Refugee rights campaign is all there on papers
Refugee rights campaign is all there on papers
Sara Callaway (Black Women for Wages for Housework) and Benoit Martin (Payday Men's Network) report on the French asylum rights campaign that is crossing state borders.
In December, the Sans-Papiers (literally "without papers")movement and MadjiguŠne Ciss‚, their main spokeswoman, received the prestigious Carl-von-Ossietzky Medal from the International Federation of Human Rights League (German section) in recognition of their "public-spirited courage" in campaigning for the rights of immigrants and refugees. In accepting the Award, Ms Ciss‚ asked for a minute of silence in memory of Semira Adamu, the young Nigerian woman killed by Belgian police attempting to deport her last September.
The Sans-Papiers movement started in Paris in 1996 when 300 African women, men and children occupied churches to stop deportations and claim the right to "papers for all". Their organisation has grown, crossing the divides between economic and political refugees of 40 nationalities - immigrants, asylum seekers, students, migrants and others denied the right to stay.
The award, presented to Ms Ciss‚ in Berlin, has given an impetus to the anti-deportation movement in Germany: a caravan of Sans-Papiers has been touring the country, and Kurdish immigrants went on hunger strike against deportation.
The strength of the Sans-Papiers has been their autonomy. While encouraging wide-spread support, they have insisted on meeting independently from established human rights organisations in order to work out their own demands and tactics. Women - the "Sans-PapiŠres" - have been crucial to sustaining this autonomy and keeping the organisation together. Ms Ciss‚, a mother of two, wrote The Sans Papiers: A Woman Draws the First Lessons, a compelling account of why and how the Sans-Papiers organised independently from established organisations and political parties, and how their success has depended on women's autonomy.
In Brussels last September, 2,000 people protested on the day Ms Adamu was murdered, while inmates at the detention centre where she had been held went on hunger strike. A poll showed that two thirds of Belgians support the regularisation of Sans-Papiers. Protests in London highlighted how Joy Gardner suffered a similar fate as Ms Adamu at the hands of immigration officers and police in 1993. The widespread outcry gave an impulse to a series of church occupations which went ahead despite opposition from established organisations.
Elsewhere in Europe, protests in Italy led to the closure of a detention centre in Trieste, and in December 350 protesters sailed to Albania seeking justice for the intentional sinking of a boat of refugees by Italian authorities last year. The movement for refugees and asylum seekers' in Britain has also drawn strength from the Sans-Papiers in opposing New Labour's proposals. Like other European governments, it plans to grant amnesty to a few refugees while cutting benefits, housing and other resources, stepping up detention and implementing fast tracking deportations for many.
With the birth of new Sans-Papiers collectives, autonomy continues to be a priority. Women are pressing to be heard and to gain official recognition for rape and violence against women as grounds for asylum.
Sans Papiers website: http://www.bok.net/pajol/
Send donations for the Collectif des Sans-Papiers d'Ile-de-France (cheque to: CGT-CCP Solidarit‚ Sans-Papiers).
Information: Black Women for Wages for Housework and Payday men's network, PO BOX 287, London NW6 5QU. Tel 0171-482 2496.
previous article · Feb '99 index of LLB · write to LLB · LLB home page · next article