The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal’s Judgment on

The Human Right to Health of Migrant and Refugee Peoples

(Berlin, 23-25 October 2020)

45° Session on the Violations of the Human Rights of Migrant and Refugee Peoples

The Judgment and the Recommendations formulated by the Permanent Peoples Tribunal (PPT) on The Human Right to Health of Migrant and Refugee Peoples (Berlin hearing 23-25 October 2020) have been publicly presented on December 16th 2020. The Indictment and the program of the Berlin hearing were forwarded by the Secretariat of the PPT to the German Government and the European Commission, who were the indicted parties, but did not answer to the invitation to participate and present their positions.

According to the terms of reference of the Indictment – formulated by a network of German organisations coordinated by the national IPPNW, and shared by several movements, organisations and institutions from European countries – the focus of the Berlin hearing was on the violations of the fundamental rights of the people of migrants and refugees in Germany. Health care was the main area investigated and documented as indicator of human rights. Criminal responsibilities of the country and European competent institution and representatives were also been determined.

The Jury of the PPT included high level magistrates, lawyers, academic experts from 5 European countries and included in its consideration and assessment the indispensable updated scenario of the factual evidences and of the normative developments of the last three years, which have been the object also of an intensive monitoring and judging activity of the PPT through its Sessions in Barcelona, Palermo, Paris, London, Brussels.

The detailed report of the decisions of the PPT is articulated in specific sections dedicated to the documentation of the facts in Germany and in Europe: the normative, socio-political, juridical contexts which have been the main determinants of the tragic and systemic violations of human and peoples’ rights and of their impunity; the qualification of the responsibilities from the point of view of binding international laws and treaties, as well as with respect to constitutional national and European obligations. The PPT document also contains recommendations on the priorities which should be adopted. As forcefully stressed in the public presentation of the Judgment, a concrete sign of a way forward is a must – in a scenario which is tragically affecting migrants and refugees, but is also, progressively and deeply, destroying the human and humane identity of the European institutions and societies.

The evidence presented by the testimonies and reports from the routes and frontiers where the whole spectrum of crimes fully corresponding to the technical juridical qualification of “against humanity” are happening (from direct killing, to torture, to trafficking, to expulsion to no safe places and regimes, to a specifically severe violation of women lives and dignity) have been overwhelming. What across the chronicles could sometimes appear a fragmented situation, must be qualified, with an emphasis already underlined in 2017 in Palermo, as a “systemic crime” – a  juridical category which is included in the statute of the PPT as an indicator of higher (criminal?) severity, of the structured characteristics of the violations. Beyond the personal responsibilities and actors, who should already be prosecuted, the PPT stresses and submits to the attention of the civil society, as well as to the representatives of national and international law, that what happens is the product of a necropolitics. In addition, there is the gravity of a lack of instruments to address the criminal accountability of these policies as well as to address the impunity for a crime which is truly an ongoing genocide. This reality is visible, explicitly planned and confirmed, as it has become, incredibly very clear in the September 2020 EU Pact on Migration and Asylum which is specifically and extensively taken into consideration in the Judgment of the Berlin Hearing.

The PPT Judgements, although not considered as legally binding, their evidences and declarations of responsibilities are submitted to the ‘legal institutions’, and also more directly they are conceived as instruments of  conscience and struggle for all those peoples, movements, subjects who are fully and intensely aware that all humans are, by definition, subjects of the human right to move, to be citizen of all places where the right to life and dignity could be respected, or at least pursued.

During the Permanent People Tribunal, we heard about living conditions in Lesbos from people with chronic disease ? :

« After the time that I came to Lesbos Island, because of the lack of my medications I had a lot of brain attack »

During the #PPT, we heard about living conditions in Lesbos from people with chronic disease ? : « After the time that I came to Lesbos Island because of the lack of my medications I had a lot of brain attack »

Publiée par Transnational Migrant Platform sur Vendredi 4 décembre 2020

During the #PPT in Berlin the doctor Jessica Horst read us the report about the living conditions and Health Care in Moria Camp that she wrote with two others doctors ✊

For years, Moria camp, originally designed to hold 2.700 inhabitants, has been overcrowded with 10.000 – 20.000 people. . […] We can testify that living in Moria poses a severe threat to the health of every single one of its inhabitants by the unhealthy living conditions, restricted access to medical care and non-standardized medical care

During the #PPT in Berlin the doctor Jessica Horst read us the report about the living conditions and Health Care in Moria Camp that she wrote whith two others doctors ✊ " We can testify that living in Moria poses a severe threat to the health of every single one of its inhabitants by the unhealthy living conditions, restricted access to medical care and non-standardized medical care." ?

