Equal Rights Beyond Borders
{{Short description|European charitable organisation}}
Equal Rights Beyond Borders is a charitable organization, founded in 2016, headquartered in Berlin, Germany, and Athens, Greece, with additional offices on the Greek islands Chios and Kos. It offers free legal support to people on the move and asylum seekers, with a particular focus on reuniting families and helping with visa procedures. Beyond this, it also offers assistance in cases of detention, and where there is need for access to social rights, and its lawyers take on cases of severe human rights violations. With these aims the organization represents individual clients and also takes on certain strategic cases where litigation may help draw attention to more general issues. Therefore it operates in Greek, German, European, and international courts.
In 2023 it started a project supporting survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), in the asylum procedure, criminal proceedings, and matters of family law.
Equal Rights Beyond Borders is partnering where appropriate with other organizations in Greece, Germany and at European Union (EU) level. In 2022 they published a joint report with HIAS Greece, addressing the Border Procedures on the Greek island.
Among Equal Rights Beyond Borders' co-founders is the lawyer, human rights activist, and current Bundestag member Clara Bünger, who established the organizations first office on the Greek island of Chios.
Equal Rights Beyond Borders receives grant funding from a number of humanitarian organizations, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Structure
The organization consists of two separate legal entities in Germany {{Cite web |title=Equal Rights Beyond Borders - Equal Rights Beyond Borders german-board |url=https://equal-rights.org/about/german-board |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=equal-rights.org |language=en-GB}} and Greece.{{Cite web |title=Equal Rights Beyond Borders - Equal Rights Beyond Borders greek-board |url=https://equal-rights.org/about/greek-board |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=equal-rights.org |language=en-GB}} The work is coordinated by a transnational management board.{{Cite web |title=Equal Rights Beyond Borders - Equal Rights Beyond Borders steering-committee |url=https://equal-rights.org/about/steering-committee |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=equal-rights.org |language=en-GB}} The international expert advisory board {{Cite web |title=Equal Rights Beyond Borders - Equal Rights Beyond Borders advisory-board |url=https://equal-rights.org/about/advisory-board |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=equal-rights.org |language=en-GB}} includes national and international lawyers experienced in refugee and migration law, as well as journalists and church representatives. Among them from Germany are Professors Anna Lübbe and Nora Markard, as well as Professor Violetta Moreno-Lax from Queen Mary University of London.
History
In 2016, the EU-Turkey declaration of March 18, 2016 was signed. This declaration of intent on the admission and repatriation of refugees led to thousands of refugees being stuck on the Greek islands and prevented them from traveling to the European mainland. As a result, the so-called EU hotspots that had existed since 2015 effectively became detention and deportation centers.{{Cite web |last=Bildung |first=Bundeszentrale für politische |date=2023-02-02 |title=EU-Türkei-Flüchtlingsvereinbarung: Bestandsaufnahme und menschenrechtliche Bewertung |trans-title=EU-Turkey Refugee Agreement: Stocktaking and Human Rights Assessment |url=https://www.bpb.de/themen/migration-integration/kurzdossiers/517150/eu-tuerkei-fluechtlingsvereinbarung-bestandsaufnahme-und-menschenrechtliche-bewertung/ |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=bpb.de |language=de}}
