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Defending Refugees in Europe

Date: 24rd of June 2022, 15h-20h00

Venue: ex-OPG “Je so pazzo”,  Naples

Via Matteo Renato Imbriani, 218 – 80136 (NAPLES) https://commonsnapoli.org/en/the-spaces/ex-opg-je-so-pazzo

Translation:  ITALIAN – ENGLISH

Moderation of the event: Margherita d’Andrea, lawyer: presentation of speakers and thematic thread of the afternoon

15h00 – 15h30

  1. Greetings

1. Thomas Schmidt, Co-Secretary General of ELDH, greetings on behalf of ELDH and AED

2. Antonio Tafuri, Lawyer, President of the Bar Council of Naples

3. Francesco Caia, Lawyer, National Bar Council, President of the “Osservatorio Internazionale Avvocati in pericolo” (OIAD https://protect-lawyers.org/it/)

4. Liana Nesta, lawyer: Introduction to the conference

16h00 – 16h45

  1. Refugee Rights: a European Perspective
  2.  Bill Bowring, (human rights barrister) What can be done for refugees at the European Court of Human Rights, now in crisis.
  3. Yiota Massouridou, (lawyer, Secretary General of AED) The Hot-Spot System and Pushbacks
  4. Danilo Risi, (Laywer, executive Committee of “Associazione Nazionale Giuristi Democratici”):  Ucrainian Refugees and effects of the mission of Giuristi Democratici and Mediterranea NGO from Naples to Poland: the national petition for the right of conscientious objection of Ukrainian men

16h45 – 17h00 Break

17h00 – 18h45

  1. Refugee Rights in Italy

9. Luigi Migliaccio, (Lawyer, member of the Commission on migration law of Bar Council of Naples and Commission of Human Rights Union des Avocats Européens – UAE): Family Reunification, latest jurisdiction

10. Francesco Priore, (Lawyer, Executive Committee of “Associazione Nazionale Avvocato di Strada”):  Complementary protections to the international protection

11. Nicola Canestrini (Lawyer): The Iuventa case

18h45 – 19h30

  1. An activist’s perspective

12. Simona Talamo, activist

13. Abdel El Mir, activist, Movimento Migranti e Rifugiati Napoli

Closing remarks: Hanno Bos, on behalf of AED & ELDH) Refugee Rights in Europe – The Massinflux Directive – Double Standards or a new progressive approach 

19h30 – 20h00 discussion

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What’s after Moria?

The end of EU refugee policy in compliance with human rights

RAV and AED-EDL zoom press conference with European lawyers and Moria refugees, September 17, 2020, 10.00am

To register and for details: gs@rav.de or: 030.417 235 55
Background information: https://www.rav.de/themen/migration-asyl/

Moria represents the fact the decisive achievement of European civilization – that states subject themselves to rights and duties – is at stake. Lawyers from three European countries explain their experiences, a Moria refugee concretely reports on the consequences of failures of national and EU-law; Karl Kopp from pro asyl will place this in the context of the European asylum reform of recent years.

RAV and AED-EDL invite you to a zoom press conference in German and English language focusing on the current situation in Moria and EU preparations for a ›Moria 2.0‹.

  • Raed Alabd, Afghan refugee from Moria, will report on his current survival struggle.
  • Greek lawyer Elli Kriona represents many refugees from Moria legally. She explains the Greek and EU legal background and clarifies the causes of the failure of European asylum policy on the background of the EU-Turkey deal. Due to her practice she has precise information on the situations of the refugees in Moria.
  • Italian lawyer Lucia Gennari, who accompanied refugees on ships to enable them to safe entries into EU harbors; she also represents many refugees from the Italian hot spots. Lucia Gennari also explains the Italian experiences with the failure of the European asylum system, especially with the hot-spot (non)-system.
  • German lawyer Berenice Böhlo, legally representing many refugees arriving from Greece to Germany, comments on the misguided German discussion on indisputable human rights-based requirements, binding legal and procedural guarantees within the European asylum system. Demands of the European lawyer associations will be presented.
  • For years, Karl Kopp of pro asyl deals with the survival of refugees in Europe and explains why – from a civil society perspective – only a fundamental reform of the European asylum system can guarantee for a humane procedural legal process.

 

Download invitation

 

Here is the video of the conference. Co-president of the AED-EDL Berenice Boehlo talks at around 50:00 min.

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Resolution on European border control in the Mediterranean Sea

IADL, AED and ELDH condemn the tactics employed by the European Union and other European countries member to the Schengen/Dublin Area through their agents and agencies, particularly Frontex, to repel and collectively expulse migrants seeking to enter Europe by sea from Turkey and North Africa. IADL, AED and ELDH call for a radical defunding of Frontex; an end to cooperation with the Libyan Coast Guard (“LYCG”); respect for the principle of non-refoulement and the prohibition on collective expulsions; and for Search and Rescue operations to be adequately resourced and carried out within European and international waters.

 

  1. Border control in Libyan waters

 

The European Union – and its “associated States” –, via the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex, provides training, equipment and funds to Libyan coast guard forces (“LYCG”) to enable them to intercept boats in both Libyan coastal waters and international waters, including via aerial surveillance.[i] Frontex officers engage in a systematic praxis of interpretation of the international law of the sea by alerting only the “competent” Rescue Coordination Centre of the detection of a migrant boat, which means that, when boats are intercepted in the disputed Libyan Search and Rescue (“SAR”) region, they will only alert the LYCG and not any other ships, including those of NGOs, that might have assisted faster.

 

Libya does not meet “the criteria for being designated as a place of safety for the purpose of disembarkation following rescue at sea” under international law.[ii] Migrants who are returned to Libya are frequently detained indefinitely in inhuman and degrading conditions leading to high rates of death from disease and where torture is reported to be widespread.[iii] Crimes of deportation, murder, imprisonment, enslavement, torture, rape, persecution and other inhuman acts are being committed against migrants in Libyan detention camps and torture houses.[iv] Immigration detention centres are frequently located near to active conflict zones which has led to the deaths of migrants held in them due to both indiscriminate and targeted attacks.[v] The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial or Arbitrary Executions has found the gravity of the situation to be such that; “the International Criminal Court should consider preliminary investigation into atrocity crimes against refugees and migrants”.[vi]

 

The EU’s assistance to LYCG is motivated by a desire to reduce arrivals in Europe and to avoid triggering EU non refoulement obligations through an illegitimate interpretation of international law.[vii] Through progressive reduction of European coast guard and maritime rescue activities, criminalisation of NGOs carrying out Search and Rescue operations, and the outsourcing of SAR and border policing to the Libyan coastguard, EU actors have violated their SAR obligations and are as a minimum complicit in the systematic violation of human rights including Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR through forcing return to Libya.[viii] A convincing case has been made that EU officials and their agents are liable for crimes against humanity committed as part of a premeditated policy to stem migration flows from Africa via the Central Mediterranean route, which is currently under examination in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.[ix]

 

 

 

  1. Border control in the Aegean Sea

 

Since early this year, organisations active in the Aegean Sea[x] have been recording an increased number of illegal expulsions of migrants, both from Greek waters and from the Aegean islands and mainland, by European actors including the Greek Coast Guard and Frontex, In carrying out such expulsions, these authorities make use of aerial surveillance in the place of search and rescue operations.

