Episode 68: EU plans to criminalise solidarity with refugees
Release Date: 02/25/2025
Episode 75: Frontex ‘likely’ breached refugees' right to life
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with Lucille, operation communications manager for SOS Mediterranee. She tells us how the Ocean Viking's crew found 25 people adrift in the Mediterranean Sea by chance in March 2024. The survivors told Lucille that they had left Libya five or six days ago with around 60 people. Most of them didn't survive. A serious incident report published quietly by Frontex in May this year corroborates the survivors' accounts, that their boat was spotted by planes and commercial ships, but no rescue was launched. The Frontex report also...
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Episode 74: Is solidarity a crime?
The Civil Fleet Podcast
We speak with Silvia from the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, or PICUM. She tells us about a report she wrote for PICUM on the criminalisation and non-judicial harassment of people-on-the-move and activists working in solidarity with them in Europe last year. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: Mastodon: Bluesky: Instagram: [email protected] --- Show notes --- For more on PICUM, see: You can read the PICUM report talked about in this episode here: Follow PICUM on social...
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Episode 73: Dismantle the Home Office
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, migrants rights campaigner Zoe Gardner tells us why the UK Home Office should be dismantled. In a report she recently wrote for the Green Party, Zoe says the controversial department should be split up into two new ministries. We talk about the Home Office's acts of cruelty to migrants, refugees and people on the move, and how government policy of housing asylum seekers in unfit accommodation has created a billionaire. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: Mastodon: Bluesky: Instagram: [email protected]...
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Episode 72: Mapping Malta's border violence
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with academic Cetta and foreign policy analyst Daniel about the Malta Migration Archive. We discuss the Maltese government's refusal to save refugee lives in its own search-and-rescue zone, how it ignores civilian rescue ships, pressurises commercial ships to not rescue refugees, and how it organises pushbacks with the so-called Libyan coastguards. Cetta and Daniel tell us how the Malta Migration Archive maps all of this, and why it is so important to expose and combat the Maltese government's silence. ---Get in touch--- ...
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Episode 71: Dead children and distant ports
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with medical doctors Hannah and James about their latest missions on the Nadir, a sailing boat operated by ResQship. Hannah tells us about a rescue in May, when the crew found a boat carrying over 60 people, including two dead children. The people they rescued had been at sea for four days with no water. James tells us about the Nadir's last rescue in June. After bringing 112 people to safety in Lampedusa, the Italian authorities decided to block the ship from leaving port. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: Mastodon: ...
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Episode 70: They were left stranded on a gas rig
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, Sea-Watch's search-and-rescue coordinator Hendrik tells us about the rescue of 32 people stranded on a gas rig in central Mediterranean in March. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: Mastodon: Bluesky: Instagram: [email protected] --- Show notes --- For more on Sea-Watch, visit: Follow Sea-Watch on BlueSky: Instagram: seawatchcrew Also, check out episodes 65, 43, 22, 7 and 1 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Sea-Watch. For more on the Miskar Platform rescue, see here: https:// You can...
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Episode 69: ‘You don't have children anymore‘
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with Arturo, captain of the refugee rescue ship Seapunk I. He's going to tell us all about the Seapunks activist group and its connection with punk rock music. He also tells us about a dramatic rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea in January, in which several people died. We also discuss how the Italian authorities force NGO ships to take the refugees to distant ports, and how this deliberately results in more refugee deaths. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: Mastodon: Bluesky: Instagram: ...
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Episode 68: EU plans to criminalise solidarity with refugees
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with Yasha Maccanico a researcher and journalist at StateWatch, a UK-based charity focused on civil liberties, human rights and democracy in Europe. We talk about a proposed EU law that could make it easier for states to criminalise acts of solidarity with people on the move. Yasha also talks to us about abuses of state power in Europe under the guise of lowering immigration, the externalisation of the EU's borders in Africa, and much more. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: Mastodon: Bluesky: Instagram: ...
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Episode 67: Syria, Gaza, and European hostility to refugees
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with Michaël Neuman from Doctors' Without Borders (MSF). He tells us about the charity's work in Syria, and how the fall of Bashar Assad's regime could affect this. We also discuss MSF's work in Gaza, Israel's ongoing genocide against the Palestinians and the fact that, unlike most conflicts, the people there have no escape. Michaël also tells us why MSF decided it needed to help asylum seekers in the UK, and why European governments have been far too quick to pause asylum claims for Syrians. ---Get in touch--- Twitter:...
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Episode 66: We found a child floating alone in the dark
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with Katja and Matthias, co-founders of the refugee rescue group CompassCollective. They tell us how they operate their rescue ship, the Trotamar III, to document human rights violations and save lives in the central Mediterranean. They also tell us about the recent rescue of an 11-year-old-girl they found by chance floating alone at sea for 2 or 3 days. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: Mastodon: Bluesky: Instagram: [email protected] Support:...
info_outlineIn this episode, we speak with Yasha Maccanico a researcher and journalist at StateWatch, a UK-based charity focused on civil liberties, human rights and democracy in Europe.
We talk about a proposed EU law that could make it easier for states to criminalise acts of solidarity with people on the move.
