Context

Since the mistakenly called “refugee crisis”, which de facto marked a milestone in the migration and refugee policies of both the EU and its member states, the walls of the labyrinth in which defenders work are taller. In the same way, the routes they have to cross to defend those who only want to start their way to a better life are tighter.

Between 2015 and 2020, defenders have been prosecuted for defending migrant rights and protecting those who seek international protection in Spain, Belgium, Italy, France or Greece,among other countries. However, this prosecution is just the tip of an iceberg that hides a more complex set of obstacles affecting the right to defend human rights.

1. The concentric circles of the toxic environment: the entrance to the labyrinth

How do we come down from heaven and enter the hell of a toxic environment, as represented by Dante Alighieri? Through nine circles, each one of which is deeper and tighter than the previous one? The French lawyer Francesca Candellaro is part of the Iuventa legal team, the German rescue ship that in August 2017 and due to a legal decision was left stranded in the port of Trapani (Sicily, Italy) unable to get into the sea and save the lives of the people in transit. It is clear to her that, “in 2017 people who rescued migrants in the Mediterranean were angels for the politicians, the media and the public opinion. Now they are demons.” Therefore, this funnel that gets deeper and deeper does not split up in nine levels, but in three concentric circles.

1. 1 The political circle

The rise of the far right in Europe and its hate speech sides with the stigmatisation of solidarity, the defenders who support those who want to migrate, and the migrant and refugee population itself, who are the target of its racist and xenophobic discourses. The EU itself, in the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan published in September 2020, admitted this structural, institutional, and historical racism.
Vox and PP in Spain, La Lega in Italy, Golden Dawn in Greece, the National Rally in France, or the New Flemish Alliance in Belgium. These are just a few examples of political parties that spread anti-immigration discourses, which are becoming stronger and reinforced by good poll results. The way these anti-immigration discourses have been embraced has led to several parliamentary initiatives, which have toughened the EU migration and refugee legislations. This poses a dilemma for the EU institutions, as in many cases individual states have no power in these matters. The reality is that all this is smearing the reputation of the EU as an institution beyond its foundational values, as it encourages a far-right that is not only anti-immigration but also anti-European.

1.2 The media circle: stigmatisation

Media coverage was far from promoting a welcoming reception among responsible citizens.

It didn’t seek out solutions nor did it humanise these people who were risking their lives through migratory routes that were becoming extremely dangerous, especially for women who suffer from violence and sexual and labour exploitation. Some of these migrant women are mothers, who add to their suffering the fear and guilt for bringing their sons and daughters on the dinghies, and the separation from them once they arrive at their destination countries.

EU media limited itself to repeat the racist and xenophobic discourses spread by the blooming far-right parties, contributing to the stigmatization of the people in transit and the volunteers who stand for their right to live and migrate. In addition, the publication of biased and unverified information about international solidarity and its connection with human trafficking helped to create doubts around the legitimacy of protecting migrant rights. Consequently, this also promoted the stigmatisation in the public opinion of various countries.

However, this circle within the labyrinth has not always fulfilled its function. Helena Maleno is a human rights defender who, together with her teammates from the NGO Walking Borders reports and documents the existence of missing migrants in the Mediterranean. They alert Spanish and Moroccan rescue services, provide them with the last location of the boats, and give the families of the missing migrants information about their latest news. The smear campaign she suffered for years, first in Spain and later on in Morocco, was responded with several support campaigns by both the Spanish population and social media. This not only created a bandwagon effect that stopped the legal cases and dignified her work as a defender, but also managed to generate support and awareness among people that previously were not involved in the defence of migrants and refugees rights.

1.3 The last circle: public opinion

“Saving lives is not a crime.” It is not that easy to permeate society with this statement when migrants and refugees defenders are associated with human trafficking, mafia, and criminal organisations, through both stigmatization and criminal prosecution.

These types of messages carry a negative connotation that leaves a mark on a population with a strong political disengagement that increased substantially during the 2008 and the 2020 crises. It leads to a rise in the number of racist and xenophobic discourses and to aggressions against vulnerable groups across Europe, as well as to the emergence of far-right, anti-immigration, and anti-European parties. These three concentric circles are thus related to the media and political stigmatisation, and to the acceptance of anti-immigration discourses within the political agenda. As a consequence, the EU position in favour of defending human and migrant rights has been weakened, and its foundational values have been discredited.

2. Criminal prosecution

“Spain has never taken to the dock any human rights defender”, claims the socialist member of the European Parliament López Aguilar from his office in Strasbourg. The Spanish National Court closed Maleno’s case in 2016. However, the Spanish Police sent four reports to Morocco so in 2017 this country accused her of human trafficking and aiding and abetting ilegal immigration for having alerted the rescue services. Two years later, her case was reopened. Apart from the stigmatisation and the damage caused to the Spanish defender, the investigation could have led to life imprisonment outside the EU.

In August 2017, seven policemen armed with guns and bulletproof vests burst into Anouk Van Gestel’s place, the Belgian defender who a few days before had hosted Moha, a sub-Saharan homeless boy who was living in the Maximilien Park of Brussels. Even though the Belgian law does not prosecute non-profit solidarity, the case against this journalist, together with three other hosts and nine migrants, was exploited politically by the far-right, as her lawyer argued in court.

It is not an isolated case. In “August 2017, the Iuventa ship was left stranded in the port of Trapani while its crew was waiting for the trial for human trafficking. It was not until December 2021 that the legal team of the four members of the crew who were accused, including Kathrin Schmidt, had access to their charges. This period left them defenceless and unable to use their ship, which has been exposed to the bad weather since then. Kathrin is now part of another ship that rescues people in the Mediterranean. In order to continue with her rescue work, she moved from Burriana, a small town on the Spanish coast, to Turkey. She is aware of her privileges. “I don’t want to think about it. They accuse us of having a European passport, German in my case, so we don’t talk about the true heroes: the people who just want to save their lives and who suffer from human rights violations not only in the sea but also when they arrive in Spain or Turkey.” The defender says this in a port full of rescue ships with different European flags that are waiting to set sail, such as the Open Arms, Sea Watch or Louise Michel, of which she is part now.

The use of the anti-mafia law in the case against Kathrin and the other three members of the Iuventa crew caused outrage in Italy. “This investigation has its own features: it is, probably, the first one in Italy against rescue services in the Mediterranean, and the last one to be resolved. It has great difficulty due to the amount and level of interceptions, where the right to translation of documents for the non-Italian defendants was not guaranteed, and to the use of anti-mafia law, a very sensitive issue for the Italian public opinion”, says the lawyer Francesca Cancellaro from Bologna.

3. Bureaucratic and communication obstacles

How is it possible to save lives that are buried in a pile of papers? How many permissions are needed for a rescue ship to set sail and search for people who are lost in dangerous boats across the Mediterranean? Is it possible to defend migrants rights from exile? The third and last pattern associated with the prosecution of solidarity with migrants and refugees in Europe has to do with a storm of bureaucratic and communication requirements that has increased in the last years. Even when it’s true that most European institutions are ruled by the principle of trust, the tightening of the two last patterns shows how suspicion has taken control over the processes that the individuals and collectives who support migrants and refugees need to follow.

This translates into time and money. Whereas in the past it was done almost immediately, now more staff is needed to process all the paperwork. Procedures are delayed by the administrations’ inaction and the lack of political will. Permit applications pile up in national, local, or regional executive offices, and in the meantime, people in transit continue suffering from human rights violations. Some of them even end up dying in the Mediterranean.