What is Migreurop?

Founded in 2002, Migreurop is a network of militants (NGOs, individuals and researchers) from several countries of the European Union and the Maghreb, whose objective is to reflect, inform and act on camps for foreigners in European States, European migration and asylum policies, projects of externalization. The network emerged from the mobilization of militants provoked by the creation of the Sangatte refugee camp in northern France. For this reason, administrative detention of migrants — »camps for foreigners» in Migreurop’s terminology — constituted a primary axis of Migreurop’s work, and the network produces a regularly updated map, Camps for Foreigners in Europe.

What are Migreurop goals?

1. "Gathering information, analyzing it and spreading it" about camps, and more generally about European Policies on asylum and immigration leading to the creation of zones where foreigners are set aside. 2. Decoding and “Networking” Rather than addressing the public at large, Migreurop dedicates part of its activity to decoding the migration policies of the European Union and its Member States in order to convince informed groups, or others potentially receptive to its work, such as militant movements, of the validity of its analyses.

What are the goals for 2007?

In the past two years, Migreurop worked with main focus on Southern European countries and the Maghreb area. Migreurop has decided to develop towards Central and Eastern Europe in order to confront its analyses with the Civil Society in order to decode European Union s policy and be ready for further mobilization. Since September 2006, a small group focused on Eastern problematic, like the European Neighborhood Policies in Central Europe, Regional Protection Programs, Schengen area’s enlargement, readmission agreements between the European Union and Central European States, Central Europeans States as new buffer zones but also as transit zones and the status of the new European Union Member States and the future Member States and the development of camps for foreigners. To prepare and organize this eastern extension of Migreurop, we would like to meet up potential NGO-partners in Central Eastern Europe. Our idea for building up close contacts with colleagues in CEE and discuss common aims was to visit NGOs in Central Europe to discuss but also to organize a conference in a CEE country in May 2007.

The map Camps for Foreigners in Europe (which includes camps at its borders) shows an increasing number of dots, representing the multiplication of migrant camps, and demonstrating the dramatic expansion of the practice of holding migrants in detention centers. (www.migreurop.org)

Migreurop 21 ter rue Voltaire 75011 Paris France Phone: + 33 1 53 27 87 81 www.migreurop.org Contacts : Alexandre Le Cleve and Eva Ottavy.