Against this backdrop, some young lawyers trained in Germany traveled to the Greek island of Chios in a spontaneous show of solidarity to provide legal support to asylum seekers arriving there by boat. In coordination with Greek lawyers, a solidarity network was set up, initially under the name Refugee Law Clinics Abroad. As a result, young law students from Germany started to regularly travel to Chios to offer free legal advice for a few weeks. In 2016, the non-profit, registered association Equal Rights Beyond Borders was established {{Cite book |last1=Markard |first1=Nora |title=Jura not alone: 12 Ermutigungen, die Welt mit den Mitteln des Rechts zu verändern |trans-title=Law not alone: 12 encouragements to change the world through the means of law |last2=Steinke |first2=Ronen |date=2024 |publisher=Campus Verlag |others=Eva Maria Bredler, Valentina Chiofalo |isbn=978-3-593-51850-3 |location=Frankfurt New York}} co-founded by Clara Bünger who is now a member of the German Bundestag and who helped open and set up the organization's first office on Chios in 2017.{{Cite web |title=RLC abroad: Juristisches Ehrenamt direkt auf der Insel |trans-title=RLC abroad: Legal volunteer work directly on the island |url=https://www.lto.de/karriere/jura-referendariat/stories/detail/refugee-law-clinic-abroad-ehrenamt-chios-greichenland-insel-praktikum-referendariat |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=LTO-Karriere |language=de}} This resulted in one of the first NGO-run legal information centers on Chios.{{Citation |last1=Blengino |first1=Cecilia |title=Clinical legal education within the European-Mediterranean asylum and migration context – inside views from Valencia and Turin |date=2021-12-13 |work=Teaching Migration and Asylum Law |pages=117–128 |url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003167617-16 |access-date=2025-02-12 |place=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-003-16761-7 |last2=Gascón-Cuenca |first2=Andrés |last3=Stege |first3=Ulrich|doi=10.4324/9781003167617-16 }}
The organization opened its office in Athens in 2018 and an office in Berlin in 2019. Since 2021, the organization has also been supporting refugees from its newest office on the Greek island of Kos,{{Cite web |title=Equal Rights Beyond Borders - Equal Rights Beyond Borders |url=https://equal-rights.org/about/our-story |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=equal-rights.org |language=en-GB}} which is home to the last remaining pre-removal detention center on the Greek islands. The conditions in the camp have been criticized several times in the past by journalists and human rights organizations. {{Cite news |last1=Zimmermann |first1=Konstantin |last2=AFP |last3=dpa |date=2021-11-28 |title=Migration: Griechenland öffnet weitere befestigte Flüchtlingslager |trans-title=Migration: Greece opens more fortified refugee camps |url=https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2021-11/griechenland-fluechtlingslager-ueberwachungskameras-leros-kos |access-date=2025-02-12 |work=Die Zeit |language=de-DE |issn=0044-2070}}{{Cite news |title=In der "Hölle der Asylsuchenden": Was Migranten erleben, wenn sie es bis Griechenland schaffen |trans-title= |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/internationales/weltfluchtlingstag-stellen-sie-sich-vor-sie-sind-auf-der-flucht-9995932.html |access-date=2025-02-12 |work=Der Tagesspiegel Online |language=de-DE |issn=1865-2263}}{{Cite web |title="Geschlossene" Flüchtlingslager eröffnet |date=2021-11-28 |trans-title= |url=https://www.dw.com/de/griechenland-fl%C3%BCchtlingslager-er%C3%B6ffnung-kos-leros/a-59959007 |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=dw.com |language=de}} In addition to inhumane living conditions, the detention of families, children and vulnerable people, such as pregnant women or victims of sexualized violence, was particularly criticized.{{Cite web |last=Bünger |first=Clara |title=Inhaftiert im Urlaubsparadies |trans-title= |url=https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1169644.gefluechtete-auf-kos-inhaftiert-im-urlaubsparadies.html |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=nd-aktuell.de |language=de}} In February 2023, the organization criticized the detention of minors on Kos together with terre des hommes.
