borderline-europe is an independent, non-profit organization. We have been working actively against the European walls-up policy for ten years. In order to provide politicians, journalists and the public with first-hand, real information about events in the border regions of „Fortress Europe“, it is necessary to carry out research and monitoring activities on the ground.
This year, more than 4.6901 people have died on their flight over the Mediterranean/the Aegean, assuming that real figures are much higher than that. Even though Libya is about to collapse and known to abuse detained refugees and asylum-seekers, the European Union seeks to reach an agreement similar to the deal with Turkey. We also receive worrying reports from Eastern Europe, where refugee rights are not resprected and people are being abused and detained.
borderline-europe is mainly active in three regions: Germany, Italy (Sicily) and Greece (Lesvos). Our projects on Lesvos and Sicily accompany refugees during and after their arrival and carry out research and documentation work. Furthermore, other border regions such as Poland and Turkey, and Tunisia on the other side of the Med, have been a focus point of our work. The Berlin branch organizes networking and awareness-raising activities, supporting transnational networks across European borders.
Through information campaigns, panels, cooperations with cultural institutions, political foundations and other civil organizations we are breaking the silence about the catastrophe happening at the EU‘s external borders. Our work is based on voluntary commitment and low-paid jobs. It is mostly financed via donations and EU-funds, which phase out at the end of March 2017.
1 https://missingmigrants.iom.int/