Anastasia Balta

We participated in a workshop in Tapachula (Mexico), held from 14-20.06.2022, along with ten partner organisations of Brot für die Welt, to discuss strategies on how the rights of forcibly displaced people and the work of human rights defenders can be protected – but also how in fact the latter are confronted with the harsh reality of violent state practices and heavily militarised border regimes.

For seven days, we worked together with the hosting Organisations; FrayMa, Voces Mesoamericanas (Tapachula & San Cristobal de las casas – Mexico), GMIES (Guatemala) and PopNoj (El Salvador), that work on migration issues with local communities and indigenous populations, the House of Peace, an organization based on Lebanon working on peace building and conflict analysis, the Border Violence Monitoring Network, working on pushbacks and police violence at Greek borders and the Balkans, the AME and the Maison du Migrant organisations from Mali working in Bamako and Gao supporting refugees who have been pushed back from Algeria and the Alarmphone Sahara working on the pushbacks in the dessert.

During the workshop, participant organisations presented their work, and we had the chance to discuss common topics, similarities, differences, and challenges we face in our fields of action and -inevitably-, realize, how many things we share in common, despite the different regions and types of work. We have discussed witnessing the increasing securitization and militarization of borders, the heavy violence perpetrated by the authorities, pushbacks in different contexts, arbitrary detention practices, the unequal access to rights, discrimination of people on the move and the rise of relevant rhetoric. As our discussion evolved, we focused unavoidably on the need to elaborate on the ways we can work together and thus become stronger and more effective; the building of a network of cooperation and a network of common documentation, the strength of common advocacy actions, the need to exchange experience on effective ways of working with the local communities and on common legal strategies, the need of working to change the mainstream discriminatory narrative, the need of cooperation and common support when it comes to protection of human rights defenders, but also the need to focus on our self-care.

Throughout this very rich discussion, Anastasia representing Equal Rights, had the chance to share our experience from our work on detention in the mainland (Corinth) and the island of Kos pre-removal centers and elaborate on the topic.

Visiting the Border Crossing Points: Participation in Joint Activities for the World Refugee Day

During our stay in Tapachula, we had the chance to visit Coyote crossing point and also Talisman crossing point and the Immigration Station. People cross the Guatemala-Mexico border, ‘illegally’, for immigration reasons, but also to exchange products or visit relatives, as the set border cannot stop everyday activities practiced since centuries. After their entry, people on the move are in constant fear of arrest at the numerous checking points along their way and of facing arbitrary detention. Moving in caravans is thus very common as people use this practice to move safer and more effectively.

During our stay, we also had the chance to meet with Junax Ko'tantik Organisation (Chiapas), and discuss with the family members of disappeared persons who started their moving journey from Mexico and have gone missing since then.

On 19.06.2022, we participated in the preparatory meeting of the community center for the joint activities on the Refugee Day and had the chance to discuss with the local migrants’ organisations and participate in the preparatory assembly, and also in the demonstration and the press conference held on 20.06.2022.

Strengthen our forces by collaborating in the future: Record high of 100 million refugees in 2022

The number of refugees has reached a record high of 100 million in 2022. At the same time, violence of various forms and origins against them is escalating.

We are facing one of the worst human crises in the world, one that deepens the disregard for the life of our societies, -of the impoverished and battered.

Forced displacement, whether by war or social, political, economic violence, and today by the imminent wave of climate change, cause millions of people to seek to preserve their lives, their families, and entire communities. To speak and stand for these people is to recognize the urgency of protection that, in the governments of destination or transit countries, is insufficient and under question. Displaced people seeking a better life and future are constantly facing violence and life-threatening circumstances. The existing situation is compounded by hatred and contempt on part of the society, that starting from erroneous ideas of nationalism, justifies xenophobia and measures of violence and control by their governments.

The perpetrators of the violent and illegal acts include national police forces, militaries, and even local militias. They are able to act with impunity, with no fear of retribution. Changes in migration policies world-wide have moved towards the increased criminalization of migration— as well as in pressure against human rights defenders working in solidarity with people on the move. There is a systematic lack of access to information, to basic rights and support services for asylum seekers/people on the move, and actual disrespect for the rule of law.

Mexico is today a destination country for hundreds of thousands of people seeking to enter ‘the world’. At the same time -as Voces colleagues underlined, Mexico is a destination country for hundreds of thousands of people seeking to protect their lives, -it is a country where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by territorial disputes of organized crime, the exploitation of natural resources by foreign and Mexican companies that justify the development of a few over the lives of millions of people.

Εach ribbon on the heart symbol of Junax Ko'tantik organisation stands for one missing person. And the ribbons are unsolicited a lot, continuing the sad history of forced disappearances in the recent history of Latin and Central America. Each ribbon stands for a person that ‘did not make it’, a person with relatives still searching for her/him even after decades since she/he decided to start their way. Missing people and refugees are not just numbers, they are ‘human beings’ as migrants organisations strongly denounced and wrote on the main banner of the Refugee Day demonstration. Sadly, the situation and the experiences shared by the participant organisations is not any different when it comes to deaths in the Aegean Sea or Sahara Dessert.

While there are differences between the Central American and that of the Eastern Mediterranean or the African context, there are also many similarities in our struggles and work. We have realized that we share so much in common in our effort to stand in solidarity with people struggling for freedom of movement and safe passage in Mexico or in any part of the world, for a life with dignity and access to rights.

During the workshop, ten organizations from four continents gathered in Tapachula to exchange strategies on how we can affect the set paradigm. Strategies on ways to reestablish the rights and dignity of refugees, ways to create a common ‘community’, as well as to make visible and denounce the violence that forces them to flee and demand a fundamental change in migration policies that reestablish the human security of migrants and refugees and truly recognize their fundamental rights in practice.

It was a great chance and a valuable experience for the future to join our forces, seeing this phenomenon as an opportunity for community growth and for the exchange of knowledge and experiences.

Further Reading: The Blog Post of our Partners of Brot für die Welt can be found here: 

https://nxt.link/as5te