CRIMINALISATION OF ASSISTANCE TO UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS

Undocumented migration is fought in many ways. It is alarming that blocking access to social rights is one of these ways, and the evolution tends to go in the direction of criminalizing undocumented migrants themselves and social and humanitarian help that is provided to them by citizens and civil organizations.  

 

The Books of Solidarity published by PICUM, deal with this criminalisation of assistance. It is a serious problem, and we aimed to make visible to policy makers what the consequences are of such incriminatory legislation, by putting in the spotlight many organizations providing help to undocumented migrants.

For the Books of Solidarity we gathered information about the legislation that criminalizes assistance to undocumented migrants in 10 countries in Europe. The last Book was finalized in 2003.
Recently in many countries the legislation has changed, since the EU adopted a directive regarding “facilitation of unauthorized entry and residence”. 

On this page, information can be found on:

* History of the Directive
        * Direct link to the Directive
        * Direct link to the Framework Decision
* Description of the Directive
* Overview of transposition of Directive in national law
* Main findings and conclusions
* What to do?