🚨70 years after the UN 1951 Refugee Convention was adopted, Europe now looks to profit from the displaced. Our new research reveals how the highly lucrative arms trade is fuelling displacement and migration.
👉Read the full report: tni.org/smokingguns
While the 1951 Convention set out to protect refugees, 70 years later they are being left to drown at sea. Using #OSINT we joined the dots between arms exports and displacement in five case studies, showing how #EUarms were instrumental in provoking forced displacement.
Case Study I: Italy exported T-129 helicopter components and production capacity to Turkey that were used in Northern Syria in 2018 and 2019, contributing to the displacement of 278,000 people.
Case Study II: Bulgaria exported missile tubes and rockets to Saudi Arabia and the US, which eventually ended up in the hands of IS forces in Iraq, violating end-user agreements. The weapons contributed to the displacement of at least 285,470 people from Ramadi and Mosul.
Case Study III: British, French, and German drone components and production capacity were exported to Azerbaijan via Turkey and used in the disputed territory of Naghorno-Karabakh displacing half of the region’s population – approximately 90,000 people.
Case Study IV: The conflict in the DRC is one of the world’s longest, yet Europe continues to supply arms that are used to perpetrate human rights violations. Between 2012 and 2017 European weapons potentially contributed to the displacement of millions.
Case Study V: Italian training and patrol boats were given to the Libyan coastguard and used to forcibly pull back and detain migrants fleeing its shores. This closes the circle between displacement and migration with European arms companies profiting twice.
Our new report 'Smoking guns' shows that #EUarms contributed to the displacement of at least 1.1 million people. Europe must place human rights above economic interests and curb its arms exports.
👉Read the full report here: tni.org/smokingguns
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During the 2011 Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, social media was seen as a technology of liberation.
Yet ten years on, social media is more associated with surveillance, repression and misinformation.
What should progressive forces do? 👇🧵
Activists have typically used four tactics to resist digital power:
✨ Abstain and boycott mainstream platforms
✨Attack and confront Big Tech
✨Build Alternative platforms
✨Adapt to corporate platforms to build popular support
In practice, activists need to use all four tactics in combination as each tactic has its advantages and drawbacks and is needed for particular contexts.
But to defeat Big Tech and the right, we must go further.
But a decade on, EU policies are less likely to promote peace and more likely to contribute to instability, violence and war.
With the holidays coming up, let's take a look at the EU’s actual commitment to peace: 🧵👇
🇪🇺Border violence: Thousands of refugees attempting to reach safety inside the EU are facing unprecedented levels of violence including beatings and sexual assault. theguardian.com/law/2022/dec/0…
🇪🇺Border externalisation: The EU has made bilateral and multilateral agreements with countries outside of Europe that effectively make them the border guards of Europe.
Many of these countries are run by authoritarian regimes that are propped up and supported with EU funds.
We all know that industrial livestock farming is destroying the planet.
But is going vegan the only way to save the planet?
On the occasion of World Food Day, here are some key takeaways about different types of livestock keeping that can contribute to real climate solutions👇
In industrial farming, animals usually spend their short lives confined in small areas where they are fed industrially produced crops like corn and soy.
As we all know, the ecological costs of this system are huge.
But there is another way of raising animals that makes use of variable landscapes by moving animals and managing their grazing.
It provides livelihoods for many millions of people and makes use of rangelands across more than half the world’s land surface.
Yesterday the Dutch parliament decided they want to exit the climate wrecking Energy Charter Treaty.
Here is why this is a great move for the climate movement 👇🧵
The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is a major obstacle to tackling climate change.
Through the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clause, the treaty allows energy multinationals to sue governments for adopting climate policies that potentially limit their profits.
Globally, at least USD 570 billion has been paid out by governments.
12% of these ISDS cases have originated in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands has also been a target of litigation under the Energy Charter Treaty, with 2 cases concerning a whopping €2.4 billion.
Long before the Ukraine war, the EU increased its security, defence and military budgets for 2021-2027 by a staggering 123% compared to the last budget round.
What does this money fund, and why is it so problematic? 🧵👇🏽
EU funding for law enforcement, border control and military research, development, and operations (€43.9bn) is 31 times higher than funding for “rights, values and justice” (€1.4bn).
The EU is increasingly prioritising a militarised approach to security.
The funding will reinforce Fortress Europe: The EU's border agency, Frontex, which has been accused of gross human rights violations, receives 194% more funding and enjoys greater autonomy.
It now holds unprecedented power over member states’ decisions on border management.