 

Aggressive deterrence tactics employed to push back boats in Greek waters include the confiscation of fuel and destruction of engines, the firing of shots into the sea next to boats, and vessels circling migrant boats to create dangerous waves, with reports identifying perpetrators as Greek Coast Guard.[xi] Such incidents are ongoing: on 29 June 2020, four individuals are believed to have drowned, after the Greek coast guard confiscated their boat’s engine and fuel, towed the boat into Turkish waters, and punctured the hull as part of a pushback.[xii] A Danish Frontex ship declared on 6 March 2020 that they had received and refused orders from headquarters to forcibly return the 33 people they had just rescued to their dinghy, and tow them out of Greek waters back towards Turkey.[xiii]

 

There have also been dozens of reports of people being returned to Turkey after landing on the Aegean islands, without being given the chance to apply for asylum.[xiv] While pushbacks at the Greek-Turkish land border are now a regular occurrence, there have been recent accounts of hundreds of people being removed illegally from closed inland detention spaces, again before their asylum procedure has been exhausted.[xv]

 

The foregoing actions, both direct push backs and unfair and illegal asylum and return procedures, are a clear breach of the principle of non-refoulement, the cornerstone of international refugee protection as enshrined in the 1951 Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 19(1) of The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights explicitly prohibits collective expulsions, such as these, and rescue of people at sea is a fundamental duty under the law of the sea and violates international and EU refugee law The right to seek asylum requires that individuals have access to a fair and efficient procedure for the examination of their claims upon established procedures applicable to any actor involved in the decision making process.

 

The tolerance or involvement of Frontex and EU member states NATO boats operating in the area should be independently and efficiently investigated. All boats operating in the Aegean sea seem to have knowledge of boats in distress and push back incidents through their radars.[xvi] Therefore, the internal investigations of Frontex do not qualify as fair and effective rather add to the lack of transparency. The same stands for the complaints about illegal actions by Frontex in relation to Frontex officer’s actions in the asylum procedure in the Greek hotspots (initial registration and identification, age and nationality assessment of newcomers) and return procedures (Frontex readmission procedures from Greek hotspots to Turkey for the implementation of the EU Turkey Statement). Up to now, no complaint has been effectively investigated. Participation of EU Agencies in national administrative procedures must promote transparency and apply fully the EU’s ‘acquis’ and international and national procedural standards.

 

EU and other European actors, some in silent complicity and some in active engagement with these processes, are failing to rescue people in distress, and violating their obligations under international law.

 

 

  1. Demands

 

IADL, AED and ELDH therefore call for:

 

  1. A radical defunding of Frontex, which is not conducting search and rescue but instead causing deaths at sea and perpetuating border violence, and an end to the violent militarisation of European borders;

 

  1. An immediate end to EU assistance to the LYCG, whether through funding, training, equipment or intelligence;

 

  1. European actors to carry out their obligations to rescue people in distress at sea and not to violate the principle of non-refoulement, whether by returning individuals or through collective expulsions and whether directly or through their agents;

 

  1. An end to the use of aerial surveillance in place of adequate search and rescue operations.

 

  1. An end to the criminalisation of individuals and organisations seeking to assist migrants at sea;

 

  1. The implementation of legal pathways to allow safe migration to Europe.

 

  1. An end to the externalisation of EU and EU member states protection responsibilities through cooperation with third countries such as Turkey and Libya

 

  1. An end to unofficial political solutions such as the EU – Turkey Statement and immediate implementation of established EU law and procedures.

 

To this end IADL, AED and ELDH will:

 

  1. Hold EU and other European officials and their agents accountable by supporting strategic legal challenges and campaigns against the current widespread breaches of international legal obligations to migrants;

 

  1. Call for a recommitment by member states to the principles of the Geneva Convention;

 

  1. Call for a commitment from Greece that there will be no further suspension of the right to claim asylum (as happened in March 2020);

 

  1. Support NGO rescue and monitoring operations in the Mediterranean particularly where individuals are charged with criminal offences in respect of their humanitarian actions in solidarity with migrants;

 

  1. Request an investigation and report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants and Internally Displaced into conditions in the closed detention centres in Greece.

[i] Alarm Phone, Borderline Europe, Mediterranea – Saving Humans, Sea-Watch, “Remote control:

the EU-Libya collaboration in mass interceptions of migrants in the Central Mediterranean”, 17 June 2020, accessible at: https://alarmphone.org/en/2020/06/17/new-report-aerial-collaboration-between-the-eu-and-libya-facilitates-mass-interceptions-of-migrants/ p. 2

[ii] UNHCR Position on Returns to Libya (Update II), September 2018. Available at: https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/5b8d02314.pdf

[iii] Amnesty International Libya 2019 report, https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/libya/report-libya/

Médecins Sans Frontières, “Out of sight, out of mind: refugees in Libya’s detention centres”, 12 July 2019 https://www.msf.org/out-sight-out-mind-refugees-libyas-detention-centres-libya

[iv] International Criminal Court, 2017, “Statement of the ICC Prosecuotor to the UNSC on the Situation in Libya,” available at:

https://www.icc-cpi.int/pages/item.aspx?name=170509-otp-stat-lib; German diplomat in an internal cable to Angela Merkel, 29 January 2017 quoted in: Deutsche Welle, 2017, “Libyan Trafficking camps are hell for refugees, diplomats say”, available at: https://p.dw.com/p/2WaEd

[v] Amnesty International Libya 2019 report, https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/libya/report-libya/

[vi] Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, in her Report to the UN General Assembly, on the “Unlawful Death of Refugees and Migrants”, 15 August 2017. United Nations General Assembly, A/72/335. Available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/N1725806.pdf

[vii] Human Rights Watch World Report 2020, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/libya

[viii] “As a systematic praxis, Frontex officers engage in an illegitimate and formal interpretation of international law of the sea by alerting only the “competent” RCC according to the geographical position of the SAR event. This means that if the distress event happens to take place in the disputed Libyan SAR region, only the Libyans will be asked to intervene, even when NGO ships or other ships could help in a faster and more appropriate way. When the Libyans intervene in SAR operations it is very well known by all the EU authorities that shipwrecked people will be brought back to Libya, a place designated by many international organisations as generally unsafe (for migrants in particular) and which does not meet “the criteria for being designated as a place of safety for the purpose of disembarkation following rescue at sea”. This formal interpretation of the coordination procedures for rescues, as defined in the international law of the sea therefore leads, concretely, to the violation of migrants’ fundamental rights.”

