Campaign
How to Monitor Human Rights in Border Contexts? A Practical Guide to Doing It Safely
Goals
The aim of this guide is to address the knowledge gap by providing information on monitoring human rights in border spaces such as the fences in Ceuta and Melilla, airports, and ports; as well as other spaces linked to the border where human rights violations occur and which are important to take into account for monitoring purposes: CETI, CATE, and migration centers. In particular, it seeks to serve as a tool for organizations and individuals intending to monitor human rights at the border and pays special attention to specific legal frameworks. To this end, it offers practical advice to support informed decision-making and to strengthen struggles for the respect of human rights at the borders of the Spanish State.
This guide first presents a definition of human rights monitoring (1); second, it outlines the framework from which we understand monitoring work at borders (2); third, it identifies the main spaces and useful elements to consider when monitoring rights in different border areas within the Spanish State (3); the fourth section aims to guide the “how” of monitoring safely (4); fifth, it presents the specific situation of ports and airports (5); sixth, it analyzes the border perimeter in Ceuta and Melilla (6); and finally, it provides information gathered regarding CATE and other migration centers (7).
Download the full guide here.
In 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees publicly expressed concern about the increase in violence and human rights violations in the EU and about the spread of “dehumanizing tactics” in migration governance. Human rights violations have become a constant at the borders of the EU, including the Spanish State, making investigation and reporting essential for the defense of human rights.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants stated in one of his most recent reports that “the full range of violations is often unknown due to States’ attempts to deny allegations of abuses or to conceal them.” States themselves commit violations against migrants and, consequently, are often not transparent about them. Specifically, the information provided by the Spanish State administration regarding the situation of migrants, migration policy, and the management of initial arrivals is clearly insufficient.
Given this reality, various bodies have pointed out the need to establish human rights monitoring mechanisms at borders. However, at present, no such mechanism appears to be operating either at the European or the state level. Social movements have worked extensively on methods to monitor rights violations during protests and mobilizations. However, regarding the monitoring of human rights at borders, further efforts are needed to overcome difficulties in accessing information and to reduce the lack of clarity surrounding the exercise of human rights monitoring in border spaces.
Racism is a fundamental and structuring element of the international mobility regime, particularly within the EU and its Member States. However, in migration studies, the postcolonial perspective remains marginal. This report, by contrast, places racism at the center as the connecting axis explaining migration and asylum policies, as well as the situation of human rights violations at contemporary borders, always from a psychosocial and anti-racist perspective. Restrictive migration control measures and the daily toll of deaths and disappearances in border spaces can only be understood through a postcolonial analysis capable of linking migration policies to a racist structure and to the history of colonial domination. From this perspective, some lives are valued more than others, and racialized bodies deemed inferior are exposed to disproportionate levels of violence and exceptional treatment.