Yasha also talks to us about abuses of state power in Europe under the guise of lowering immigration, the externalisation of the EU's borders in Africa, and much more.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @[email protected]
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
--- Show notes ---
For more on StateWatch, check out their work here: statewatch.org
Follow them on BlueSky: @statewatch.bsky.social
Ben misquotes the late left-wing politician Tony Benn, who once said: “The way a government treats refugees is very instructive, because it shows you how they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it.”
In fact, the phrase may have been misattributed to Tony Benn.
You can watch one of Tony Benn's most famous speeches against the US-UK' illegal invasion of Iraq, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ciGW7h7PI&ab_channel=PoliticsJOE
Yasha mentions the an independent media company Bristol Cable. You can read their work here: thebristolcable.org
Ben and Yasha talk briefly about the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol in 2020. You can read more about that here; https://exhibitions.bristolmuseums.org.uk/the-colston-statue
Here's where you can find out more about Migreurop: https://migreurop.org/?lang=en
Ben mentions an episode of The Civil Fleet with Jihed, a Tunisian activist with Alarm Phone and Louise Michelle. Check out episode 48 for that.
For more on Frontex, the European Border and Coastguard Agency, check out episodes 54, 52, 50, 34, 31, 23, 15, 7 and 1
Ben mentions previous The Civil Fleet Podcast episodes with people who have been arrested and given ludicrous sentences for driving boats or cars across borders. Check out episodes:
56, which focuses on Homayoun Sabetara, a father who fled Iran to be reunited with his daughters in Germany and was sentenced to 18 years behind bars in Greece after he was forced to drive across the border.
53 with Nadia, a young refugee woman from Lebanon who husband was arrested by the Greek authorities and accused of human smuggling after spending 10 days adrift in the Mediterranean.
35 with Hanad, a Somalian refugee who was senteced to 142 years behind bars for trying to stop his boat from sinking in the Aegean Sea and saving the lives of 33 others
Here are the links Yasha sent:
EU: New migrant smuggling law to ensure criminalisation of solidarity (December 2024)
https://www.statewatch.org/analyses/2024/eu-new-migrant-smuggling-law-to-ensure-criminalisation-of-solidarity/
A new EU law on the criminalisation of migrant smuggling will be examined by the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council. The Council is due to approve its position for negotiations with the European Parliament. The existing law has been criticised for failing to prevent the criminalisation of migration and acts of solidarity with migrants and refugees. The new text, obtained by Statewatch and published here, appears likely to worsen the situation.
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EU: Council lowers threshold for migrant smuggling prosecutions (July 2024, with PICUM)
https://www.statewatch.org/news/2024/july/eu-council-lowers-threshold-for-migrant-smuggling-prosecutions/
EU institutions are discussing proposed changes to the law criminalising the facilitation of irregular migration, which has also been used to criminalise migrants and individuals acting in solidarity with them. The Belgian Council presidency presented a revised draft to other EU member states at the end of May, which would simplify the criminalisation of irregular entry, amongst other things. The draft will serve as the basis for further discussions within the Council, with Hungary now in the presidency role until the end of this year.
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Viewpoint, Hindering humanitarianism: European Commission will not ensure
protection for those aiding sans-papiers, Chris Jones (April 2017)
https://www.statewatch.org/media/documents/analyses/no-311-facilitation-directive.pdf
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The shrinking space for solidarity with migrants and refugees: how the European Union and Member States target and criminalize defenders of the rights of people on the move (TNI, Yasha Maccanico, Ben Hayes, Samuel Kenny, Frank Barat, September 2018)
https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/web_theshrinkingspace.pdf
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Libya/elmasri: including full text of Shatz/Branco submission to the ICC against Italian ministers: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2025/february/italian-ministers-should-face-justice-for-freeing-fugitive-war-criminal-says-legal-complaint/
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Deportations (aka returns): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2025/january/deportations-new-role-for-frontex-as-eu-pushes-for-more-voluntary-returns/
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“Outsourcing borders” externalisation bulletin project, bulletins and documents archive:
https://www.statewatch.org/outsourcing-borders-monitoring-eu-externalisation-policy/
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To challenge border militarisation (with partners, 2023/24), Telling the story of EU border militarisation,
https://www.statewatch.org/media/4000/eu-border-militarisation-narrative-guide.pdf
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Europe’s techno-borders (2023 with EuroMed Rights)
https://www.statewatch.org/publications/reports-and-books/europe-s-techno-borders/
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Frontex and interoperable databases: knowledge as power? (2023)
https://www.statewatch.org/frontex-and-interoperable-databases-knowledge-as-power/
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Empowering the police, removing protections: the new Europol Regulation (2022)
https://www.statewatch.org/publications/reports-and-books/empowering-the-police-removing-protections-the-new-europol-regulation/
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Interoperability, eu-LISA and the biometric state (2022)
Building the biometric state: Police powers and discrimination
https://www.statewatch.org/publications/reports-and-books/building-the-biometric-state-police-powers-and-discrimination/
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Background docs selection on interoperability and the EU JHA policy field
http://www.statewatch.org/observatories/interoperability-eu-big-brother-database/
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Secrecy and externalisation of EU border control (2022)
https://www.statewatch.org/media/3781/secrecy-and-externalisation-of-migration-control.pdf
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Renditions observatory
http://www.statewatch.org/observatories/rendition-the-use-of-european-countries-by-the-cia-for-the-transport-and-illegal-detention-of-prisoners/