Alarm Phone, Borderline Europe, Mediterranea – Saving Humans, Sea-Watch, “Remote control:

the EU-Libya collaboration in mass interceptions of migrants in the Central Mediterranean”, 17 June 2020, available at: https://alarmphone.org/en/2020/06/17/new-report-aerial-collaboration-between-the-eu-and-libya-facilitates-mass-interceptions-of-migrants/

[ix] Communication to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute, ‘EU Migration Policies in the Central Mediterranean and Libya (2014-2019)’, Omer Shatz and Dr. Juan Branco, available at: https://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/jun/eu-icc-case-EU-Migration-Policies.pdf;

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, has called on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to: “examine whether investigations for crimes against humanity or war crimes are warranted in view of the scale, gravity and increasingly systematic nature of torture, ill-treatment and other serious human rights abuses[…] as a direct or indirect consequence of deliberate State policies and practices of deterrence, criminalisation, arrival prevention and refoulement” in his “Report of the Spcial Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhum or degrading treatment or punishment”, 26 February 2018, Human Rights Council, A/HRC/37/50

[x] Alarm Phone, Aegean Boat Report, Mare Liberum

[xi] Between the end of March 2020 and 25th May, at least 11 cases have been recorded of people being dragged back into Turkish waters. Facebook post from Mare Liberum: https://www.facebook.com/MareLiberumOfficial/posts/635491837179723

Bellingcat report, ‘Masked Men On A Hellenic Coast Guard Boat Involved In Pushback Incident’, available at: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/06/23/masked-men-on-a-hellenic-coast-guard-boat-involved-in-pushback-incident/

[xii] https://www.facebook.com/AegeanBoatReport/posts/864260654097040?__tn__=-R

[xiii] ‘Danish boat in Aegean refused order to push back rescued migrants’, news article available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/danish-frontex-boat-refused-order-to-push-back-rescued-migrants-report/

[xiv] One investigation confirmed 39 people who were picked up from a drifting life raft by the Turkish Coast Guard on 29th April had landed on Samos the day before. Bellingcat report, ‘Samos and the Anatomy of a Maritime Push-Back’, available at: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/05/20/samos-and-the-anatomy-of-a-maritime-push-back/

Eyewitness accounts suggest at least 200 people have been removed in this way since the end of April. Bordermonitoring Aegean report, available at: https://dm-aegean.bordermonitoring.eu/2020/06/17/greece-carries-out-collective-expulsion-of-over-900-asylum-seekers-under-the-complicit-silence-of-the-european-union/

[xv] Border Violence Monitoring Network, ‘Press Release: Collective Expulsion from Greek Centres’, available at: https://www.borderviolence.eu/wp-content/uploads/Press-Release_Greek-Pushbacks.pdf

[xvi] https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/videos-and-eyewitness-accounts-greece-apparently-abandoning-refugees-at-sea-a-84c06c61-7f11-4e83-ae70-3905017b49d5-amp?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR2hVI5Tgo3b3Bf3gXPMlbY967LD07rQ5i_lU_LAIT8pVfYmJDdYM27fjgU

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NO PROSECUTION FOR THE EL HIBLU 3

(La versión en español más abajo)

 

As European Democratic Lawyers we are deeply concerned about the proceedings against two minors and a nineteen-year old, who have been under investigation by Maltese authorities for almost a year.

 

The context

In the night from 25th to 26th of March 2019, a rubber boat left Libya with approximately 114 people on board, including 20 women and at least 15 children. The boat was rescued by the oil tanker El Hiblu 1. A few hours later, the rescuees realized they were being returned to Libya.

As described by testimonies, scenes of despair and panic started, with many shouting that they would rather die at sea than be returned to Libya. According to the information gathered by Amnesty International, at no point during the journey did the rescues engage in any violent action against the captain, the chief officer or any other member of the crew. While the precise circumstances of the events on the El Hiblu 1 will be established at a later stage, nevertheless the responsible crewmembers of El Hiblu 1 decided to direct the vessel towards Malta. Maltese military escorted the ship to Malta where the passengers disembarked.

Three of the 108 rescued passengers – two minors (15 and 16 year old at the time) as well as a nineteen year old teenager were immediately arrested and imprisoned for eight months. They were released on bail in the end of November, 2019 and are known as the El Hiblu 3.

Maltese authorities charged the three teenagers with a series of grave offences, including acts of terrorism as well as for allegedly hijacking the ship and forcing it to go to Malta. Some of these crimes are punishable with life imprisonment. A inquiry is ongoing in Malta to gather evidence, which will be submitted to the court once the Attorney General issues a formal indictment against the youth.

 

The association AED is concerned that Maltese authorities are not appropriately taking into account European and International law, including the fundamental rights of refugees and migrants in distress at sea and the human rights of vulnerable groups like minors.

 

As lawyers we would like to underline the regulations to be followed:

 

Sea rescue to a place of safety (POS) is a fundamental right

  1. The Law of the Sea and international customary law contain the obligation to rescue at sea and determine how this is to be carried out in detail
  2. According to the Hamburg Convention, followed by others, a place of safety[1] is the place where rescue operations are considered to terminate because the survivors’ life is no longer under threat and their basic human needs (such as food, shelter and medical needs) can be met, a place of safety in no way jeopardises their fundamental rights, since the notion of ‘safety’ extends beyond mere protection from physical danger and takes into account the fundamental rights of the place of disembarkation. The need to avoid disembarkation in territories where the lives and freedoms of those alleging a well-founded fear of persecution would be threatened has to be taken in consideration as a legal principle of international and European law.

 

  1. International agreement, which includes the EU, state Libya, very clearly, is not a place of safety for the disembarkation of refugees and migrants rescued at sea. UN and European human rights reports document systematic human rights violations against migrants in Libya, including unlawful killings, arbitrary detention, torture and inhuman detention conditions, alarming rates of malnutrition, sexual and gender-based violence including gang rape, slavery, forced labour and extortion.[2]

 

  1. In addition, EU Member States have to respect their obligations under international refugee law (non-refoulement principle of the 1951 Refugee Convention) and human rights law: the protection against torture and inhuman and degrading treatment as an absolute right and the right to life based on the European Convention on Human Rights/ ECHR. According to ECHR settled case law, the security of the place of safety refers principally to the physical security of the individuals involved but also, to the effective possibility to request asylum. These obligations exist wherever states exercise jurisdiction in the meaning of effective and exclusive control, including places outside their territory e.g. on the high seas.[3] In the light of these clear responsibilities resulting from the ECHR, likewise the principle of non-refoulement of the Refugee Convention has to be interpreted in the same manner: the principle of non-refoulement binds states in each moment of effective and exclusive control.

 

  1. Taking the above into consideration, any instruction of a State to disembark rescued people in Libya is an unlawful order and a violation of several international and European laws. On the one side non-state vessels and their shipmasters have the duty and obligation to obey lawful orders on the other side they have the legal obligation to the national constitutions and domestic laws not to become partner in crime and not to obey unlawful instructions violating international and human rights law. Confronted with these conflicting obligations they are independent not to obey unlawful orders and the people who issue them. Since the Nuremberg trials following World War II, it is clear that individuals must not obey orders of state representatives if these orders violate international and human rights law: “The justification for acts done pursuant to orders does not exist if the order was of such a nature that a man of ordinary sense and understanding would know it to be illegal.”[4]

 

  1. Considering the above mentioned legal situation the refugees on board of the El Hiblu 1 acted to defend their right to life and their absolute right of not being subjected to torture, rape, slavery and other cruel and inhuman treatment, as forbidden in international and human rights treatis. In a similar case the Tribunal of Trapani acknowledged the proportionality of the defendants’ acts, since the right to life and not to be subject to inhuman or degrading treatments cannot be limited by the right of the crew. In the eyes of the judge, if such defensive actions had not been taken, the migrants would have been surely brought back to Libya; the naturally necessity of those actions has to be acknowledged since the defendants did not have the possibility to escape the vessel and its destination.[5] Especially important in the El Hiblu Case is the young age of the minors who tried to save their and the life of all other people on board having in mind what would happen to them when they returned to the “hell of Libya”. There are strong indications that their acting on board was justified under the legal institute of self-defence.

