SELLING BORDER MILITARIZATION AS A HUMANITARIAN EFFORT
Just one week after the dramatic events off the coast of Lampedusa, where more than 300 refugees drowned when their boat sank, the European Parliament approved the operating rules for Eurosur, the European border surveillance system. Eurosur provides in the exchange of real time images and data between EU member states and the EU border agency Frontex, gathered through surveillance of the Mediterranean using UAVs (‘drones’), ships and satellites.
Eurosur is presented as a project aimed at rescueing migrants. In reality, it’s primarily task is stopping migrants from entering the European Union. Once again, the military industry, involved in Eurosur through Research & Development-projects, finds profit opportunities in the walls of Fortress Europe.
The tragedy at Lampedusa has been far from the only deadly result of the militarization of the Mediterranean borders. Over the course of the last twenty years, more than 17000 persons diedattempting to reach Europe. On Monday 30 September, thirteen migrants drowned near Sicily.
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More than 600 people have been killed in unprecedented levels of violence by the security forces.© MAHMOUD KHALED/AFP/Getty Images