Voices from the Border: Death, Memory and Resistance

For many people seeking protection, unfair visa policies and closed borders mean they have to take dangerous escape routes across land and sea – often in life-threatening conditions. The Mediterranean is one of the deadliest routes in the world, with tens of thousands of people dead or missing. In this article, we take a closer look and give a voice to personal stories and voices from the borders, providing insight into the work of remembering those who have died or gone missing.

Why Are Escape Routes Deadly?

Most people seeking protection in the EU cannot enter directly, but must travel long and often dangerous routes. Due to unfair global visa policies, people fleeing their homes usually cannot simply fly into the EU. They are therefore forced to travel over land or water through many countries – so-called escape routes.

Along these escape routes, people seeking protection experience extreme forms of violence and exploitation. According to a a report by UNHCR (external link, opens in a new window), people fleeing their countries report torture, physical violence, arbitrary detention, kidnapping, sexual violence, enslavement, human trafficking, forced labour, organ removal, robbery and pushbacks. Those primarily responsible for these abuses are security forces, police, military, immigration officials, border officials, as well as criminal and armed groups.

The physical, psychological, social and bureaucratic violence at the EU's borders threatens the lives of migrants and forces people to repeatedly choose new and unsafe routes into the EU. The route from North Africa across the Mediterranean to Europe is one of the deadliest escape routes in the world. Since 2014, the Missing Migrants Project (external link, opens in a new window) has counted over 30,000 missing and dead in the Mediterranean, with the actual number estimated to be significantly higher.

How Are the Dead and Missing People Remembered?

Since 2014, CommemorActions have been held to remember those who have died or disappeared while seeking protection in the EU.

What is a CommemorAction?
A CommemorAction combines commemoration and action. It honours those who have died or disappeared in search of freedom of movement, while at the same time demanding truth, justice and political change. CommemorActions arose from the collaboration between relatives and friends of the disappeared and activists who document their stories and make their demands visible. They are both commemorative events and protests: political messages meet artistic performances, grief meets resistance. The aim is to create spaces where relatives can mourn publicly together with supporters, tell their stories and put pressure on those responsible.

How and when does a CommemorAction take place?
On 6 February 2014, more than 200 people attempted to swim from the Moroccan coast to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. They were attacked by border police with tear gas and rubber bullets and prevented from reaching land. At least 15 people died off the coast of Tarajal, and many more are still missing today. The survivors were illegally pushed back to Morocco. Since this massacre, relatives, survivors, artists and activists have been meeting every year on 6 February for CommemorActions – not only in Spain and Morocco, but throughout Europe and Africa. This day has now become the "Global Day of Struggle Against the Regime of Death at the Borders".

More Information

More information in the FAQ Flight.

To FAQ Flight

How Are Local Activists Campaigning for the Dead and Missing in Tunisia?

In the following videos, Chamseddine M., Mohsen and Chamseddine B. talk about their quest for justice and humanity for migrants in Tunisia.

Chamseddine M. works actively at "The Cemetery of the Unknown", where deceased migrants are commemorated.

Mohsen founded the "Museum of Memory", where he commemorates the history of migrants, their journey through the Libyan desert and the dangers they face.

Chamseddine B. is a fisherman who carries out rescue operations for migrants in distress at sea.

Portrait: Chamseddine M. - Tunisia

Portrait: Mohsen - Tunisia

Portrait: Chamseddine B. - Tunisia

Sources

Using and Sharing

Article by Lina Urbat and Alina Kopp. Online editing by Alina Kopp.

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