Publiée par Transnational Migrant Platform sur Jeudi 3 décembre 2020

During the PPT in Berlin, Harold from Borderline Europe told us about the Criminalization of solidarity and of refugees people ⛔️ :

« In addition to criminalizing solidarity the Member States of the EU systemically violate the Geneva convention on refugees by criminalizing and emprisoning persons seeking protection »

During the PPT in Berlin, Harold from borderline europe – Menschenrechte ohne Grenzen e.V. told us about the Criminalization of solidarity and of refugees people ⛔️ : « In addition to criminalizing solidarity the Member States of the EU systemically violate the Geneva convention on refugees by criminalizing and emprisoning persons seeking protection » ?

Publiée par Transnational Migrant Platform sur Lundi 30 novembre 2020

During the #PPTBerlin we’ve been talking about Police violence in Bavaria. Refugees from Bayerischer Flüchtlingsrat tell us about their experience :

During the #PPTBerlin we’ve been talking about living conditions for refugees in Bavaria. Refugees from Bayerischer Flüchtlingsrat tell us about their experience : ” I’m a refugee in Bavaria. The main issue here is about police brutality. I really don’t call it police brutality. I call it racism” “The life in Bavaria and especially in Bayern is miserable for refugees”

Publicada por Transnational Migrant Platform en Viernes, 27 de noviembre de 2020

I’m a refugee in Bavaria. The main issue here is about police brutality. I really don’t call it police brutality. I call it racism

The life in Bavaria and especially in Bayern is miserable for refugees

We have interviewed Jessica Horst, doctor in Berlin, member of the vdää – doctors organisation in Germany – about her works as a doctor in the Moria camp.

People should get a better medical treatment, camp like Moria should not exist

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During the PPT in Berlin, we have interviewed the human rights lawyer Muhammad al-Kashef . He’s a member of Watch The Med – Alarmphone – a self-organized hotline for refugees in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. 


Rather than externalizing borders and building walls, UE should be externalizing real solidarity and respect for the human rights

We have interviewed Fatuma Musa Afrah, from United Action e.V., about her intervention today in the Permanent People’s Tribunal Berlin. She talks about the limited access to health care for refugee women in the EU. These problems will only be solved if we unite together! 

I hope by sharing we can find a solution together or improve for the better. Because women rights is human rights and health is a basic human right.

During the PPT in Berlin, we have interviewed Ramona Lenz. She’s working for medico international – a German human rights organisation – and she told us about her experience in the Moria camp.

Catastrophic situation of the people there, especially in terms of healthcare. They do not have access to adequate healthcare

[FR]
Kalash Okali de l’association Corasol témoigne de son parcours en tant que personne migrante en Allemagne et appelle le gouvernement Allemand à agir ?

“Je ne suis pas seul, nous sommes nombreux à avoir un travail, […] mais je ne comprends pas pourquoi on peut me dire un matin – tu dois rentrer au Cameroun” ?

[EN] Kalash Okali from the association Corasol who testifies about his journey as a migrant in Germany and calls on german government to act ? :

“I am not alone, many of us have a job, […] but I don’t understand why It can be said : you have to go back to Cameroon” ?

Kalash Okali

[ENGLISH BELOW] Kalash Okali de l’association Corasol témoigne de son parcours en tant que personne migrante en Allemagne et appelle le gouvernement Allemand à agir ? “Je ne suis pas seul, nous sommes nombreux à avoir un travail, […] mais je ne comprends pas pourquoi on peut me dire un matin – tu dois rentrer au Cameroun” ? [EN] Kalash Okali from the association Corasol who testifies about his journey as a migrant in Germany and calls on german government to act ? : “I am not alone, many of us have a job, […] but I don’t understand why It can be said : you have to go back to Cameroon” ?

Posted by Transnational Migrant Platform on Tuesday, 3 November 2020