Work
Since its foundation, the organization has also been trying to enforce the human rights of asylum seekers at Europe's external borders with the help of strategic litigation in order to draw attention to their situation and improve it.{{Cite web |title=Equal Rights Beyond Borders - Equal Rights Beyond Borders |url=https://equal-rights.org/work/how-we-work |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=equal-rights.org |language=en-GB}} It offers free legal support for refugees, particularly with regard to family reunification and visa procedures. It also offers support in cases of detention and access to social rights. To this end, the lawyers of Equal Rights Beyond Borders represent clients before Greek and German courts.{{Cite book |last1=Markard |first1=Nora |title=Jura not alone: 12 Ermutigungen, die Welt mit den Mitteln des Rechts zu verändern |trans-title= |last2=Steinke |first2=Ronen |date=2024 |publisher=Campus Verlag |others=Eva Maria Bredler, Valentina Chiofalo |isbn=978-3-593-51850-3 |location=Frankfurt New York}}{{Cite web |date=2023-07-27 |title=EU-Asylpolitik: "Wir haben in Europa ein Rechtsstaatsproblem" |trans-title= |url=https://www.fr.de/politik/asylpolitik-eu-asylverfahren-europa-griechenland-pushbacks-kuestenwache-rechtsstaat-strafverfahren-92332767.html |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=www.fr.de |language=de}}{{Cite web |title=Equal Rights Beyond Borders - Equal Rights Beyond Borders |url=https://equal-rights.org/work/projects |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=equal-rights.org |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Equal Rights Beyond Borders - Equal Rights Beyond Borders |url=https://equal-rights.org/work/mission |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=equal-rights.org |language=en-GB}}
Its lawyers also represent clients in proceedings before the ECtHR in cases of serious human rights violations under the ECHR.{{Cite web |title=HUDOC - European Court of Human Rights |url=https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#%7B%22itemid%22:%5B%22001-233120%22%5D%7D |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=hudoc.echr.coe.int}} It regularly publishes its own publications, including expert opinions on the human rights situation of refugees in Greek detention centers.{{Cite web |date=2021-01-11 |title=Detained and Forgotten at the Gates of the EU |url=https://directus.equal-rights.org/assets/3cc738e3-d73b-4542-99f2-efe5c91f6e6f.pdf |access-date= |website=Equal Rights Beyond Borders}}
In February 2022, lawyers from the organization made two submissions to the then UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on the issue of the human rights impact of safe third country practices on Kos and Chios{{Cite news |date=2022-02-28 |title=Report of the special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants - Human rights violations at international borders: Trends, Prevention and Accountability |url=https://directus.equal-rights.org/assets/ee5f81b0-3410-42af-be6b-f5dcf627d96b.pdf |access-date=}} and the issue of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the human rights of asylum seekers on Kos and Chios. The reports became part of the report "Human rights violations at international borders: trends, prevention and accountability", which was submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council at its 50th session.
Media attention
The organization's lawyers are experts in the field of asylum and migration law and the enforcement of human rights.{{Cite web |last=Osswald |first=Moritz |date=2021-05-26 |title=Menschenrechte: Sterben und sterben lassen |trans-title= |url=https://www.kontextwochenzeitung.de/politik/530/sterben-und-sterben-lassen-7515.html |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=KONTEXT:Wochenzeitung |language=de-DE}}{{Cite news |last=Sendker |first=Marion |date=2022-10-18 |title=Migranten in Griechenland: Ohne Kleidung – ohne Rechte |trans-title= |url=https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2022-10/migranten-griechenland-frontex-nackt/komplettansicht |access-date=2025-02-13 |work=Die Zeit |language=de-DE |issn=0044-2070}} In interviews, they comment on the situation of human rights and the rule of law in Europe, criticize the EU's migration policy as a "policy of deterrence"{{Cite web |title="Das Signal ist: Bleibt fort" |trans-title= |url=https://www.amnesty.de/informieren/amnesty-journal/europa-aussengrenzen-griechenland-tuerkei-migration-eu-politik-flucht-asyl-das-signal-ist-bleibt-fort |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=www.amnesty.de |language=de}} and the consequences of the EU-Turkey deal for people on the move on the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.