Call for the closure of detention centres and hotspots

On June 10, the “Coalition internationale des Sans Papiers et Migrants” (CISPM) launched – together with NGOs and coalitions from France, Italy and Spain – an international call for the end of sorting, filing, tracking and detention of foreigners within the European Union and at its borders and for the closure of detention centres and “hotspots”.

All the research and on the spot observation lead to the conclusion that the deprivation of liberty, whatever form it takes, leads to the violation of human rights, and serves as a policy of criminalising foreigners.
Far from diminishing, the number of detention centres has increased, both within Europe and beyond its borders, where the EU exports this ‘model’, delegating to other countries camps and the repressive policy they serve.
In May 2015 the European Commission adopted a so-called “hotspots approach” whose stated objective was to respond to the tragedy of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean and to the "refugee crisis" by setting up a sharing system for asylum seekers among all EU countries and providing immediate assistance to countries of first arrival, namely Greece and Italy.
A year later, it is now clear to all that this is about distinguishing between asylum seekers – eligible for protection in the country of arrival and/or relocation in another country of the EU – and economic migrants to be deported.
Moreover, it turns out that this sorting device – which has, to date, no real legal basis at European level – can function only if it is coercive and moves towards increased use of detention, namely to organise the deportation of those who were deemed undesirable on European territory, and the installation of detention centers upstream in countries of origin and transit (cf. Turkey, Niger, Sudan) to prevent these exiles to join the fortress Europe.

In the face of such acceleration, the network Migreurop – that for more than ten years, identifies and documents the places, forms and conditions of foreigners’ confinement and the abuses and violations of rights it creates and seeks to mobilize those who oppose it – launched on May 23, a new mobilisation under the slogan "Close the Camps" and today supports the initiative of the CISPM and its partners by inviting to sign the call, to organise demonstrations outside detention centers on June 18 or to participate in events that are planned that day in France, Italy and Spain.

For more information: International call for the closure of detention centers and hotspots (in English) | Call for a demonstration toward the detention centre of Vincennes on June 18 (in French).

The call is also available online in French, Spanish, Italian and German.

The list of signatories to 15 June 2016:
Rete Antirazzista Catanese - Italie
Askavusa - Lampedusa
ATMF - Maghreb Workers Association France
AAMB - Visitor and accompanying migrants - Paris
CISPM - International Coalition of Sans Papiers and Migrants
CISPM New Haven - International Coalition of Sans Papiers and Migrants
CSP93 - Coordination of 93 fighting for the Sans Papiers - St. Denis
CSP75 - Coordination of Sans Papiers 75 - Paris
Frantz Fanon Foundation - France
Integration 21 - Paris
Kali - Paris
MAFED - March of Women for Dignity - France
Tanquem LIVE CIES - Barcelona
UNSP - National Union of Undocumented and migrants
Union syndicale Solidaires - France