. At the US’ southern border, troops
have been deployed to forcefully push back migrants and Trump’s border wall
continues to cause
mass ecological damage in the name of deterring entry. Dr Ronan Lee, a
Doctoral Prize Fellow at Loughborough University London, lays
out how the UN and Bangladeshi government have turned their back on the
Rohingya refugees who fled ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, leaving many with little option but to return to a country now in the midst of a brutal
civil war. In Malawi, refugees who have been living and working in host
communities for decades in some cases are now being forced back into the Dzaleka
refugee camp and refused the right to be able to leave, which UNHCR
has claimed will lead to untold human suffering.
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| The sprawling Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi. Source: International Associate for Refugees |
All over the world, the human rights of migrants are being systematically pulled out from under them. This is a global issue, and it is one that is likely to get significantly worse for those seeking asylum unless we do something about it now. As Michael Chessum put it in his excellent, grim, report on migrant rights in Europe, “‘Stop the Small Boats’ is a slogan with which many nominally progressive politicians are at pains to agree. But behind the slogan is a wider agenda – to soften public attitudes for a crime against humanity.”. All over the world, that crime against humanity is already taking place. And the hardening of government policies, supported by increasingly fervent populations, will accelerate the dehumanisation of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees globally.
A bleak future awaits for those who will be forced from
their homes due to violence, climate change, poverty, or a simple desire for a
better live. The number of those who need to flee is bound to rise. The Institute
for Economics and Peace has estimated that by 2050 over 1.2 billion people
could be displaced due to the climate crisis. Increasing authoritarianism in
every corner of the globe would predict
a rise in both inter- and intra-state violence in the coming years as well,
leading to more displacement due to conflict. IFRC’s
Cost of Doing Nothing report also estimates a doubling of the number of
people displaced globally by 2050, with a humanitarian system that simply will
buckle under that weight. The number of people trying to find safe haven in new
countries is inevitably going to continue to rise over the next decade at
least. It is indisputable
fact that the nonsense “hostile
environment” policies that countries are currently employing to attempt to persuade
asylum seekers not to come do
not work.
On top of that, there
is ample evidence that refugees, climate migrants, and economic migrants of
all stripes have
a huge amount to offer communities and countries if they have access to
viable, legal routes to travel to their preferred
destination and live and work there. Refugees and migrants do not want “our
help”. They
want to get on with their own lives. They want us not to get in their way. The dangerous
narrative spreading globally that those who cross borders are a burden on their
new host society is fundamentally flawed, but it succeeds in scaring poor and
disenfranchised groups so that increasingly authoritarian governments can
tighten their grip on their own populations, whilst leaving those outside of
their borders to die.
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| Graffiti found near a refugee camp in Lesbos. Source: Refugee Resilience Collective |
We, every single one of us, has a choice that we need to make now.
We can give in to fear of those who we see as different to
us, believe what we are being told about them, and leave them to die in their
home countries, or on the routes to safer places, or in the ocean, or in filthy
camps on our shores. Or we can challenge this narrative of hate and show
solidarity to the other people who we share our home with. The threats that
face us all in the 21st century will affect every single one of us.
We can let the threats of climate change and conflict divide us and turn us inward,
or we can open our arms and acknowledge that we’re all in this together.
I am fortunate to be able to say that I have not been
displaced, but that is a matter of luck. Millions of people around the world
are not that lucky, and the luck of many more will run out in the coming years.
As the people of Sudan, Ukraine, Myanmar, Syria, and many other countries
around the world have discovered, life can be turned upside down overnight.
They do not choose that path, but they are forced to walk it. One day, I might
be forced to join them, and if I am, I hope I at least find a welcoming home to
get to. And with that in mind, it is my responsibility to try to facilitate
that welcome to those who need it now.
So what can we do?
- Make your voice heard – As the far-right gains ground across Europe and much of the rest of the world, we can make sure we are politically engaged and willing to take the fight to those who would silence us. Join protests, write to your MPs, and vote against those who are pursuing these policies.
- Be vocal – The media landscape across many host countries is increasingly anti-immigrant, and the far-right groups pushing this agenda are organised and active. We need to be louder than them. Advocate for those without a voice in any way you feel able to. These can be small steps, such as sharing positive refugee stories on social media, talking to family members about these issues, or at a larger scale communicating with local media outlets, or confronting the anti-immigrant protestors when they gather.
- Know the law – As the UK’s “Rwanda Plan” is again found to be unlawful by the Court of Appeal, we are already seeing Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman expressing their disappointment and intention to continue pushing for migrant and refugee policies that break international law. Refugees and migrants have rights, and those rights must be protected.
- Show solidarity and engage in mutual aid practices with others in need – The It Could Happen Here podcast showcases some examples of individuals engaging in mutual aid on the US’ southern border. You can see similar solidarity with refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean by keeping up-to-date with the work of the volunteers in Alarm Phone and organisations like Team Humanity in Lesbos.
- Volunteer or engage with refugee support organisations – Refugees that make it to their host destination will be in need of further help, maybe to learn the language or better understand the culture. There are many organisations working to help refugees settle into their new homes, and all of them need volunteers. In the UK, one route to supporting this process is through engaging with Community Sponsorship Schemes.
- Be an active bystander – If you see discrimination happening, find a way to intervene. There are many ways to do so, and you do not have to put yourself in danger in order to avert harassment or show support where it is needed.
- Get involved in your local community – Work to welcome refugees and migrants requires a community, and strong communities are more welcoming and open to changing circumstances around them. Talk to family, friends, and neighbours about their fears and misgivings when it comes to refugees and migrants, try to understand their reasoning, and talk to them in ways that might reduce these fears or concerns.
- Don’t lose hope – Reading any of the news about these issues can sometimes make things feel hopeless, but they are far from it. Climate change and conflict are going to make a lot of people’s lives very difficult in the coming years, but these circumstances do not have to be entirely bad. Tough times can tear communities apart, but they can also bring people together and foster solidarity and support mechanisms that never existed before. Real solutions to the challenges we face can only come from a radical form of global solidarity, but that is entirely possible to achieve. It just requires us to start working towards it together, now.
You don’t have to take the weight of saving the world on your
shoulders. You need to take small positive steps with the people around you,
and we’ll save it together.