{{Cite news |last=Rath |first=Christian |date=2019-02-20 |title=Juristin über Flüchtlinge in der Ägäis: "Viele dürften auf das Festland" |trans-title= |url=https://taz.de/Juristin-ueber-Fluechtlinge-in-der-Aegaeis/!5571156/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |work=Die Tageszeitung: taz |language=de |issn=0931-9085}} In 2023, they participated in the discussion about the investigation of one of the deadliest shipwrecks in the Mediterranean with hundreds of deaths{{Cite web |author1=Christine Auerbach |author2=Lisa Weiß |title=Bootsunglück im Mittelmeer: Zweifel an griechischer Version |trans-title= |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/faktenfinder/bootsunglueck-mittelmeer-102.html |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=tagesschau.de |language=de}} and also criticized the US-American migration policy in the course of this.{{Cite news |last1=Guisado |first1=Angelo |last2=Kessler |first2=Jamie |last3=Nestler |first3=Robert |date=2023-06-23 |title=Joe Biden Is Adopting the Same Policies That Led to Last Week's Greek Tragedy |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/joe-biden-immigration-greek-tragedy-shipwreck.html |access-date=2025-02-13 |work=Slate |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339}} The organization has repeatedly criticized the planned reform of the Common European Asylum System, which was controversially discussed in Germany and Europe.{{Cite news |title=So entsteht das berüchtigte Moria: An dieser Asylreform wird Europa scheitern |trans-title= |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/internationales/zum-weltfluchltingstag-an-dieser-asylreform-wird-europa-scheitern-10005739.html |access-date=2025-02-13 |work=Der Tagesspiegel Online |language=de-DE |issn=1865-2263}}{{Cite news |last1=Bautista |first1=José |last2=Bolliger |first2=Monika |last3=Elger |first3=Katrin |last4=Friedmann |first4=Jan |last5=Hornig |first5=Frank |last6=Lüdke |first6=Steffen |last7=Neukirch |first7=Ralf |date=2023-06-23 |title=Europe's New Asylum Policy: "The First Thing They Do Is Imprison You" |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/europe-s-new-asylum-policy-the-first-thing-they-do-is-imprison-you-a-d7396d76-f53f-4d81-8f71-82c759c6e27d |access-date=2025-02-13 |work=Der Spiegel |language=en |issn=2195-1349}}{{Cite web |last=Klimmer |first=Interview: Melanie M. |title=EU-Asylreform: "Schon heute findet eine Inhaftierung statt" |trans-title= |url=https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1180600.geas-eu-asylreform-schon-heute-findet-eine-inhaftierung-statt.html |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=nd-aktuell.de |language=de}}
Scientific engagement
Since its foundation, the organization has published a large number of expert reports on the human rights situation of people on the move in Greece.{{Cite web |title=Equal Rights Beyond Borders - Equal Rights Beyond Borders |url=https://equal-rights.org/resources/publications |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=equal-rights.org |language=en-GB}} Some members write as authors for the Verfassungsblog on asylum and European law topics.{{Cite web |title=Anne Pertsch auf Verfassungsblog |trans-title= |url=https://verfassungsblog.de/author/anne-pertsch/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=Verfassungsblog |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Niki Georgiou auf Verfassungsblog |trans-title= |url=https://verfassungsblog.de/author/niki-georgiou/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=Verfassungsblog |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Robert Nestler auf Verfassungsblog |trans-title= |url=https://verfassungsblog.de/author/robert-nestler/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=Verfassungsblog |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Catharina