18th of April 2025 – 10 years after the largest shipwreck in recent Mediterranean history, we call for open borders to end deaths!
2nd call for the transnational chain of actions in autumn 2025
On April 18, 2015 – exactly 10 years ago – the catastrophe that was waiting to happen after Italy and the EU ended proactive rescue operations, materialised. An overcrowded fishing vessel carrying migrants from across Africa and the Indian subcontinent capsized in the middle of the night in the waters between Libya and Italy. More than 1,100 people sunk within minutes, making this the largest shipwreck in recent Mediterranean history. The families of the deceased and those who disappeared continue to mourn their loved ones. We have not forgotten either and we support the commemoration of this shipwreck, which is organized by the solidarity committee in Augusta today.
Despite the responsibility of EU policymakers and agencies such as Frontex for this shipwreck that was clearly demonstrated,[1] even Jean Claude Junker, then President of the European Commission, admitted “it was a serious mistake to bring the Mare Nostrum operation to an end. It cost human lives”,[2] there has been no accountability for this policy-driven catastrophe. The EU has perpetuated its discriminatory and militarised migration policies, which force illegalised migrants to embark on dangerous journeys. The EU and its member states did not reinstate proactive rescue missions, and the non-governmental actors who desperately tried to fill the lethal rescue gap they created have been criminalised. As a result, border deaths have continued, and more than 30.000 deaths have been recorded over the last 10 years across the sea.
All over Europe and in North Africa racist agitation is increasing as a strategy of divide and rule. Higher fences and walls are under construction, in the various borderlands, but also in the heads of big parts of the population. Even more violence, pushbacks and death in border zones are legitimated by racist narratives, while the right to move and to seek protection or a better future is more and more criminalized.
Today, we are in thoughts with the survivors, and the families of the deceased who disappeared during the 18th of April 2015 shipwreck. The memory of each life that was lost strengthens our determination to struggle against the EU’s lethal border regime!
In 2025 we are recalling the most tragic outcomes of left-to-die policy, but also the power of migrants’ struggles for freedom of movement and solidarity which we witnessed 10 years ago during the “Summer of Migration”. We do so to break the normalisation of migrants’ deaths, and re-opening our sense of possibility for new forms of struggle.
We want to raise our voices together to say: We refuse this lethal and unjust border regime! Migrant deaths are not inevitable! Freedom of movement is a possibility, we saw it, and we see it every day in the cracks of Europe’s borders! Solidarity still exists and can be the basis for a beautiful society where everyone can live free and equal! We want to come together, and through common struggle, create a space for joy and hope in these dark times.
In this spirit, we have spread already a first call for a transnational chain of actions in late summer and autumn to demonstrate the strength and creativity of our movements through a wide spectrum of activities.
First initiatives and mobilizations are in preparation for September and October 2025: a two-day protest in Geneva in front of the UNHCR and IOM headquarters and against the continuum of camps and detention from North Africa to Europe; a journal edited by comrades from Ljubljana to remind us of the amazing movement of migration 10 years ago in the Balkans and its tenacity and continuity; a regatta of sailing boats named F.lotta around Lampedusa against ongoing practices of abandonment, push backs and death at sea; a caravan in eastern Germany to empower refugees in camps and to take a stand against deportations and the deprivation of rights; a transnational conference in Rabat to celebrate the 20 years of self-organisation of migrants and 10 years of establishing a shelter for women and children in transit.
Within the next weeks and months, we hope more initiatives along the various routes of flight and migration as well as in the arrival cities will crystallise and join this decentralized process. We will create a common frame with at least a shared calendar and with materials in digital and printed formats to interconnect all events. We invite all self-organizations and all solidarity groups and networks for the rights of people on the move to contribute to this transnational mobilization.
Contact us, if you have ideas and proposals and if you want to remain updated:
Coalition for Free Movement
[1] https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/death-by-rescue-the-lethal-effects-of-non-assistance-at-sea
[2]http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-15-4896_en.htm
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