 

AED calls on Maltese authorities

  • to fully implement all obligations stemming from international, European, human rights and refugee-law as well as the obligation regarding the UN Convention on the rights of the child;
  • to respect the right of justified self-defence against unlawful acts subjecting people to torture, rape, slavery and other cruel and inhuman treatment forbidden in international and human rights law;
  • to ensure that fair trial guarantees are fully upheld;
  • to ensure, that the defendants have adequate access to all their rights without any kind of restriction;
  • to recognize that the defendants are vulnerable minors with special needs to be met and to implement all obligations resulting from the UN Convention on the rights of the child in this regard;
  • to stop any kind of cooperation with Libya on migration, ensuring the respect of the rights of refugees and migrants in the country.

 

  • We therefore strongly recommend the establishment on an independent trial observation regarding the criminal proceedings against the “El Hiblu 3”. We call on democratic society to observe the trial and the future of these youngsters.

 

27/03/2020

Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Berlin, Brussels, Athens

[1]               1979 Hamburg Convention, which provides that the State that conducts a rescue operation – even if not in the SAR zone of its competence – is responsible for the landfall and the disembarkation of the individuals in a safe harbour (the so called place of safety, POS); two supplementary protocols to the SOLAS Convention (Ris. MSC. 153 (78), 20 May 2004) and the SAR Convention (Ris. MSC. 155 (78), 20 May 2004), which entered into force on 1 July 2006 and the Guidelines in the Treatment of Persons Rescued at Sea, IMO Resolution MSC.167(78), 10. Mai 2004, IMO Doc. MSC 78/26/Add.2, Annex 34; (IMO, Facilitation Committee, Principles Relating to Administrative Procedures for Disembarking Persons Rescued at Sea, IMO Doc. FAL.3/Circ.194, 22. January 2009; Council of Europe, Res. 1821(2011) on the Interception and rescue at sea of asylum seekers,refugees and irregular migrants, 21th of June 2011)

[2]               https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24569&LangID=E

[3]               ECtHR (GC), Hirsi Jamaa et al. v. Italy, Ap.No.27765/09, 23.02.2012, para 73, 76 et seqq

[4]               United States v. Keenan, Court of Military Appeals, 39 C.M.R. 108, 110 (1969)

[5]               Date of Decision: 23-05-2019, Tribunal of Trapani/ Italy, https://www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/en/content/decision-tribunal-trapani-preliminary-judge-23-may-2019

 

ALTO AL PROCESAMIENTO DE LOS TRES DE EL HIBLU-1

 

Como abogados y abogadas europeos/as demócratas deseamos mostrar nuestra preocupación por las diligencias de investigación abiertas por las autoridades de la Republica de Malta (país integrante de la UE) contra dos menores y un joven de 19 años desde hace casi un año.

 

El contexto

 

En la noche del 25 al 26 de marzo de 2019, una patera, embarcación de goma, que había partido de Libia con aproximadamente 114 personas, incluyendo 20 mujeres y al menos 15 menores fue rescatada por el buque de aprovisionamiento de combustible El Hiblu 1. Varias horas mas tarde los rescatados de la patera comprobaron que les llevaban a Libia. Por los testimonios descritos, se produjeron escenas de desesperación y pánico con protestas en los que se gritaba que preferían morir en el mar que retornar a Libia. Según información recabada por Amnistía Internacional, en ningún momento durante el trayecto hubo acciones violentas contra el capitán, el primer oficial, o ningún otro miembro de la tripulación. Con independencia de que las concretas circunstancias producidas a bordo de El Hiblu 1 sean declaradas probadas mas adelante, lo cierto es que los responsables de la tripulación decidieron llevar su embarcación hacia Malta, al tiempo que militares malteses acompañaron al buque a la costa de Malta donde los pasajeros desembarcaron.

 

Tres de los 108 pasajeros, dos menores de 15 y 16 años (edad a marzo de 2019) así como un joven de 19 años fueron inmediatamente detenidos y enviados a prisión donde permanecieron durante ocho meses, momento en el que fueron puestos en libertad bajo fianza a finales de noviembre de 2019 y a los que se les conoce como los “Los tres de El Hiblu 1″. Las autoridades de Malta acusan a los tres jóvenes de una serie de delitos graves, incluidos supuestos delitos de terrorismo y de secuestro del barco, obligándolo a dirigirse a Malta. Algunos de estos delitos llevan aparejadas condenas de prisión perpetua. La investigación esta llevándose a cabo y llegará al Juzgado una vez el Fiscal General formalice el escrito de acusación contra los tres jóvenes.

 

AED muestra su preocupación puesto que las autoridades de Malta no están teniendo en cuenta, de manera adecuada, la normativa europea e internacional, incluyendo el derecho fundamental de las personas refugiadas y migrantes en situación de peligro en el mar y los derechos humanos de grupos vulnerables como los/as niños/as integrantes de la embarcación.

 

Como letrados y letradas quisiéramos apuntar la distinta normativa que tendrá que tenerse en cuenta puesto que el rescate a un puerto seguro es un derecho fundamental:

 

1.-El Derecho del Mar y la costumbre internacional contiene la obligación de salvamento marítimo y determina en detalle como se debe realizar.

 

2.- Según las Reglas de Hamburgo y demás normativa, un lugar seguro [Place of Safety- POS- en su acepción en inglés][1] es un lugar donde las operaciones de rescate pueden darse por finalizadas puesto que la vida de los supervivientes no corre ya peligro y sus necesidades humanas básicas, tales como la alimentación, cobijo y necesidades sanitarias son garantizadas, es decir un lugar seguro no puede poner en peligro sus derechos fundamentales, puesto que la seguridad (safety en su acepción en inglés) abarca mas allá que la mera protección del peligro físico y tiene en consideración los derechos fundamentales del lugar del desembarco.

 

La necesidad de evitar el desembarco de aquellas personas, que aleguen un motivo fundado de temor a ser perseguidas, en territorios donde sus vidas y libertades puedan suponer una amenaza deber ser tenido en cuenta como principio legal del Derecho europeo y el Derecho internacional.

