The long way to Ceuta and Melilla

Tuesday 11 April 2006, by Challenge

See also / Voir aussi Challenge Newsletter

Roissy, Lampedusa, Ceuta, Melilla, Campsfield - previously unknown localities on the map of Europe have become signposts of European politics towards unwelcome migrants. More than 200 camps of foreigners are scattered now all over Europe [for a map, see Migreurop, Camps for Foreigners in Europe and Meditarranean Countries]. Camps of foreigners have multiplied over the last decade to administer entry, detention and deportation of foreigners. Whatever their physical forms - open camps, closed camps, camps at airports, camps at physical borders, camps in prisons - these camps have three common characteristics:

(i) they enclose physically their (temporary) inhabitants, who are not allowed to leave the camp at will, but paradoxically neither are allowed to stay;

(ii) their inhabitants are all non-European citizens, discriminated on the basis of a specific citizenship in combination with their economic status;

(iii) their inhabitants are subjected to specific administrative powers and instances separate from the legal framework provided for the citizens. Camps are more than administrative structure for managing migration; they illustrate a new form of politics towards unwelcome migrants. Under special security administration, special laws and subjected to administrative powers, camps provide a physical and social enclosure. Often impenetrable to the general population, camps keep foreigners at distance and make their inhabitants invisible to Europe’s citizens. As such, camps have become a symbol of the political frontiers of Europe. [see research and analysis by Migreurop, Cultures & Conflits and Politix].

Whilst the politics of camps was initially a state’s internal affair, increasingly the European states are coordinating and harmonizing their approaches and developing a set of European policies [see Legal and Administrative Documents]. Inside the European Union the newest round of enlargement has shifted camps eastwards towards the new member-states (Poland now contains the second biggest number of camps, right after Germany). Further, new approaches have been launched to externalize the camp approach toward the European vicinity - the neighboring states to the East and South of the European Union [see research and analysis by Migreurop on externalization of camps, Rodier Claire, Saint-Saëns Isabelle and Dietrich Helmut, see also Challenge Workpackage 9]. The extension of the politics of camps to non-European states is accompanied by the delegation of administrative tasks to private companies and international organizations who already have started to administer camps for foreigners [see Cultures & Conflits]. The ensemble of these measures ensures that foreigners are put at distance from the political, social and economic life of Europe, whilst - by means of delegation - diminishing the European states’ responsibilities and costs associated with the politics of camps.

Camps have taken a significant role in the organization of political life in Europe. What is the logic behind this form of administration? What are the assumptions of the foreigner that he/she needs to be controlled and surveilled under a special mode of administration (available only for the foreigner)? Why does the camp as an organizational structure prevail over other equally plausible forms of administrations? What is the inherent logic to the practices of the camp? Research on the European politics of camps is in its initial phases and needs to be followed up by considering these and further questions, which locate the logic of camps within our imaginaries of politics, frontiers, security and liberty [see Bibliography]. In understanding the inscription of camps within the political life in Europe works by Giorgio Agamben and Michel Foucault have proved to be useful [see Related Issues and Challenge Workpackage 1 & 2]. Expanding these works, by posing questions at the border of theory and concrete practices could help further our understanding of the camps by illustrating the premises upon which these administrative practices are based [see Cultures & Conflits, Migreurop, Anafé and Workpackages 2, 8, 9, 14]. The logic of camps could further be explored through witness-accounts describing the inscription of camps on concrete bodies by recounting personal experiences of arriving and passing through a camp [see Witness Accounts]. These types of research on European politics of camps could eventually contribute towards a self-reflective conception of Europe and its frontiers.

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENTS

Appel contre la création de camps aux frontières de l’Europe - Migreurop

Communication de la Commission au Conseil et au Parlement Européen relative aux programmes de protection régionaux - European Commission

De la rétention administrative ... vers les camps ? - Cimade

Futur de l’espace de liberté, sécurité et justice - Parlement européen

ILPA Response to the Hague Programme : EU Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy - ILPA

L’Union européenne doit faire respecter les droits fondamentaux : Contre l’inertie de la Commission,le Gisti saisit le Tribunal de Luxembourg - Gisti

Le programme de la Haye : renforcer la liberté, la sécurité et la justice dans l’Union Européenne - European Council

The Hague Programme : strengthening freedom, security and justice in the European Union - European Council

The Hague Programme: Ten priorities for the next five years - European Commission

Thessaloniki European Council Presidency Conclusions - European Council

Troisième rapport de l’ECRI sur la France - Commission européenne contre le racisme et l’intolérance du Conseil de l’Europe