Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project’s Post

👥 𝗗𝗲-𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆: 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 ASF, Prison Insider, FEANTSA and European Alternatives participated in a workshop to discuss how to advocate for a non-discriminatory coherent approach to migration and poverty in Europe and its neighborhood. In the contemporary European political space, an overly securitized and criminalized approach is often pursued in the design and implementation of public policies towards populations in vulnerable situations, such as migrants, homeless people, poor people and racialized populations. For instance, rates of arrest and detention for petty offenses are often significantly higher amongst these categories of individuals. They are targeted and criminalized on the basis of who they are rather than what they have done. Current European migration policies and the question of migrant rights also needs to be reframed in the wider context of anti-discrimination in Europe. Such an approach enables a full appreciation of the various and intersectional challenges to ensuring migrant justice and its overlaps with promoting and guaranteeing equality across different groups at risk of discrimination in Europe. Closely linked to these challenges is the shrinking civic space in the EU: activists are criminalized for resisting to these different discriminatory policies towards populations in vulnerable situation. We would like to thank all the participants, especially the panelists: 🗣 María José Aldanas, policy officer at FEANTSA 🗣 Khayem Chemli, reseatch and advocacy officer at ASF 🗣 Justine Dofal, Network and Patnerships coordinator at ASF 🗣 Florence Laufer, director of Prison Insider 🗣 Niccolo Milanese, director of European Alternatives Avocats Sans Frontières en Tunisie - ASF European Alternatives FEANTSA Justice ExPEERience Prison Insider #Europe #Migration #CivicSpace #EUCITZSUMMIT #EU2024BE

📆 IASC update   💡The IASC spoke at the The Business Services Association Modern Slavery Council workshop and discussed their upcoming work on helping business spot signs of modern slavery and exploitation. Businesses have a critical role to play in tackling modern slavery as there is a significant risk to it happening in their operations and supply chains. It was great to see businesses and organisations coming together to take a proactive approach to addressing this issue. 💡Former Judge Tom Crowther delivered a follow-up report to the Independent Inquiry into Telford Child Sexual Exploitation. The IASC paid tribute to the brave survivors in the Inquiry for sharing their experiences to help prevent other children from facing exploitation. The IASC reiterated the call on the importance of listening to the voices of survivors in order to inform effective response to tackling modern slavery. You can read the more here: https://lnkd.in/ew95XY3V 💡The importance of learning from those with lived experience was also the theme for The Human Trafficking Foundation forum on ‘Co-working Between Lived and Learnt Experience’. The IASC joined a range of speakers that provided their insights on the importance of working with lived experience groups if meaningful change is to be achieved. 💡The IASC was pleased to provide the foreword for the recently released report: ‘Behind Closed Doors: A Storytelling Legal and Empirical Analysis of Human Trafficking Risks in Home Office Hotels Compared to Other Accommodation for Unaccompanied Children and Youth Seeking Asylum in the UK’ by ECPAT UK and UCL All children should be in safe, loving, caring environments free from exploitation. This research rightly calls for more to be done now to make sure that we are protecting children, ensuring children’s services can wrap-care around children in need and make sure that all children are in safe accommodation. You can read the report here: https://lnkd.in/e2rCDW_v 💡In the UK, we have seen substantial increase in overall number of children being exploited is an increase in criminal exploitation with those with an unstable immigration status particularly vulnerable. The IASC was delighted to speak on this matter to the Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking about protecting children and young people. The Taskforce are consortium of Members of Parliament and Congress, government leaders, and lived-experience experts who are committed to creating policy solutions to prevent human trafficking globally. 💡The King’s Speech on Wednesday included legislation to support victims, tackle criminal gangs and strengthen policing, and end violence against women and girls. The IASC will work to ensure the voices and needs of modern slavery victims are heard as these Bills progress through Parliament.

