Advocating for a non-discriminatory approach in European policies

ASF, Prison Insider, FEANTSA and European Alternatives participated in a workshop to discuss how to advocate for a non-discriminatory coherent approach to migration and poverty in Europe and its neighborhood.

In the contemporary European political space, an overly securitized and criminalized approach is often pursued in the design and implementation of public policies towards populations in vulnerable situations, such as migrants, homeless people, poor people and racialized populations.

For instance, rates of arrest and detention for petty offenses are often significantly higher amongst these categories of individuals. They are targeted and criminalized on the basis of who they are rather than what they have done. Current European migration policies and the question of migrant rights also needs to be reframed in the wider context of anti-discrimination in Europe. Such an approach enables a full appreciation of the various and intersectional challenges to ensuring migrant justice and its overlaps with promoting and guaranteeing equality across different groups at risk of discrimination in Europe. Closely linked to these challenges is the shrinking civic space in the EU: activists are criminalized for resisting to these different discriminatory policies towards populations in vulnerable situation.