Thread by @heavencrawley

Impossible to have an event about ‘African perspectives on migration’ without Africans in the room. Unfortunately #hostileenvironment across Europe has prevented some of our speakers/performers from attending but @FriendsofEurope have great tech and they will be heard #FoEDebate

Great points from @Wacera_K about the (mis) perceptions of African migration and her own experiences of immigration control at Schipol airport. We need to engage young people and start to tell different stories, create different narratives #FoEDebate

On day we learnt that at least 58 young Gambians have died when boat they were travelling on capsized in Med, Mbakeh Camara tells us about the death of his childhood friend, a successful businessman with huge potential, for whom there were no legal migration routes #FoEDebate

Good to have @GiuliaRastajuly join us remotely to talk about her experience representing 100s of refugees and migrants - including children - who are being forcibly moved. This is now big business created by policies in Europe which provide no legal migration routes #FoEDebate

Forceful intervention from @_AfricanUnion about the problems of EU migration policies which mean that even for well-travelled international professional Africans travel to Europe is difficult...”they see only a Black man” #FoEDebate

Important points from Lul Seyoum about the forced military conscription of young Eritreans which drives many to leave in search of ‘Destination Hope’ despite a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy on the border #FoEDebate

Considerable pressure on @MSF_Sea and other orgs who are accused of criminal activity and collusion with the traffickers based on assumption that SAR is a ‘pull factor’. All the evidence suggests to the contrary - see eg this report from @emmevilla at @EuropeanUni #FoEDebate

Good point from @ONECampaign about the tendency for focus of efforts to be on economic arguments about migration rather than human rights issues which are equally, if not more, compelling #FoEDebate

Series of important points about the importance of remembering the historical context of migration in the African context including creation of borders and long-term linkages between places. But race also matters because of the visibility of ‘the other’ #FoEDebate

Ongoing colonisation of Africa by Europe is fuelling migration says @GiuliaRastajuly its not good enough to criticise regimes in Africa when many of these are being supported by the EU in its efforts to halt migration to Europe #FoEDebate