Just like the ‘divide and rule’ tactics of colonisation, marginalised populations continue to be segmented into separate and opposing groups. For instance, TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) construct trans women as a “threat” to lesbians, whilst racist gays construct migrants (usually Black, Brown and Muslim) as a “threat” to lesbians. As a result, lesbians are whitewashed and ciswashed, meaning that trans migrant, migratised and racialised lesbians are erased, or are only visible when we can be weaponised against our communities, held up as a token of Western ‘progressivism’ against Global South ‘primitivism’. As those lesbians who are trans and are migrants or migratised, we reject the weaponisation of any aspect of our identities, of our communities, against others. Moving forward, we propose a ‘dyke politics’, grounded in abolition and liberation for all. Dyke politics smashes the metaphorical barriers that try to separate our communities to fragment our resistance- the ones that divide us in a hierarchy of belonging based on our citizenship, our background, our sexuality, our transness, our (dis)ability, our race, and the literal ones that keep migrants away from communities such as borders, prisons, detention centres. Not gay as in happy, dyke as in no borders. Read more of our Diaspora Dyke Manifesto, and find out more about our #GenderQueernessMigration campaign: https://buff.ly/3uAaRZH #Decolonisation #Abolition #DykePolitics #MigrantJustice #QueerLiberation #Pride2024

🗣 𝗗𝗲-𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Policies which address poverty and migration through a securitised lens put human rights at risk. They foster a “fear of the other”, supported by a narrative which views migrants and people in poverty as threats to security and public order, leading to their discrimination and criminalisation. Human dignity, the right to adequate housing and other human rights are directly threatened in situations of homelessness. The above-mentioned laws and policies further endanger the human rights of people in poverty and homeless people. The latter are treated as criminals for the very fact of living on the streets. They live under constant fear of eviction from their encampments and squats, with no access to housing alternatives. They suffer regular harassment by police forces, and often receive fines and administrative sanctions for minor offences, which they are not able to pay, maintaining them in poverty and illegality. They also face major barriers in defending and accessing their rights. This vicious circle results in people in poverty and homeless people being more likely to be targeted by the police and the judicial system, and more prone to incarceration. A majority of people imprisoned also experience poverty. Prison also increases economic and social vulnerability: while 1 out of 5 detainees is homeless upon incarceration, 30% of people become homeless when released from prison. Over the past 25 years, harsher narratives on migrants, in particular the association of migration with crime, have led to rising racism and discrimination across society, notably to racial profiling. EU policies have led to police brutality, forced returns, detention and illegal collective expulsions. Recent measures (such as the newly adopted EU Migration Pact, the reform of the Schengen Borders Code, the Facilitation Directive, etc.) all run the risk of increasing discrimination based on nationality and racialisation, of creating unaccountable and opaque migration and asylum agencies, and furthering the criminalisation of solidarity. The increase in identity-focused politics and nationalist withdrawals also contribute to an increase in racist and discriminatory offences against European citizens with an immigrant background, particularly from Arab-Muslim and African descent.  𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳 ➡ https://lnkd.in/eifJ6jT3 European Alternatives FEANTSA Prison Insider #EuropeanUnion #EU #HumanRights #Migration #Poverty #Discrimination #Advocacy #CivilSociety #PettyOffences

EHRC shared its monitoring findings with relevant stakeholders, revealing key concerns encountered by #refugees and #asylumseekers in #Gambella region in exercising their right of access to justice and in relation to conditions of detention in prisons and other facilities in the region. The monitoring report also presented a list of recommendations aimed at addressing the challenges. #humanrightsforall

🗣 𝗗𝗲-𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆: 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 In the frame of the 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻❜𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁, ASF, Prison Insider, FEANTSA and European Alternatives will animate a workshop to offer a momentum for collective reflection and discussion on how to shift the narrative and advocate for a non-discriminatory coherent approach to migration and poverty in Europe and its neighborhood. In the contemporary European political space, an overly securitized and criminalized approach is often pursued in the design and implementation of public policies towards vulnerable populations, such as migrants, homeless people, poor people and racialized populations. For instance, rates of arrest and detention for petty offenses are often significantly higher amongst these categories of individuals. They are targeted and criminalized on the basis of who they are rather than what they have done. Current European migration policies and the question of migrant rights also needs to be reframed in the wider context of anti-discrimination in Europe. Such an approach enables a full appreciation of the various and intersectional challenges to ensuring migrant justice and its overlaps with promoting and guaranteeing equality across different groups at risk of discrimination in Europe. Closely linked to these challenges is the shrinking civic space in the EU: activists are criminalized for resisting to these different discriminatory policies towards populations in vulnerable situation. 📅 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵, 𝟮𝟮 - 𝟭𝟭.𝟭𝟱 📍 𝗥𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲, 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘀 🔗 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 ➡ https://lnkd.in/eJ8s5EPJ European Alternatives FEANTSA Prison Insider #Europe #Migration #CivicSpace

The system must recognize the identities of all people seeking asylum. The Biden-Harris Administration promised a humane asylum system; closing borders isn't the solution. ✊ Let's stand for fairness and compassion! 🟣 Be sure to follow #thetaskforce to stay up-to-date on important movements in legislation, policies, and decisions impacting the community. [VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Imagine for a moment being a trans person seeking asylum and being turned away. Even if they are not turned away, too often, they are experiencing more trauma, they are marginalized, they are discriminated against, and people do not respect their identity. And when I say people, the system when I say people, I mean CBP officers who are not culturally competent to what is happening. Those seeking safe harbor as people who have experienced discrimination and have to have their identities used against them. Neither are acceptable. President Biden promised fairness and a humane asylum system. Closing the border would dismantle asylum while pouring credence into the previous administration’s extremist great replacement lies.] #TheTaskForce #LGBQTAdvocacy #LGBTQCommunity #LGBTQTaskForce #LGBTQRights #ProtectLGBTQYouth #ProtectTransRights #TransRightsNow #TransLivesMatter #LGBTQLivesMatter #QTBIPOC #lgbtqiacommunity #CensusBureau #QueerTheCensus #QueertheVote #Immigration

We are thrilled to report the incredible success of our recent community engagement on PSEA (Prevention from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse) and GBV (Gender-Based Violence) sensitivity awareness at the Kalobeyei Women’s Center. The session was met with overwhelming participation and enthusiasm from the community, who not only appreciated the informative content but also requested more training in the future. This reflects the community's growing commitment to understanding and combating GBV. Our heartfelt thanks go to our partners, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and ECHO, whose generous support made this event possible. The training provided essential knowledge on the different forms of GBV, their causes, consequences, and crucially, the available reporting mechanisms. This education is a vital step toward prevention, as it empowers individuals with the information needed to recognize and respond to GBV. As we move forward, we call upon all humanitarian organizations operating in Kakuma, Kalobeyei, and the surrounding regions, as well as government authorities, to join forces in expanding this initiative. Together, we can develop comprehensive programs that not only raise awareness but also foster a safer and more supportive environment for all community members. It is only through collective action that we can effectively combat GBV and ensure the protection and dignity of every individual in these communities #ECHO#DRC#EU#UNHCR#UNWOMEN#GIZ#BOMA#WFP#REHORI#LOCALACTORS #Vivian#Mathew#Everlyne#Maria#Hassan#Bill#Oscar#Abbey#Theo

The system must recognize the identities of all people seeking asylum. The Biden-Harris Administration promised a humane asylum system; closing borders isn't the solution. ✊ Let's stand for fairness and compassion! 🟣 Be sure to follow #thetaskforce to stay up-to-date on important movements in legislation, policies, and decisions impacting the community. [VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Imagine for a moment being a trans person seeking asylum and being turned away. Even if they are not turned away, too often, they are experiencing more trauma, they are marginalized, they are discriminated against, and people do not respect their identity. And when I say people, the system when I say people, I mean CBP officers who are not culturally competent to what is happening. Those seeking safe harbor as people who have experienced discrimination and have to have their identities used against them. Neither are acceptable. President Biden promised fairness and a humane asylum system. Closing the border would dismantle asylum while pouring credence into the previous administration’s extremist great replacement lies.] #TheTaskForce #LGBQTAdvocacy #LGBTQCommunity #LGBTQTaskForce #LGBTQRights #ProtectLGBTQYouth #ProtectTransRights #TransRightsNow #TransLivesMatter #LGBTQLivesMatter #QTBIPOC #lgbtqiacommunity #CensusBureau #QueerTheCensus #QueertheVote #Immigration