Actueel / In de pers

Fortress Europe: EU turns to military to stop new migrant crisis

Tim Stickings, The National, 14 August 2021 - Determined not to open Europe’s borders to another wave of refugees, the EU is preparing to guard its frontiers with a growing reliance on military might. [...] Lees meer »

Pour les réfugiés, la biométrie tout au long du chemin

Lou Roméo, rfi, 20 juni 2021 - Par-delà les murs qui poussent aux frontières du monde depuis les années 1990, les réfugiés, migrants et demandeurs d’asile sont de plus en plus confrontés à l’extension des bases de données biométriques. Un « mur virtuel » s’étend ainsi à l’extérieur, aux frontières et à l’intérieur de l’espace Schengen, construit autour de programmes et de bases de données. [...] Lees meer »

Fort Europa

Bram Vermeulen, VPRO Frontlinie nieuwsbrief, 19 juni 2021 - De afgelopen twee weken heb ik samen met editor Paul Delput hard gemonteerd aan de volgende Frontlinie. 'Langs de muur’ wordt maandag 21 juni om 20:30 uur uitgezonden op NPO 2.  Grenzen fascineren me. Grenzen zijn het terrein van smokkelaars en ritselaars, agenten en soldaten. Ik reisde eerder al Langs de Grenzen van Turkije en door de Sahara, dat de zuidgrens van Europa is geworden. [...] Lees meer »

Op-ed: Europe's border-industrial complex: the arms dealers and tech companies driving 'Fortress Europe'

Rachel Griffin, The Paris Globalist, 12 June 2021 - Europe’s Mediterranean border is the most dangerous border in the world. Over 2,000 people have died trying to enter Europe since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic alone. This is one of the starkest reminders of the racism deeply embedded in the European project, where unity, prosperity and free movement for Europeans are founded on the violent exclusion and repression of others. [...] Lees meer »

How the $68 Billion Border Surveillance Industrial Complex Affects Us All

Maeve Higgins, Vice, 11 June 2021 - It’s not every day you uncover an industry that connects family-run construction companies in Australia with remote islands in Oceania, and London bus drivers with Afghan teenagers trapped in Serbia, and former MI6 heads with subsistence farmers in Niger. But such an industry does in fact exist, and it’s already huge and predicted to grow faster and bigger than ever before, to a total value of around $68 billion (around £48 billion) by 2025 – higher than the annual GDP of most countries. This industry is quite literally all around us, but we can’t always see it, which is interesting, because it can often see us. [...] Lees meer »

TCI Fund Management criticised for investing in weapons manufacturer while championing climate

Gina Gambetta, Responsible Investor, 3 June 2021 - The Children’s Investment (TCI) Fund Management is one of the top 10 investors in controversial defence company Lockheed Martin, RI has learnt, with NGOs questioning the hedge fund’s claim to be a ‘value-oriented’ investor. [...] Lees meer »

La crisis de Ceuta o lo que pasa cuando se externalizan las fronteras de Europa

huffingtonposts.es, 20 mei 2021 - España tiene virtualmente su frontera sur en el Magreb. Gracias a la política de externalización impulsada desde 2004 -gobernaba entonces José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero-, el control remoto de la inmigración comienza en los países emisores y en los de tránsito, de los que Marruecos es la última etapa. El tapón está en el norte de África y si se quita, como ha pasado esa semana en Ceuta, entran personas desesperadas que buscan un futuro mejor o un refugio, ambos derechos humanos reconocidos internacionalmente. [...] Lees meer »

Frontex: Rund 180 Geflüchtete ertranken trotz Überwachung aus der Luft

Vera Deleja-Hotko, Ann Esswein, Bartholomäus von Laffert, Buzzfeed, 20 mei 2021 - Frontex überwacht Europas Grenzen zunehmend aus der Luft. BuzzFeed News hat mehrere Fälle rekonstruiert, in denen insgesamt mehr als 180 Geflüchtete ertrunken sind, obwohl Frontex-Flugzeuge zuvor in der Nähe kreisten. [...] Lees meer »

Vaccine passports are catnip for Big Tech

Lizzie O'Shea, Nikkei Asia, 15 May 2021 - Just over a year ago, international borders closed as part of the unprecedented emergency response to the pandemic. Governments began to experiment with technological solutions to managing the movement of people, specifically at borders, but also more broadly for the purposes of contact tracing and enforcing social distancing rules. Since then, we have witnessed the rapid acceleration of the militarization of border policing in the name of profit. [...] Lees meer »

Ejecuciones, torturas, migrantes abandonados en el desierto… cómo consigue la UE que otros países hagan el trabajo sucio

Martín Cúneo, El Salto, 10 May 2021 - La Unión Europea, institución fundada supuestamente alrededor de unas ideas de democracia, respeto de las libertades y del Estado de derecho, lleva décadas utilizando a terceros países para que realicen el trabajo sucio de control de fronteras, sin ningún tipo de miramiento sobre los métodos elegidos.  Lees meer »