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EUROPEAN BORDER ACTION World Refugee Day 20th of June 2023

This is a joint action where Amnesty youth together demand that Europe secures everyone’s right to seek asylum show solidarity with refugees, asylum seekers and the families of those who got hurt or died on our borders.

Background

While most refugees live outside the EU, along its borders people on the move face deadly sea or land crossings, harsh weather and terrain, walls and fences and exploitation, only to all too often be greeted with violence, forced back to countries where they might be in danger or arbitrarily detained. The lack of safe routes and Europe's harmful fortification of borders at any cost have lethal results.

Violence at Europe’s borders, denial of entry and asylum, deaths, and lack of search and rescue are different symptoms, persistent and systemic in nature, of European asylum policies which focus on keeping people on the move out, rather than keeping them safe.

W

Tommy Olsen i Tromsø!

e also see a worrying trend concering criminalization of solidarity. Human rights defender Tommy Olsen from Norway is now risking up to 25 years in prizon for his work with documenting the Greek Goverments treatment of migrants and refugees through the NGO Aegan Boat Report. We demand that the Greek Goverment drop all charges against Tommy Olsen and other human rights defenders working for migrants and refugees. More information on the case of Tommy Olsen will come by early june.

If you want to learn more, check out the resource sheet!

Our main demands and statements

  • Seeking asylum is a human right
  • End the European border violence
  • Stop the pushbacks
  • Drop the charges against rescuers such as Panayote Dimitras and Tommy Olsen.

We are planning a mixed action, where the groups themselves can decide whether they want to demonstrate loudly, join digitally, join in creative and artsy ways or by making informational events. What we all will have in common is a flyer and our demands 🙌🏽

How do we reach our goals?

  1. spread awareness,
  2. offer education and information about what is going on,
  3. make political demands
  4. improve our local welcoming culture (reception & intergration).

We encourage you and your group to choose the approach that fits you best and motivates you most.

How will we carry out the action?

Here are some ideas on how you can carry out the action. Please don’t feel limited to these, they are just meant as inspiration!

Demonstration: Shout slogans, give speeches, hold banners

Solidarity march: Posters, torch, “fakkeltog”

Name-reading action: Read the names and stories from the border out load. Content will be added.

Other stunts:

  • Put life jackets on statues around your city. Can be combined with the list of names/stories.
  • Paint slogans on the street with chalk
  • Distribute flyers
  • Informational events: Speeks, panel discussions, debates, a lecture event on the University etc. See tips for topics and who to invite here.
  • Trivia night/quiz
  • Join digitally: Take a selfie with slogans
  • Walk around the city with a rubber boat/take it out on one of the rivers
  • Movie screening. A list of movies can be found here.
  • Solidarity concert/open mic/…
  • Build a “border wall” of cardboard, then tear it down together (with the audience?)
  • Collect signatures for the Melilla case [more information below]
  • Make a mural where people can draw/paint separate parts during the day, and then you put it together in the end. Have paint and pencils available so that bypassers can join.
  • Write an opinion piece to your local newspaper adressing the issue.

Cities who are joining the action

Please let the coordinators know that your city is joining before the 10th of June if you want it to be on the flyer!

  • Trondheim (Norway)
  • Oslo x2 (Norway)
  • Amsterdam (Netherlands)
  • Amnesty Youth Trondheim
  • Group 157 (Tromsø)
  • Bern
  • Leipzig
  • Stuttgart
  • Freiburg
  • Kiel

To-do-list for joining groups!

Additional statements you can use

Fra fjorårets aksjon
  • European borders are killing people
  • Refugees welcome
  • No one is illegal
  • Safe and legal routes now
  • Everyone has the right to seek safety and to claim asylum. Whoever they are and wherever they are from.
  • Human rights for everyone
  • Refugee rights are human rights
  • Same rights for all refugees
  • Respect refugees
  • Solidarity is not a crime
  • Free humanitarians
  • Migration is not a crime
  • Take responsibility, not lives
  • No border is more worthy of protection than a human life
  • Drop the charges against Tommy Olsen and other human rights defenders.

Contact or questions?

This action is planned by Amnesty activists from different European Amnesty groups. This document is made by the action coordinators. Please contact us if you want to join or if you have any questions & ideas: