No More Deaths! Emergency Rally in Support of Migrants Crossing the Mediterranean.

Join us at the Italian Consulate in Toronto on April 29th, at 1:15pm, at 136 Beverly Street (Dundas & Beverly) to insist no more migrant deaths! 

More than 1,750 migrants have died since January 2015 trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to find dignity and safety in Europe. European Union border policies shut out poor and racialized migrants, particularly Eritreans, Somalis, and Libyans, forcing them to get on dangerous boats to cross the water. At the same time, funding for search and rescue operations has been cut, imposing a death sentence on many that are making their way to Europe. EU countries (former and current colonial powers) occupy much of North and Central Africa, either through military presence or with EU Border Agency Frontex’s land operations. Their actions are murdering thousands well before they can get on ships to cross in to Europe.

The utterly inadequate Mare Nostrum mission by the Italian Navy, which was the only rescue operation in the region, was cancelled last year. On April 20th, Foreign and Interior Ministers of the EU met in Luxembourg and decided to respond to the humanitarian crisis with brutal police and military interventions. The Italian politician Federica Mogherini chaired this meeting. On Thursday, April 23rd they will meet again to develop a plan to capture and destroy smuggler's boats instead of deploying rescue operations. 

The Italian government (like Canada) is a leading proponent of 'interdiction border policies' that aims to transfer border enforcement to other countries. This includes funding Libyan and Egyptian authorities to target boats leaving their shores, and pushing to open camps in Lebanon and Turkey. Canada has taken up similar measures. In 2003, Immigration Canada boasting about stopping 40,000 migrants before they boarded planes bound for North America. 

The crisis in the Mediterranean has many roots. It is caused by EU border policies. It is a crisis created by the World Bank, which has funded the displacement of at least 3.4 million people over the last decade. It is caused by ongoing military aggression in Libya, Syria, Iraq and other places that profits western arms manufacturers and dealers and countries like Canada. It is a direct result of global border policies that make it harder for poor and racialized people to travel anywhere. 

Join us on April 29th to demand rescue operations in the Mediterranean. Call for immediate regularization of undocumented people in Europe, and across the world, and immediate access to resettlement of displaced people and refugees from Syria, Eritrea, Somalia and other regions. End Dublin II and Dublin III laws in Europe which make it harder for migrants to get justice. 

The deaths in the Mediterranean, the deaths on the US-Mexico border, and the suicides and death in Canadian immigration detention custody are linked. So too is our global struggle for freedom to move, return and stay. Join us.

Coordinated by No One Is Illegal - Toronto and Justice for Migrant Workers (Justicia for Migrant Workers, J4MW)