This event places the voices of refugees & migrants at the heart of political debates. The origin of the idea comes from the Lampedusa Group in Hamburg that was asking the GUE/NGL group to support their struggles and to give space to introduce their work and to talk about the reality experienced on the ground. This event will empower present self-organised refugee & migrant groups from all over Europe, to network and issue common political demands.
Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Self-organized Refugee & Migrant assembly
Time: 1:30 – 5:30 pm
L’Espace citoyen
8 Rue De La Grande Île, 1000 Bruxelles
Opportunity for personal meeting with all present groups, new networks can be made, resolutions discussed and exchanges within refugee networks are possible.
International Coalition of Sans-Papiers Migrants and Refugees (CISPM)
Refugees‘ ideas and solutions for Europe (RISE)
World Hazara Council Afghanistan (WHC)
European Network of Migrant Women (ENMW)
Lampedusa refugee groups & other
Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Film-Screening REVENIR + discussion with direction
Time: 6:30 – 9:00 pm
European Parliament, Room: ASP1G2
www.revenirfilm.com
REVENIR 83 min (English/French)
Afterwards will be a discussion with film makers David Fedele & Kumut Imesh.
Synopsis:
A solo journey across the West African migratory route, told from the inside. REVENIR follows Kumut Imesh, a refugee from the Ivory Coast, as he attempts to retrace the same journey that he himself took when forced to flee civil war in his country. Traveling alone, Kumut will be documenting his own journey; both as the main protagonist in front of the camera, as well as the person behind it, revealing the human struggle for freedom and dignity on one of the most dangerous migratory routes in the world.
Thursday, 18 October 2018
GUE /NGL Hearing “Refugee & Migrant Parliament”
Time: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
European Parliament, Room: ASP1G2
Live webstreaming available
8:15 – 8:30
Registration for the hearing
9:00 – 9:20
Welcome introduction: Cornelia Ernst, LIBE GUE/NGL coordinator
Concept of Refugee & Migrant Parliament:
Ali Ahmed Abitalib & Tahir Kheirkhah, Lampedusa Group Hamburg (2 min each)
9:20
Panel 1: Struggle for fundamental rights and against exploitation
- Anzoumane Sissoko, CISPM Network, France (5 min)
- Tracey Ayero, Stichting Out & Proud, Netherlands (5 min)
- Ali Alasan, Lampedusa in Hamburg (5 min)
- Siliman Musse & Abu Moro, Sfruttazero, Italy (5 min)
- Chair: Cornelia Ernst, MEP, GUE/NGL
11:00
Panel 2: Challenging European responsibility on Migration and Asylum
- Abdul Hakim Hamaidi, World Hazara Council (5 min)
- Anna Zobnina, European Network of Migrant Women (5 min)
- Yonous Muhammadi, Greek Forum of Refugees (5 min)
- Resolution Working group spokesperson (5 min)
- Chair Marie-Christine Vergiat, MEP, GUE/NGL
12:45 Group picture
13:00 Lunch break
Press work and media
14:00 Working Group Documentation (Discussion live on facebook) Altiero Spinelli (ASP) 3rd floor Voxbox
14:30 Working Group Press, Media, Radio (5 x 5 min Interviews) Altiero Spinelli (ASP) 3rd floor Voxbox
Thursday, 18 October 2018
Workshops and Follow-up of panel discussions
Time: 2:00 – 6:00 pm
European Parliament
- Building alliances and next step of RISE NETWORK (Yonous Muhammadi, RISE Network) Willy Brandt (WB), 2nd floor, Room 02M003 (16 places)
- Failure of the west in fighting Terrorism and bringing Democracy and Human Rights in Afghanistan (Akram Gizabi, World Hazara Council) Paul-Henri Spaak, 5th floor, Room P5A033 (30 places)
- Lampedusa Group & CISPM Network: Alliances of refugee networks – what we learned; Ideas for next Refugee Parliament Paul-Henri Spaak, 5th floor, Room P5C088 (16 places)
- Refugee women’s assembly (Anna Zobnina, European Network of Migrant Women) Willy Brandt (WB), 3rd floor, Room 03M068 (16 places)
- Refugee camps of Africa: Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Chad (Ali Ahmed Abitalib, Lampedusa in Hambourg) Willy Brandt (WB), 7th floor, Room 07M007 (12 places)
PANEL 1 – Struggle for fundamental rights and against exploitation
1) Anzoumane Sissoko, CISPM Network, France
The CISPM want to create a collective political conscience that goes far beyond the requirement for a residence permit and the colour of the skin. We want to create a collective political conscience that is built up against racism, sexism, fascism, exploitation and precariousness, against imperialism, neo-colonialism and wars, and finally against liberticidal and repressive policies. Our struggle and our horizon are the affirmation of social and ecological justice. We are convinced that a world of peoples can only be achieved by combining freedom of movement and settlement with social justice for all.
