CommemorAction: 6th February 2023 - MIGRATION IS A RIGHT!

Global CommemorAction’s call

A Global Day of Struggle against the regime of death at our borders and to demand truth, justice and reparations for migration victims and their families.

“We are relatives and friends of people who have died, gone missing and/or who are victims of enforced disappearances, along the land or sea borders of Europe, Africa and the Americas.

We are people who have survived an attempt to cross borders in search of a better future.

We are citizens acting in solidarity to help migrants along the way by providing medical aid, food and clothing and by supporting them in dangerous situations so that their journeys end safely.

We are activists who have heard and collected the testimonies of these migrants before they disappeared, who try to identify the anonymous bodies in the border zones and who provide them with a dignified burial.

We are one big family without borders and nationalities, who struggle against the regimes of death imposed at borders across the world and who fight for the right to migrate, for freedom of movement and for global justice for all.

Year after year, we are witnessing the ongoing massacres at the borders and in detention facilities intended to discourage migration. We must not forget these victims! We cannot remain silent about what is happening!

In February 2020, activists and relatives gathered in Oujda, Morocco, to organise the first major Commemor-Action. For this event, we chose the symbolic date of 6 February, the date of the Tarajal massacre, to organise worldwide demonstrations against the militarisation of our borders, and in support of the freedom to migrate.

In September 2022, we came together in Zarzis, Tunisia, for the second major Commemor-Action event and reiterated our commitment to mark 6 February  as a day to unite the voices of many organisations fighting every day to denounce deadly border regimes and to call for truth, justice, and reparations for migration victims and their families.

We call on all social and political, secular and religious organisations, groups and collectives of families of migration victims, and citizens of all countries worldwide, to organise protests and awareness raising actions on 6 February 2023.

We encourage you to use the logo shown above, together with your own logos, as a way to highlight the link between all the different initiatives. All the events that will take place will be published on the Facebook page Commemor-Action.

Migrate to live, not to die!

They are humans, not numbers!

Freedom of movement for all!”

To join this call, you can write to: globalcommemoraction@gmail.com

What are Commemoractions?

CommemorActions are actions that commemorate people who have died, gone missing or become victims of enforced diappearance on their journey across the world’s borders.

Born out of collaboration between friends and families of the disappeared, especially in the Mediterranean, and activists who collect their testimonies and support their claims, the first Grand CommemorAction was organised in Morocco (Oujda) in 2020.

They are both commemorations and protests, mixing political messages and artistic performances, but above all, connecting grieving relatives with as many people as possible, and together creating platforms to share their stories and demands.

CommemorActions are spaces to remember the victims and collectively build processes that can support families in their demands for truth and justice for their loved ones.

For many years on 6 February the Tarajal massacre of 2014 is commemorated, where 15 people died and others disappeared while trying to reach the Spanish coast.

The migrants drowned in front of the Guardia Civil, who fired rubber bullets and used other riot gear on them. This event has become a shameful symbol of dehumanised migration policies.