#MigrantsDay: a thread on what I see as the most significant development in the coverage of migration in Europe this year, and why it happened

Many investigations published this year exposed how European states have been arresting thousands of innocent asylum seekers under the pretence of a "war on migrant smuggling". You'll find them all the thread (I wrote some). Why is this significant? https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-human-toll-of-europes-war-on-smuggling/…

Because politicians always blame "trafficking rings" and "ruthless smugglers" for border deaths and migration in general. Latest instance: UK Home Secretary accusing "evil organised criminals who treat human beings as cargo" for Channel deaths, but there are countless examples.

Scientific research debunked the idea that organised crime is behind migration. In the few cases where trafficking rings do exist, they do as a direct consequence of restrictive border policies. @Gabriella Sanchez has the best work on this but there's plenty more https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/54964/RSCAS_PB_2018_07.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y…

You see the problem here? European migration policy is based on fighting smuggling rings. Yet smuggling rings are a phantom enemy, they barely exist. This game can only go so far before the bluff is called. Unless... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60492918…

Unless security agencies throughout Europe can provide a constant news feed about trafficking rings dismantled and ruthless smugglers thrown in jail. And that's exactly what they do. But because trafficking rings either don't exist or are out of reach... https://directa.cat/el-mite-de-les-mafies-de-la-migracio/…

...to law enforcement, the only option left is to arrest migrants themselves, falsely claiming that they are smugglers. Even a former director of Frontex now admits this: "ring leaders, obviously, remain safely in their countries", he told us. See story https://www.liberation.fr/international/aux-frontieres-de-leurope-des-migrants-devenus-boucs-emissaires-de-la-guerre-aux-passeurs-20221114_QNM2V3T3OJH6RKHU6DN5BO2U6I/…

Now, specialists have known this for years. This story by @Zach Campbell is from 2017: https://theintercept.com/2017/09/16/italy-imprisons-refugees-who-were-forced-to-pilot-smuggling-boats-at-gunpoint/… But until recently the mainstream media have parroted police propaganda, going as far as calling 14 years-old children arrested as smugglers "little butchers".

This happens for 2 reasons: one is that the media is structurally dependent on prosecutors and police (see thread below for Italy). The other is that migration journalism relies to a massive extent on the communication departments of NGOs and charities. https://twitter.com/lorenzodago/status/1409843877025038340…

If thousands of innocent migrants are imprisoned on false smuggling charges, you would expect at least some of the many NGOs dealing with migrants rights to say something about it. But on this issue most of them stay silent: why? https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/investigation/2022/09/01/European-courts-prosecution-asylum-seekers…

Because on the topic of migrant smuggling state authorities have bullied NGOs into silence: many NGOs are fighting criminal cases built on the smear, amplified by the media, that they "collude with smugglers". So they're terrified to touch the issue. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/sep/22/how-rescuing-drowning-migrants-became-a-crime-iuventa-salvini-italy…

Once, I got in touch with a big NGO regarding some migrants they had assisted who had been wrongfully convicted of trafficking. Immediately, their press officer sent a note to the staff asking to be quiet about the issue "not to throw the bone to right wing media".

NGOs know that thousands are jailed on false smuggling charges, but don't like to speak about it because they don't want to be seen as complicit with (non-existent) smugglers. This is at best short-sighted, at worst irresponsible. https://jacobin.com/2022/06/europe-criminalizing-refugees-migrants-law-pushbacks…

The "war on smuggling" is the pillar of the often discussed "criminalisation of solidarity": once it's clear that most anti-smuggling operations trumpeted by security agencies have nothing to do with organised crime, and in fact involve innocents, the entire thing crumbles.

When cops accuse NGOs of colluding with smugglers they mean that NGOs inform migrants of their rights, so they have a harder time manipulating them. Police is explicit about their need to deal with traumatised uninformed migrants in order to arrest them https://theintercept.com/2021/04/30/italy-anti-mafia-migrant-rescue-smuggling/…

To get a clear idea of how anti-smuggling operations work, this thread details every step of an investigation in Italy, involving Frontex, that resulted in 8 people, mostly teenagers, convicted to 30&20 years in jail. Judge by yourself https://twitter.com/lorenzodago/status/1410600136141545476…

So, on one hand you have hammering police propaganda on ruthless smugglers; on the other you lack the dissenting voices that you'd normally expect to hear. The result is that in the media the issue of innocent migrants arrested as smugglers doesn't exist. https://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2021/10/24/61742f58e4d4d8f12e8b45e0.html…

Add to this that the leading voice supposedly speaking for @UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, awash with EU €€€, has bought into the "war on smuggling" and mindlessly advocates for MORE prosecutions. Like UNHCR employee @vincent cochetel who wants to bring to court the mothers of dead migrants

Why then so many stories on migrants arrested on fake smuggling charges appeared suddenly this year? Quite simply because a few organisations (IJ4EU, @Lighthouse Reports) that fund independent investigative journalism decided to spend some cash on this issue: https://www.investigativejournalismforeu.net/projects/europes-fake-war-on-migrant-smuggling/…

This allowed a dozen of journalists around Europe, myself included, to spend time digging into thousands of pages of court papers, interviewing lawyers, survivors, writing letters to prison, and, crucially, trying to convince editors to cover the story. https://www.editorialedomani.it/fatti/litalia-tiene-in-carcere-i-migranti-innocenti-invece-che-i-trafficanti-hi56obet…

The word of prosecutors and police is usually taken at face-value in the media and there is the assumption that the criminal justice system in Europe works pretty much ok. Often the most difficult part is convincing editors that this is not the case. https://www.editorialedomani.it/politica/italia/cosi-la-gestione-dei-soccorsi-di-matteo-salvini-uccideva-migranti-pnl3vm8h…

When institutional sources are silent or on an issue (nobody publishes reports and does PR with editors), or outright fraudulent like law enforcement, it takes a critical mass of journalists and a crazy amount of time and resources to bring it to light. https://www.ansa.it/sito/videogallery/italia/2021/10/15/alarm-phone-arci-2500-arresti-di-migranti-in-10-anni-accusati-da-scafisti-in-processi-sommari_18aa7565-ca67-4536-961b-120aeb6999d5.html…

That is why the work of a few grass-root organisations - @borderline-europe, @Alarm Phone, @Arci Porco Rosso - that collect data on the war on smuggling and follow up on individual cases is absolutely crucial https://fromseatoprison.info/…

In response to this new flow of stories some cracks are beginning to show. A big NGO like @MSF Sea is for the first time condemning "the aggressive behaviour by governments and the judiciary" against alleged smugglers. But it's still not enough...

The war on migrant smuggling remains a central pillar of the EU security state. In its name, thousands of innocents have been jailed, the wider migrant community is systematically harassed by the police, and humanitarians are prosecuted and smeared as criminals every day.