 

3.- Acuerdo internacional, que incluye a la UE, expone que Libia no es en absoluto un lugar seguro para el desembarco de personas refugiadas y migrantes rescatadas en el mar. Los informes europeos y de NNUU sobre los derechos humanos informan de una sistemática violación de los derechos humanos contra migrantes en Libia, e incluye ejecuciones extrajudiciales, detenciones arbitrarias, torturas y condiciones de detención inhumanas, cifras alarmantes de malnutrido, violencia sexual y por razones de genero que incluyen violaciones en grupo, esclavitud, extorsiones y trabajos forzados.[2]

 

4.-Ademas, los países miembros de la UE deben respetar sus obligaciones bajo el Derecho internacional sobre personas refugiadas-Protección internacional (principio de no devolución de la Convención de Ginebra sobre refugiados de 1951) y el resto de normativa de Derechos Humanos: la protección contra la tortura y todo trato inhumano y degradante es un derecho incondicional así como la protección del derecho a la vida estan recogidos en el Convenio Europeo de Derechos Humanos (CEDH). Según jurisprudencia consolidada del TEDH, la seguridad del “lugar seguro” hace referencia principalmente a la seguridad física de las personas que acceden a ese lugar seguro, pero también a la posibilidad de solicitar y tener acceso a un proceso de protección internacional (derecho de asilo). Estas obligaciones existen en todo lugar donde un estado ejerce su jurisdicción con control efectivo y exclusivo, incluyendo lugares fuera de su territorio como en alta mar[3]. A la luz de esta clara responsabilidad en base al Convenio Europeo de Derechos Humanos (CEDH), de igual forma el principio de no devolución de la Convención de Ginebra de 1951 debe ser interpretado de forma análoga, dicho principio compele al estado a cada momento del control efectivo y exclusivo.

 

5.- Teniendo en cuenta lo anteriormente expuesto, cualquier orden de un Estado para desembarcar a personas en Libia es un acto ilegal y supone una violación de varias normas de Derecho europeo e internacional. Por un lado, las embarcaciones que no tengan pabellón de ningun estado y los capitanes de los mismos tienen el deber y la obligación de obedecer ordenes legales, y por otro tienen la obligación legal en base a las constituciones nacionales y normas internas de no ser participe de un delito y de no obedecer instrucciones ilegales que violen las normas internacionales y de derechos humanos. Cuando se vean ante estas obligaciones en conflicto, son independientes para no obedecer ordenes ilegales y a aquellos que las dictan. Desde los juicios de Nuremberg tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial, es claro que los individuos no deben obedecer a los representantes de sus estados si dichas ordenes violan normativa internacional y de derechos humanos. “La justificación de la obediencia debida no aplicaría si las ordenes ejecutadas fueran de tal naturaleza que una persona con sentido y entendimiento común medio las considerara ilegales“[4]

 

6.- Considerando la situación legal anteriormente mencionada, las personas refugiadas a bordo de El Hiblu 1 actuaron para defender su derecho a la vida y su derecho incondicional a no ser sometido a tortura, violación, esclavitud y otros tratos crueles e inhumanos, prohibidos por tratados internacionales y de derechos humanos. En un caso similar, el Tribunal de Trapani reconoció la proporcionalidad de los actos de la parte denunciada, puesto que el derecho a la vida y a no ser sometido a tratos degradantes o inhumanos no puede ser limitado por parte de la tripulación de la embarcación. A ojos del juzgador, si tales acciones defensivas no hubieran sido tomadas, las personas migrantes habrían sido seguramente llevadas a Libia, la necesidad natural de tales acciones debe ser reconocida puesto que la parte denunciada no tenia posibilidad de escapar del buque y del lugar de destino al que les llevaban.[5] Especialmente importante en el caso de El Hiblu 1 es la corta edad de los jóvenes que trataron de salvar su vida y la del resto de sus acompañantes, teniendo en cuenta lo que les iba a ocurrir si volvían al “infierno de Libia”. Hay indicios consistentes de que sus acciones a bordo fueron justificadas bajo la institución de la legitima defensa.

 

AED hace un llamamiento a las autoridades de Malta:

 

  • a cumplir plenamente con sus obligaciones emanadas de la normativa europea, internacional, de derechos humanos y de protección internacional/refugio así como las obligaciones de la Convención sobre los derechos del niño de NNUU.
  • a respetar el derecho a la legitima defensa contra actos ilegales que someten a las personas a tortura, violación, esclavitud y otros tratos crueles e inhumanos prohibidos en la normativa internacional y de derechos humanos.
  • a asegurar que se celebre un juicio con todas las garantías.
  • a asegurar que la parte denunciada tienen un acceso adecuado a todos sus derechos sin ningun tipo de restricción.
  • a reconocer que la parte denunciada son menores vulnerables con unas necesidades especiales que deben ser garantizadas e implementar todas las obligaciones inherentes a la Convención sobre Derechos del niño de NNUU.
  • a parar cualquier cooperación con Libia sobre migración, asegurando el respeto a los derechos de las personas refugiadas y migrantes en su territorio.

 

Por todo lo expuesto recomendamos encarecidamente la creación de un observatorio independiente del proceso judicial de los “Tres de El Hiblu-1″. Hacemos un llamamiento a la sociedad democrática para monitorizar el juicio y el futuro de esos tres jóvenes.

 

 

Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Berlin, Brussels, Athens, marzo de 2020.

 

[1] 1979 La Convención de Hamburgo que estipula que el Estado que lleva a cabo una operación de salvamento marítimo-incluso en la zona de búsqueda y rescate que no sea de su competencia-es responsable de alcanzar tierra y desembarcar a los náufragos en un puerto seguro (el así llamado lugar seguro, POS en su acepción en inglés); dos protocolos suplementarios a la Convención SOLAS (Ris. MSC. 153 (78), 20 May 2004) y la Convención SAR (Ris. MSC. 155 (78), 20 Mayo 2004), que entró en vigor el 1 de julio de 2006 y las Directrices respecto de la actuación ​con las personas rescatadas en el mar, IMO-OMI Resolución MSC.167(78), 10. Mayo 2004, IMO-OMI Doc. MSC 78/26/Add.2, Annex 34; (IMO-OMI, Facilitation Committee, Principios relacionados con los procedimientos administrativos para el desembarco de las personas rescatadas en el mar, IMO-OMI Doc. FAL.3/Circ.194, 22. Enero 2009; Consejo de Europa , Res. 1821(2011) sobre Interceptación y salvamento marítimo de solicitantes de asilo, personas refugiadas y migrantes irregulares, 21 de Junio 2011)

[2] https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24569&LangID=E

[3] TEDH (GC), Hirsi Jamaa et al. v. Italy, Ap.No.27765/09, 23.02.2012, para 73, 76 et seqq

[4] United States v. Keenan, Court of Military Appeals, 39 C.M.R. 108, 110 (1969)

[5] Fecha de sentencia: 23-05-2019, Tribunal de Trapani/ Italia,

https://www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/en/content/decision-tribunal-trapani-preliminary-judge-23-may-2019

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Collective Statement on the situation of refugees in Greece

The signatories acknowledge the recent decision of the Greek Government to increase the level of deterrence at the borders to the maximum, to stop the registration of asylum applications for one month and to turn back to their country of origin or their country of transit anyone trying to enter into Greece illegally, following the Turkish authorities’ declaration to open its borders and to allow refugees to enter Greece.

 

The Greek Prime Minister claims that these measures are adopted in compliance with Article 78.3 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – however, this provision does not allow any unilateral decision of a Member State nor does it neutralise the obligation for the European Union and the Member States to respect European law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the right to asylum and the principle of non-refoulement.