Ziebritzki auf Verfassungsblog |trans-title= |url=https://verfassungsblog.de/author/catharina-ziebritzki/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=Verfassungsblog |language=en-GB}} They also speak at meetings{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0g1p9ZQ7Ck |title=Catharina Ziebritzki: EU-Hotspots in Griechenland |trans-title= |date=2019-04-24 |last=Flüchtlingsrat Baden-Württemberg e. V. |access-date=2025-02-13 |via=YouTube}} and conferences {{Cite web |last=Mackenbrock |date=2023-03-14 |title=Westfälische Missionskonferenz Studientag zum Thema Menschenrechte |trans-title= |url=https://www.kkminden.de/westfaelische-missionskonferenz-studientag-zum-thema-menschenrechte/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=www.kkminden.de |language=de}} throughout Germany and take part in panel discussions.{{Cite web |title=Flüchtlingsschutz in Deutschland und Europa |trans-title= |url=https://www.eaberlin.de/seminars/data/2022/pol/fluechtlingsschutz-in-deutschland-und-europa/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin |language=de-DE}}{{Cite web |last=rlc-berlin |date=2022-02-11 |title=Semesterabschlussveranstaltung der Refugee Law Clinic Berlin zum Thema "Zugang zum Schutz in der EU |trans-title= |url=https://www.rlc-berlin.org/post/semesterabschlussveranstaltung-der-refugee-law-clinic-berlin-zum-thema-zugang-zum-schutz-in-der-eu |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=RLC Berlin |language=de}}
The organization has co-hosted several international conferences, for example in 2022 in Berlin, together with Amnesty International, [https://www.brot-fuer-die-welt.de/ Brot für die Welt], Diakonie Deutschland, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, medico international, Miserior{{Cite web |url=https://www.misereor.de/ |title=misereor |website=www.misereor.de |access-date=}} and Pro Asyl{{Cite web |title=ECCHR: Im permanenten Ausnahmezustand? - Menschenrechtliche Herausforderungen an den EU-Außengrenzen – und jenseits des Mittelmeers |trans-title=ECCHR: In a permanent state of emergency? - Human rights challenges at the EU's external borders - and beyond the Mediterranean |url=https://www.ecchr.eu/veranstaltung/im-permanenten-ausnahmezustand-menschenrechtliche-herausforderungen-an-den-eu-aussengrenzen-und-jenseits-des-mittelmeers/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=www.ecchr.eu |language=de}} and in 2023 together with Diakonie Deutschland on Kos.{{Cite web |last=anthony |date=2023-10-04 |title=Immigration Detention in the EU - Conference |url=https://medicaljustice.org.uk/immigration-detention-in-the-eu-conference/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=Medical Justice |language=en-GB}}
Publications
- [https://directus.equal-rights.org/assets/9ca879f8-2295-4f45-b222-d037b5aa687d.pdf "Still detained and forgotten" – Update on Detention Policies, Practices, and Conditions on Kos“], Equal Rights Beyond Borders (Hg.), March 2024
- [https://directus.equal-rights.org/assets/07dab6bc-c51a-4b48-aa8e-1d37cbda5126.pdfReport on Conference – Immigration Detention in the EU, Kos, 08.-10.06.2023], Equal Rights Beyond Borders (Hg.), September 2023
- [https://directus.equal-rights.org/assets/4b7ff7a0-75ce-40cb-8f69-460e4b2714c5.pdf "Still detained and forgotten" – Update on Detention Policies, Practices, and Conditions on Kos 2022/2023“], Equal Rights Beyond Borders (Hg.), February 2023
- [https://directus.equal-rights.org/assets/f7e71f93-a614-4334-ab93-e7fe0131ccb4.pdf "Extraordinary Measures" - How Greece used the COVID-19 pandemic as a Pretext for the Unlawful Detention of Asylum Seekers on Chios], Equal Rights Beyond Borders (Hg.), February 2023
- [https://directus.equal-rights.org/assets/91a1b04f-f718-444f-b9bb-3582b4bb72a8.pdf The State of the Border Procedure on the Greek Islands], Equal Rights Beyond Borders/HIAS Greece/Refugee Support Aegean (Hg.), October 2022
- [https://directus.equal-rights.org/assets/3cc738e3-d73b-4542-99f2-efe5c91f6e6f.pdf Detained and Forgotten at the Gates of the EU - Detention of Migrants on the Island of Kos], Equal Rights Beyond Borders, November 2021
References
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External links
- [https://equal-rights.org/ Official website]
Category:European migrant crisis
Category:Immigrant rights activism