We are migrants, with and without documents, refugees, asylum seekers. We are children of immigrants, parents of European citizens. We have arrived in Europe recently or we have been here for decades, we were born here. 

We came here after Europe came to us. 

Nothing runs without us: no society can sustain itself, no economy can prosper without our contribution. 

We take care of elders, children and neighbours, we do the invisible and unpaid work that upholds our communities. 

We are bus, taxi and delivery drivers, cooks, shop owners, teachers, nurses and doctors, artists and athletes, we are sex workers. We fix cars, phones and computers, we build homes. 

We are seasonal workers, temporary workers, public servants, student workers, we have stable contracts or combine several jobs, we are part of the gig economy.

We are employed without documents. We are employed behind bars. We are excluded from the job market. Some of us have retired, and some are unable to.

Everywhere in Europe, we have witnessed the longstanding exploitation of our relatives, neighbours, and friends. Across countries, racist policies instrumentalise us and treat us as disposable. 

When we don’t have documents, we are at the mercy of abuse and servitude. And when we do have work permits, they don’t protect us and tie us to our employers. 

We have experienced decades of political choices and policies designed to turn us into criminals, creating conditions for large-scale exploitation by withholding access to regularisation, detaining us and deporting us. 

This system has been made possible by centuries of investment in war and conflict, economic and resource extraction, climate degradation, and colonialism, which push the global majority to leave their homes by force.

On our journey here, we have been shot on land, drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, stigmatised and murdered with impunity. 

We are tired of violence. 

Now that we are here, governments decide who’s a good migrant and who’s not, who deserves to work and who doesn’t. Racist narratives portray us as benefits frauds and job thieves. 

We are tired of racism and discrimination. 

We use our labor force as a tool for resistance because that’s all the system can recognise.  But we are hopeful that we will create for our children a world where our value is not tied to participation in the economy.

When we fight for our freedom, we fight for the freedom of everyone, because when we suffer, all of society suffers. And when our rights are attacked, the rights of everyone are attacked. 

We call for our neighbors, colleagues and friends to stand with us as we demand rights and justice. 

We call for workers’ unions, feminist groups, queer activists, youth and students organisations and all solidarity movements to join our struggle.

We demand

• Safety and protection for all migrant workers, including women, children, queer and trans communities, sex workers, religious minorities and racialised communities that are most exposed to exploitation and abuse. 
• Freedom of movement and access to rights for all migrants: those who work with permits, those who work without documents, those who do not work, those who are excluded from the labor market. 
• The abolition of prisons and detention centers, where migrants are jailed and some of them working. 
• Rights for asylum seekers, who are denied access to the labour market during their asylum process. 
• Freedom of association and bargaining rights for all migrant workers, with and without documents, so they can fight for their labour rights without the fear of being deported.
• An end to the policies which criminalise migration, through punitive laws targeting people on migration journeys, undocumented migrants and workers in unrecognised industries such as sex work. 
• Regularisation of all undocumented migrants and guaranteed access to health and social benefits, education and formal employment market. 
• Divestment from all industries that profit from the discrimination and exploitation of migrant communities.

How we organise and how to join the movement

The movement is initiated by the Migrant Justice Community of Practice, a coalition of migrant-led and racialised-led organisations working to shift European migration approaches away from punishment, violence and control toward community, care and social provision. 

Over the next two years, we will organise within our communities towards a large movement of strikes, actions and mobilisation to demand justice and rights for migrants, and by extension, all people affected by inequality, violence and exploitation. 

If you would like to join us, contact us at migrantjusticecop@protonmail.com

 

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