 

The statements above take place in the context of significant violations of human rights reported from all sides regarding the treatment of refugees who are held in overcrowded hotspots in the Greek Aegean Islands, whether in relation to their basic needs (including proper housing, hot water, food, heating and sanitation) or to their access to justice (including access to a lawyer, to effective remedies against detention or deportation, and to a fair and transparent procedure for their asylum application) and the general malfunctioning of the Greek asylum system.

 

The treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in Turkey has also been condemned by numerous international human rights organizations, despite the efforts of the Turkish authorities to host thousands of refugees since the beginning of the troubles in Syria in 2011 and to implement a new asylum system. These organizations have reported, in particular, a massive deportation of refugees to the north of Syria, an area described as a “humanitarian nightmare”, where civil populations are exposed to a serious and imminent risk of violations of their human rights.

 

The signatories issue a strong reminder that the European Union “is founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity; it is based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law” as stated by the Preamble of the EU Charter for Fundamental Rights and Article 2 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

 

The signatories strongly condemn all violation of human rights of those seeking asylum in the European Union. On no account does the protection of the EU’s external borders exempt EU Member States from their obligations under European law, including the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights or the Geneva Convention on Refugees (1951), which all prohibit putting into jeopardy the right to life and which support the right not to receive inhumane or degrading treatment; the principle of non-refoulement of asylum seekers; and the right to asylum and international protection for all displaced persons. None of the current Greek practices of (a) suspending registration of asylum applications (b) pushing back refugees arriving from Turkey (c) deporting refugees back to their countries of origin or countries of transit where they will face continued persecution or (d) containing refugees in overcrowded camps without access to basic needs and access to law, are compatible with international and European laws on human rights.

 

The signatories urge:

 

  • EU institutions and Member States, while applying Article 78.3 of the Treaty, to take all appropriate urgent measures to resettle and relocate refugees – including both the recent arrivals from Turkey as well as those currently living in overcrowded camps on the Greek Aegean Islands – in acknowledgement of the core EU principles of freedom, equality, solidarity and human dignity;

 

  • EU institutions and Member States to guarantee to all persons reaching European territory an immediate access to the right to asylum and to refuse to adopt and to condemn and sanction any law or measure aiming to suspend the application of this right or seeking to return refugees to countries where they risk exposure to human rights violations (infringing European and international law, including within the framework of the application of Article 78.3 of the Treaty);

 

  • EU institutions and Member States to ensure implementation of the 2001/55/CE Directive, specifically adopted to address a large influx of displaced persons in order to grant them a temporary protection;

 

  • Greek and Turkish authorities to immediately cease all measures jeopardizing the life and dignity of refugees or involving use of force against refugees, in violation of European and international law, and for the European institutions and Member States to condemn and sanction these policies instead of supporting them;

 

  • EU institutions and Member States to revise their migration policy aiming to externalize the responsibility of migration management to countries not offering sufficient guarantees to respect human rights, and

 

  • All parties involved to respect human rights and the principle of the Rule of Law, which are guaranteed by the Treaties and the European and international law on human rights and refugees.

 

 

List of signatories

 

IUIA-IROL (Institute for the Rule of Law – International Association of Lawyers), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights (ELDH), European Democratic Lawyers (AED), Hellenic League for Human Rights / /Ελληνική Ένωση για τα Δικαιώματα του Ανθρώπου και του Πολίτη (ΕλΕΔΑΠ), Human Rights Association (Turkey) / İnsan Hakları Derneği (İHD), Human Right League Belgium (Belgium FR), Association Syndicale des Magistrats (Belgium), Avocats Sans Frontières (Belgium), Bar of Cassation (Belgium), Ordre des Barreaux Francophones et Germanophone de Belgique (AVOCATS.BE), Bars of Brussel (FR), Brabant Wallon, Charleroi, Eupen, Huy, Liège, Mons, Tournai and Verviers (Belgium), Bar of Luxembourg.

 

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WE WILL NOT BE A PART OF THIS CRIME!

Once again, Erdoǧan is using refugees as political pawns. Once again, human rights defenders from different fields and countries are witnessing an illegal and inhuman situation at the border between Greece and Turkey.

Official numbers are not available, however, it is clear that thousands of refugees, including a large number of minors, have been manipulated by Erdoǧan and are now stuck between two borders without the chance not only to access asylum procedures, but even proper food, clean water and a place to stay. There are serious reports about violence against migrants and it is also known that around a hundred people who have crossed the border have already been arrested by Greek authorities. Besides this new situation, the unacceptable situation in the Greek hotspots is still on going and people are dying in the Mediterranean Sea.

Once again it is necessary to remind European Governments of their obligation to adhere to the principles of international laws and human rights.

The current plight of migrants at the border between Turkey and Greece is not just the responsibility of these two countries. The European States are directly responsible for this crisis, in addition to the dire situation in Greek hotspots and/or the Mediterranean Sea. This disaster is a direct outcome of the unlawful and unofficial EU-Turkey Statement. This Statement should be cancelled immediately. There is no doubt that Turkey is not a safe country for migrants and declaring it safe third country is a clear violation of human rights. The “Safe zones” in Syria suggested by the Turkish state are contrary to international law.

A solution can only be found in Europe and without the participation of the Turkish Government. National politicians and EU representatives should immediately set xenophobia, populism and racism aside. These approaches lead to fascist solutions that are incompatible with our European values.

The right to seek protection and the right to live in dignity is the fundamental right of every single person whose life is under threat. European States have to provide access to international protection, not just out of humanistic sensitivity, but because they are legally complied to do so.

Therefore, the EU states and international organisations should not provide any support to the measures adopted by the Greek Government to suspend registrations of applications for international protection and deport without registration all persons entering Greece illegally. These acts violate international refugee and human rights law and find no support in the decision of ECHR in N.D. N.T. v. Spain (Applications nos. 8675/15 and 8697/15). Such manipulation of laws and reading of judgements endangers the rights of every European citizen and democracy and poses a fatal attitude towards persons in need of protection.

Greek courts have announced convictions of those arriving in Evros these days with up to 4 years imprisonment without suspension. These measures violate the Geneva Convention and raise serious questions in relation to due process and fair trial. European governments and international organisations should act.

 

Since the situation is worsening daily:

  • We are calling Greece to open the borders and stop using police violence against the refugees immediately.
  • We are calling for the immediate relocation of refugees from Greece to other states in Europe. The “take charge” system of the Dublin III Regulation could be used immediately, as well as other relocation mechanisms. In this regard EU budget should be used for these ends and not for FRONTEX operations aiming at intercepting and pushing back refugees and asylum seekers from the Greek sea and land borders.
  • We call for the cancellation of all criminal charges brought against refugees whose crime is to cross the border.
  • We ask European states to respect international and European law and human rights charters.
  • We call for the immediate abrogation of the unlawful EU-Turkey Statement.
  • We call upon everybody to take a position in this dramatic situation.

