Open Letter Archives - aditus foundation

Joint Advocacy Letter: Independent Monitoring Mechanism on Pushbacks

On 23 June we joined 50 other human rights NGOs in signing a Joint Advocacy Letter Calling for Human Rights Council to establish an Independent Monitoring Mechanism on Pushbacks.

The letter was sent to all missions in Geneva ahead of the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on human rights of migrants. The session was held on the same day at 16:30 (CEST).

The practice of “pushbacks” is widespread and exists along most migration routes. Pushbacks manifest an entrenched prejudice against migrants and demonstrate a denial of States’ international obligations to protect the human rights of migrants at international borders.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on the human rights impact of pushbacks of migrants on land and sea.

Letter to the EU Presidency: Call for Coalition of Willing EU MS to Relocate Refugees

For World Refugee Day 2021, we joined over 30 European human rights NGOs to urge the EU to do more for the relocation of refugees. We sent a letter to the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, flagging our concern that some EU Member States are not receiving sufficient support in their efforts at receiving and hosting refugees.

On our part, we have sent this letter to the Prime Minister and to the Ministry for Home Affairs, National Security and Law Enforcement.

The letter may be read below, or downloaded here.

There are too many Member States who are turning a blind eye to the situations at the borders of Europe and are undermining a humane, solidarity-based EU asylum and migration policy.
Joint Advocacy Letter

Letter to the Prime Minister calling for increased commitment to good governance standards

Together with five other human rights NGOs – Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, SOS Malta, Integra Foundation, Kopin and Repubblika – we sent a letter to the Prime Minister, urging him to live up to Malta’s committments in the Open Government Partnership process (OGP)

Solidarity with Palestine: Letter to the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs

Dear Hon. Minister Evarist Bartolo,

We write to you in relation to violence currently escalating in Palestine and Israel, the most intense since the seven-week 2014 Israeli-Gaza conflict. The number of civilian fatalities, including children, is rising, whilst the spreading of mob violence is an extremely worrying escalation.

This recent explosion of violence comes after further forced expulsions of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, part of occupied Palestinian territory, to make way for illegal Israeli settlers. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Israel to stop the forced evictions as these amount to violations of international law and could also amount to war crimes.

Open Letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: The European Commission must prioritise addressing police violence and structural racism in the EU

CC to: Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, Commissioner Helena Dalli

Dear Ms. von der Leyen,

As organisations working for an equal and inclusive Europe, we would like to raise our serious concerns regarding the lack of real reaction of EU leaders regarding police brutality against people of colour in Europe as well as institutional and structural racism, following the killing of George Floyd in the United States and ensuing solidarity protests in Europe and across the world. We were appalled by the statement by EU Commissioner Schinas which delegitimises the public outcry against police brutality and institutional racism in Europe.

On 3 June 2020, Commissioner Schinas was quoted in the Financial Times as saying that events such as the killing of African-American man George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the wave of demonstrations against it, were “not likely . . . to happen in Europe at this scale”. “I do not think that we have issues now in Europe that blatantly pertain to police brutality or issues of race transcending into our systems. But we do have an issue in Europe, which is the issue of inequalities and income distribution — making the best for everyone of what we have.”