Update Permanent Peoples Tribunal (PPT) Session on the Violations with Impunity of the Human Rights of Migrant and Refugee Peoples

On July 8, 2017, the official opening of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal Session on The violations with impunity of the Human Rights of Migrants and Refugee peoples (program) was carried out in the city of Barcelona. The call for action disseminated by TMP-E and TNI focuses its reasons on the necessity “to give visibility to the people of migrant persons as an inviolable subject of rights; to identify and judge the “chain” of co-responsibility along the migratory route leading to the violation of migrant people’s human rights; and to urgently provide and foster adequate measures for access to justice”.

Please see documents of different hearings in 2017-2018

1. Opening Session – Barcelona, 7-8 July 2017
   The opening act has been promoted by a social platform that includes more than 100 organizations, associations and social movements (see the list of the endorsment) which have been convened by the Transnational Migrant Platform (TMP) and the Transnational Institute of Amsterdam (TI).The Indictment presented to the Tribunal has been supported by a broad spectrum of testimonies and exemplary cases that have reconstructed the structural factors and policies that determine the vulnerability, dependency, disappearance and denial of the future of migrants and refugee people.The general structure and doctrinal orientation of the Indictment has been built around the need to investigate and document the root causes of migration and forced displacement; routes and violations of human rights; the border regime; the policies of exclusion characterising the Fortress Europe, with special attention to the transversal factors, which are the gender issue and the minors.In its concluding remarks, the panel of judges of the PPT, composed by Bridget Anderson (UK), Carlos Beristain (Spain), Jennifer Chiriga (Zimbabwe), Leticia Gutiérrez (Mexico), has made reference to doctrinal aspects of migration, shared experiences of resistance and has formulated, for this Session, perspectives and methodology of work, in consideration of the PPT mission and jurisprudence.As stated by Gianni Tognoni, Secretary General of the PPT, “this opening Session, which will be concluded by the end of 2018, requires a significant extension of the support networks, an intensified collaboration with groups of experts in the different sectors, a rigorous coordination of the various steps and initiatives. This process aims to become a tool for active presence in society, a cultural, political and legal literacy, an indispensable condition for the recognition of migrant and refugee people as inviolable subjects of law”.

• The general Indictment (English – Spanish)
• The preliminary conclusions (Spanish)

2. Hearing of Palermo, 18-20 December 2017
The firstHearing which begins in Palermo, will be dedicated to migratory flows in the Mediterranean, Europe’s southern border, now reduced to a cemetery of horrors. 

• The Indictment (Italian)
• The Sentence of the Tribunal (Italian) (Spanish) (English)
• more information can be found on the website of PPT 

3. Hearing of Paris, 4-5 January 2018
This hearing will look at the internal borders of the European Union and the related policies and practices of various member states. 

• The Indictment (French)
• The Sentence of the Tribunal (French – Spanish)
• More information on the hearing can be found at the website of Intercoll (only available in French)

4. Hearing of Barcelona, 29 June – 1 July 2018
In the framework of the Session on the violation of the rights of migrants and refugees, the hearing on the “No rights” spaces will take place in the city of Barcelona from June 29 to July 1, along three axes: Southern border with Spain, Gender, Minors and young people

The Declaration  (Spanish)of the PPT panel of the judges that heard in Barcelona, on the occasion of the hearing on “non-law” spaces (29 June – 1 July 2018) is available in Spanish. Representatives of associations and communities of migrants reported numerous cases of violation of human rights occurring at the southern border of Spain and more generally against women, LGTB communities and minors. 

5. Hearing in London, 3 – 4 November 2018
The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal will hold a Hearing on The hostile environment on trial, with a focus on the working condition of migrants and refugees. The hearing is part of the Session on The violation of human rights of migrants and refugee peoples (2017-2019):

• The indictment (English)
• Statement Hearing (English)