 

Yiota Masouridou, vice-president of AED, Athens states: “Since the adoption of the EU-Turkey Statement in 2016 EU Member States are collectively violating the principle of non refoulement. A human rights solution needs to be implemented now, by accepting refugees and asylum seekers in EU territory. Short term political solutions that disgrace Europe’s legal culture should be abandoned.“

And Turkish lawyer Ceren Uysal adds: “We are witnessing a crime against humanity. We strongly believe that it is necessary to act, protest and fight against the erosion of the rule of law and the violations of human rights”.

 

There is an on-going crime and we will not be a part of this crime!

 

Athens, Istanbul, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, 02nd of March, 2020,

 

 

Contact:

Giota Massouridou, Vice-President of the AED-EDL: massouridoup@yahoo.gr

Download the Statement

 

Signatories:

Avocats Européens Démocrates  Borderline Europe, Iuventa10,  Mission Lifeline , SeaWatch e.V., Alarmphone, Dutch Organization for Asylum Lawyers, Medico international e.V , Borderline Europe, The Dutch League for Human Rights, Foundation of the Day of the Endangered Lawyer, Lawyers’ Association for Freedom (ÖHD), Progressive Lawyers’ Association (CHD), Republikanischer Anwaltsverein (RAV), LegalteamItalia, ALA – Madrid, The German Association of Democratic Lawyers (Vereinigung Demokratischer Juristinnen und Juristen e. V./ VDJ), European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights (ELDH) Europäische Vereinigung von Juristinnen und Juristen für Demokratie und Menschenrechte in der Welt, Kritnet, Swiss Democratic Lawyers

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Freedom for Hamza Haddi and Mohamed Haddar

The European Union must stop the arbitrary incarceration of refugees and migrants

We express our solidarity with Hamza Haddi and Mohamed Haddar who are currently being held in pre-trial detention in Komotini, Greece. Both are facing long prison sentences because they are being wrongfully and arbitrarily accused of “smuggling”.

Hamza Haddi and Mohamed Haddar are Moroccan citizens who fled their country searching for protection and better living conditions, Hamza Haddi in particular is a known political activist who was hoping to be granted political asylum in Europe. In Morocco, he is facing political persecution for his activities during the Arab Spring as well as for his engagement with the Moroccan Human Rights Association L’Association Marocaine Des Droits Humains AMDH. He has been imprisoned three times and, together with his family, been constantly targeted and intimidated by Moroccan authorities. Hamza is a political refugee.

With Europe’s ever-increasing closure of borders and the impossibility for refugees to legally enter Europe and claim asylum, they were forced to embark and risk their lives on a makeshift boat. Hamza, who had fled from Morocco together with his brother Yassine went on to meet two companions on the way; Reda and Mohamed in Turkey. There, they spent only a few days before attempting to cross the Evros river that marks the border between Turkey and Greece in July 2019.

In Greece, the four arrived, only to be immediately arrested by Greek border police. But not enough. Hamza Haddi and Mohamed Haddar are now accused of and are facing trial for the “smuggling” of two persons – one of them being Hamza’s own brother Yassine!

The accusations against Hamza and Mohamed are clearly unfounded. They are refugees, not smugglers.

Their companion Reda was coerced into signing a testimony that is now being used to wrongly accuse Hamza and Mohamed as being the smugglers. Reda can neither speak nor read Greek and later confirmed that the written document does not match his statement.

Consequently since July 2019, Hamza and Mohamed have been held in pre-trial detention in Greece and are facing more than ten years of imprisonment each. The basis of their trail is placed upon a testimony signed under pressure and without an interpreter.

We are calling for their immediate release!

The case of Hamza and Mohamed is unfortunately not an isolated case but paradigmatic for yet another facet of Europe’s policy of closing borders and deterrence. While European supporters or so-called “human rights defenders” such as Carola Rackete or the iuventa10 have recently received a lot of attention and support after having become the target of increasing criminalisation, there is hardly any information nor support for those without a European passport facing the very same accusations. However, it is them who constitute the majority of those being arrested and imprisoned in Italy and Greece on grounds of alleged “smuggling” and “aiding illegal immigration”. Arrested immediately upon arrival, a lot of them disappear unknown and unheard of and with no access to support from outside.

The basis for this is Greek legislation that considers any person found to have driven a vehicle across Greek borders, entering Greece without required documentation, as a smuggler.

The arrests as well as trials that follow these often-unfounded accusations of smuggling are arbitrary. Police officers might accuse the person holding the tiller to steer the boat, or the one who communicated with the coast guard to call for help or simply someone who speaks English, to be a smuggler. In Greece, the average trial lasts only around 30 minutes, leading to an average sentence of 44 years and fines over 370.000 Euro. Suspects, or what we would deem ‘victims’ of this unjust legislation, usually have limited access to legal assistance, most of them relying on public defenders. Observers voice concerns about a “shocking lack of deep processing”, reporting that judgements are pronounced despite lack of evidence and poor quality of translation.

This statement is to express our solidarity with Hamza Haddi and Mohamed Haddar and all those criminalized and deprived of their basic rights in the European Union’s proclaimed fight against “smugglers”. We call on everyone to condemn the arbitrary application of anti-smuggling laws against people on the move, who are often already in fear of their lives. We denounce the exploitation of the vulnerable situation of asylum seekers by the EU member states, leaving them without the means to properly defend themselves.

Together with the Hamza Haddi and Mohamed Haddar support committee we demand:

• The immediate release of Hamza Haddi and Mohamed Haddar.
• All charges against them to be dropped, and their innocence to be recognized.
• Hamza’s asylum application to be accepted and his asylum granted.
• Regularisation of the situation of Hamza and Mohamed, and freedom of movement for all.

We further demand:

    • Freedom for all those that are suffering the same fate, being imprisoned in Greek and Italian prisons because they were looking for a better life.
• A change in the Greek and Italian law in order to remove the legal grounds for these arbitrary arrests and convictions.

    –>  Attend the trial of Hamza and Mohamed on February 4th 2020 in Komotini, Greece!
–>  Donate for their legal defence: https://www.lepotsolidaire.fr/pot/94duqw1k

Download press statement:

ENGLISH

FRENCH

GREEK

ARABIC

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RIGHTS AT THE BORDERS

RIGHTS AT THE BORDERS

INDEPENDENT LAWYERS’ ACCOUNT OF THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EU BORDERS

Saturday 8 June Colloquium AED Athens

Venue: Athens Bar Association, Akadimias str. 60, Athens

Language: English ***professional consecutive interpretation provided only for the Turkish speakers for Turkish – English and vice versa)

 

PROGRAMME

11:00 Welcome

Introduction: Robert Sabata Gripekoven (European Democratic Lawyers AED) and Harry Ladis (Lawyers’ union for the Defense of Human Rights LUDHR)

 

 

11:30 – 13:15   1. FIRST SESSION: External borders of the European Union

Moderator: Yianna Kourtovik, (LUDHR)

Turkey: N. D.  (Progressive Lawyers Association ÇHD)

Greece: Yiota Masouridou. (LUDHR)

Italy: Laura Martinelli, Legal Team Italia (Legal Team Italia LTI)

Spain: Adria Font (ACDDH- Catalonia) and Natanael Tejerina Ortega, (Free  Association of Lawyers ALA- Madrid)