Since 2003, we have organized numerous actions in our respective countries, but also and above all at the European and world level: European March in 2012, Caravan and March for Freedom in 2014, International Days of Rome in 2014, migrants‘ demonstration in Calais in 2016, France-Africa counter-summits in Bamako and EU-Africa in Abidjan in 2017. We participated in the European Social Forum in 2003, the Other Davos in 2009 and the World Social Forum in Tunis in 2013 and 2015. We make February 6 a day of commemoration of all our fallen comrades at the borders.
2) Tracey Ayero, Human rights Activist, Netherlands
Stichting Out & Proud is Netherlands African LGBTI organisation whose aim is to advocate for the equality of the minority with the background from countries whose law towards LGBT are homophobic and discriminative. We are a non-government community based organisation formed in March 2013 to address Human Rights issues based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We are a self-organised collective and ring LGBT refugees together in different cities like Amsterdam and organise counselling and advice for everyone who is in need. We envision a society where lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people enjoy equal rights like everyone else. We want people to be able to live according to humanist values with no special privileges for other world views.
3) Siliman Musse, Sfruttazero, Italy
„Sfruttazero“ (Zero Exploitation) project was founded 2014 in Bari, and began working in collaboration with the association „Diritti al Sud“ (Rights in the South), based in the town of Nardò. In the project, a group of African migrants and Italians grow and harvest tomatoes on land in the outskirts of Bari. They use the tomatoes to make sauce, and they sell it in markets and small shops through the national networks „Fuorimercato“ and „Genuino Clandestino.“ Each worker who is hired with a regular contract is paid seven euros net per hour for a maximum of six to eight hours of work per day. Two percent of the revenue from sales goes to a mutual aid fund with which the association supports, the disputes of workers who are exploited in the fields. Another eight percent goes to social and training activities, while a full 40 percent of the total is used to pay the workers‘ salaries.
4) Ali Alasan, Lampedusa in Hamburg, Germany
Countless people fled Libya crossing the Mediterranean sea towards Italy because of the NATO war. Many of them were forced to do so. Those who survived the passage are regarded as refugees for humanitarian reasons. They were administered with EU funding following the Italian immigration law. When the external funding for war refugees from Libya ended, the Italian government tried to get rid of the refugees and started throwing them out of the camps.
The Italian government issued papers which allow the refugees to travel legally within the Schengen area. But the papers do not include permission to work neither do they grant any medical or social assistance, which makes them practically worthless. The refugees were advised to travel to central Europe and received money for this purpose. At that point many refugees did not realize the consequences of the conflict between European governments being carried out on their backs. During winter many of them lived in seasonal emergency accommodation facilities which are closed now. Since then most of them, about 250 people, are forced to live on the streets. The German state which itself was involved in the war in Libya and the senate of Hamburg are not willing to take any responsibility and hope for the situation to pass by without them taking action.
PANEL 2 – Challenging European responsibility on Migration and Asylum
1) Abdul Hakim Hamaidi, World Hazara Council (WHC)
The WHC is the international organisation that represents diverse Hazara communities and organisations around the world and facilitate greater cooperation between them. It’s a non-partisan and non-political organisation with the aim of promoting the cultural, social and civil rights of the Hazara people and to advocate on their behalf in media, governments and civil society organisations. The World Hazara Council was formally inaugurated in early 2013 in Vienna with sixty-one participants representing their communities from all over the world including Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia.
2) Anna Zobnina, European Network of Migrant Women (ENMW)
The ENMW is a Europe-wide feminist umbrella organisation that directly represents the opinion of migrant & refugee women & girls at the European and International level. Our diverse membership includes the women of Arab, African, Asian, Latin American and Eastern European descent and extends to over 40 migrant women grass-root and advocacy groups in 20 European countries.
3) Yonous Muhammadi, Greek Forum of Refugees (GFR)
The aim of the Forum is to create a Panhellenic network of individuals, legal professionals and communities, working to support asylum seekers, political refugees and stateless persons, as well as any others who may meet the criteria set by the Convention of Geneva and the protocols attached to it, or the Greek framework for the protection.