13:15- 14:00         LUNCH

14:00 – 14:50     2. SECOND SESSION: Internal borders of the European Union

Moderator: Carsten Gericke (Republican Lawyers Association RAV)

Italy – France: Laura Martinelli, (LTI)

France – Italy/Spain: Flor Tercero, (French Lawyers’ Union SAF)

Germany: Berenice Böhlo (RAV)

The Netherlands: Andrea Pool (Dutch Social Lawyers’ Union- VSAN)

15:00 – 15: 10     3. THIRD SESSION: Non state actors/ EU Agencies: Frontex and Easo

Moderator Berenice Böhlo (RAV)

Yiota Masouridou, (LUDHR)

Carsten Gericke (RAV) Legal struggles against EU Agencies

15:10 – 16:00          4. Discussion and Final Declaration

Download the programme here

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In solidarity with Mimmo Lucano

L’Associazione Avvocati Democratici Europei riunitasi a Torino nei giorni 19 e 20 ottobre 2018 , in occasione del Convegno Internazionale “Nuove pratiche di repressione dei movimenti sociali in Europa e strategie legali di difesa ” esprime la piena solidarietà a Mimmo Lucano ritenendo il cosiddetto “MODELLO RIACE ” massima espressione dei veri valori costituzionali propri dell’Italia e dell’ Europa, condannando la criminalizzazione adottata illegittimamente contro il suo operato .

 

Auspica una rapida e posiitiva definizione del procedimento penale in corso, affinché possa al più presto ricoprire nuovamente la carica di Sindaco e Riace possa tornare a rappresentare un modello di accoglienza basata sul rispetto dei diritti umani .

 

 

The Association of European Democratic Lawyers (AED-EDL) meeting in Turin on the 19th and 20th of October 2018, on the occasion of the International Conference “New practices of repression of social movements in Europe and legal defense strategies” expresses full solidarity with Mimmo Lucano, the mayor of Riace.

The so-called “RIACE Model” he has helped create is the maximum expression of the true constitutional values ​​of Italy and Europe. It condemns the criminalization adopted illegitimately against his work.

 

The AED hopes for a rapid and positive definition of the ongoing criminal proceedings, so that he can soon re-occupy the position of Mayor and Riace can again represent a model of acceptance based on respect for human rights.

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Naples Conference on Mediterranean Lawyers

We thank the organizing associations of this meeting for their work and for their kind invitation. Many lawyers of our association from various European countries are present today to follow our work carefully.

The AED (European Democratic Lawyers Association), in which Italy is present through the association “Legalteam Italia”, has always contained in its structure a Commission called “Defense de la Defense“, which is devoted to defend and practice solidarity with lawyers who are deprived of liberty throughout the world or persecuted for their work of human rights’ advocacy.

For this reason, along with the intervention of lawyers of the association, the Commission has been present in Indonesia, Spain, Tunisia, Kashmir and in many other countries of the world where the role of lawyers has been opposed by dictatorial and / or fake democratic governments.

It was immediately decided to express our utmost solidarity with the colleagues of neighbouring Turkey even in view of its forthcoming accession to the European Union. During the 1990s protests, we got together in front of the Turkish government to protest for the arrest of the then President of the’ Association of Human Rights and Vice-President, both lawyers of the Diyarbakir Order, Sakar and Tanrikoglu.

On this occasion, a delegation from Germany was sent to organize the presence of trial observers during their trial as well as the presence of lawyers in Istanbul, where solidarity was given to colleague Erin Keskin, of the same Human Rights Association, arrested in Istanbul and prosecuted on the 20th of May 1997.

During the coming years, the AED has always worked to defend our colleagues who have suffered arrests and torture in Turkey. We remember our colleague, the lawyer Sevil Dalkilic, who was tortured and induced to confess falsely that she was a member of a terrorist organization; in this occasion as in other, AED and Amnesty International coordinated the intervention. The Turkish government never responded to the many motions and protest letters sent by our association to the diplomatic representatives of  their country. The AED through its commission defense of the defense sent a report to the Human Rights Commission in New York on the case of Sevil Dalkilic.

Several interventions have been organized to ensure the presence of the AED lawyers, as well as other international observers of associations formed during the years, to trials against lawyers who face arrests and torture in Turkey for the work in the defence of citizens unjustly accused of carrying out terrorist activities, especially lawyers and representatives of Kurdish citizens who for years have been claiming their autonomy and freedom, while the Turkish government has always been the expression of military dictatorships and fascist hegemony. The Turkish government have always denied political independence to the Kurdish community, who today is also engaged, militarily, in defending Europe from the attacks of ISIS in the Syrian territories.

For some years now, lawyer’s protests have taken place. Lawyers demonstrate, clothed in their working robes, in front of the Turkish Embassies and Consulates in the countries where members of the AED are present.

Lawyers protest against the numerous arrests and expulsions from Turkish territory of members of delegations who come here to observe the proceedings against lawyers, journalists, teachers and workers subject to the repression that the Turkish government now exercises against all opponents. During the long-term detention of the President of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), President Ocalan; numerous lawyers have been expelled because they were engaged in defense of Ocalan both in Germany and in Italy in the short period of his presence in Europe, where he asked for political asylum (granted in Italy in 1998).

Colleagues are also denied entry to Turkey, when they go to provide legal aid together with Turkish Lawyers and their Associations (CHD, IHD, etc …).

In 2011, the AED dedicated for the first time the day of the 24th of January to the protest in defense of lawyers threatened around the world because of their role in the defense of human and civil rights. The 24th of January commemorates the day were a large group of labour lawyers were assassinated by fascists in Madrid in 1977 for their commitment to defend workers.

In the following years, an increasing number of lawyers have demonstrated on behalf of other lawyers. They have demonstrated in front of the Embassies of Colombia, Honduras, the Philippines, Iran and, above all, in recent years, Turkey, Egypt and China. This initiative has led to the collaboration of many associations, and from 2012 to today, hundreds of lawyers in their robes have demonstrated in front of diplomatic delegations across Europe. This has also determined the entry into our association of a Turkish Lawyers’ Association from 2015. In 2017 the Greek have also joined our association.

The Mediterranean is the scene of numerous political transformations that have emerged from the peoples’ awareness of their right to self-determination; since 2011, with the well-known “Arab Spring”, we have seen the desire for change expressed by peaceful peoples who have immediately suffered repression and violence. The people have confronted this repression with courage and determination, together and with the help of lawyers who have been threatened and tortured for their civil engagement.

To further our political commitment and the cooperation with the Associations of Lawyers as well as the individual lawyers present today, we welcome the proposal to sign a Charter here in Naples, which defines the principles and goals for which we have chosen the commitment all of us try to pursue, with our usual solidarity and the necessary affirmation of the right of all those who call us to defend the conquests of liberty for which they struggle and die.

On this particular occasion, it is time to express our solidarity to the Catalan people who, peacefully, have tried to manifest their political self-determination and have suffered an unheard of repression by the police forces of a country that should deal democratically with the disputes that arise with the citizens. Instead the Spanish state has sparked an unjust and evil force against helpless citizens, causing hundreds of injured in a day, when all they wanted to do is to vote.

Naples, on the 7th and 8th of October 2017

for the AED Simonetta Crisci