Sign now and ask the EU to:
#HealthcareNotWarfare: Stop using Israeli killer drones for your anti-migration policies.
#DefendLives: These drones militarize the Meditarranean, they can kill but can’t save lives.
#SpreadSolidarity with those that already take the brunt of injustice – from besieged and occupied Palestine to the overcrowded migrant camps.
11085 signatures already!
The Petition
To:
EU Commissioner Adina Valean, EU Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius, EU Commissioner Yiva Johansson
Dear Sir/Madam,
Since November 2018 the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has leased through the Portuguese company CeiiA two Hermes 900 drones, so-called ‘killer drones’ manufactured by Israel’s largest military company Elbit Systems. Under the € 59 million worth 2 year leasing contract, the drones are used mainly to implement the EU’s repressive anti-migration policies. Experts condemn the move to aerial surveillance as an abrogation of the responsibility to save lives. Worse, the Elbit’s killer drones are supporting Frontex and national authorities in Greece, where migrants and refugees have been targeted with live ammunition at sea.
Elbit Systems develops its drones together with the Israeli military and promotes its technology as field tested – on Palestinians. It provides 85% of the drones used by Israel in its repeated military assaults and continued inhumane siege on Gaza. Hermes drones have been used to kill the four children playing at the beach during Israel’s attack on Gaza in 2014.
These drones can kill but can’t save lives.
Therefore, I demand:
- EMSA to stop using these drones and EMSA and CeiiA not to renew the leasing contract.
- Our national authorities not to request these drones for use in their airspace.
- the European Union not to spend public tax money to finance Israel’s military industry but instead to use its funds to protect human rights for all and not for the militarization of borders and the sea.
Sincerely,
Who do we address?
EU Commissioner Adina Valean (Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, co-responsible over the European Maritime Safety Agency – EMSA)
EU Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius (Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, co-responsible over the European Maritime Safety Agency – EMSA)
EU Commissioner Yiva Johansson (Directorate-General for Home Affairs, responsible over Frontex)
ECCP and Stop the Wall give background in the briefing “Stop Israeli Killer Drones from Intensifying the EU’s Border Militarization”.
Since the end of February 2020 at Europe’s borders with Turkey the EU is facing refugees and migrants with increased militarised violence. From the sky, Israel’s killer drones developed during the massacres in Gaza are delivering the necessary information for the attacks on migrants and refugees.
Who promotes the petition?
A broad alliance of civil society organizations from all across Europe, including Palestine solidarity, anti-militarization, migrant rights groups, unions and more.
Co-sponsors:
- Agir Pour La Paix – Belgium
- Amici della Mezzaluna Rossa Palestinese – Italy
- ARCI – Italy
- Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) – France
- Association pour l’Amitié et la Solidarité avec les Peuples d’Afrique (AFASPA) – France
- Association pour les Jumelages entre les camps de réfugiés Palestiniens et les villes Françaises (AJPF) – France
- AssopacePalestina – Italy
- BDS Berlin – Germany
- BDS France – France
- BDS Italy – Italy
- BDS Greece – Greece
- Carovana Migranti (Torino) – Italy
- Collectif Judéo Arabe et citoyen pour la Palestine – France
- Comité de Solidariedade com a Palestina – Portugal
- Confederación Intersindical Galega – Spanish State
- Cultura è Libertà – Italy
- European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP)
- Gibanje za pravice Palestincev – Slovenia
- Gruppo Ibriq per la cultura e la causa Palestinese – Italy
- Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya (IAC) – Catalunya
- LAB Trade Union – Basque Country
- Legal Center Lesvos – Greece
- Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples (MRAP) – France
- Mouvement International de la Réconciliation (MIR) – France
- Movimento pelos Direitos do Povo Palestino e pela Paz no Médio Oriente (MPPM) – Portugal
- Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees (Fagforbundet) – Norway
- NWRG-onlus – Italy
- Ongi Etorri Errefuxiatuak – Basque Country
- Pax Christi Diözesanverband Rottenburg-Stuttgart – Germany
- Paz con Dignidad – OMAL – Basque Country
- Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine – France
- Rete Antirazzista Catanese – Italy
- Rete Eco – Italy
- Rete Italiana Disarmo – Italy
- Rete Romana di Solidarietà con il Popolo Palestinese – Italy
- Salaam Ragazzi dell’Olivo, Comitato di Trieste – Italy
- SOS Racismo – Portugal
- Stop Wapenhandel – Netherlands
- Transnational Institute (TNI) – Europe
- Transnational Migrant Platform-Europe (TMP-E) – Europe
- Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP) – France
- Un Ponte Per … – Italy
- Sprecherkreis des Koordinationskreises Palästina Israel – Germany
- SodePaz – Spanish State
- Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau – Spanish State
- Vredesactie – Belgium
More information
ECCP/STW briefing on the killer drones:
- https://www.stopthewall.org/sites/default/files/StopIsraeliKillerDrones_0.pdf or http://www.eccpalestine.org/stop-israeli-killer-drones-from-intensifying-the-eus-border-militarisation/
On EU militarization of borders: “Expanding the fortress – The policies, the profiteers and the people shaped by EU’s border externalisation programme”:
- EN: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/expanding-the-fortress
- ES: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/expanding-the-fortress?content_language=es
- FR: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/expanding-the-fortress?content_language=fr
- DE: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/expanding-the-fortress?content_language=de
- NL: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/expanding-the-fortress?content_language=nl
- IT: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/expanding-the-fortress?content_language=it
- GR: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/expanding-the-fortress?content_language=el
Joint Statement For A World Without Walls From European Palestine Solidarity And Migrants Rights Groups And Networks:
- EN: https://book.stopthewall.org/joint-statement-for-a-world-without-walls-from-european-palestine-solidarity-and-migrants-rights-groups-and-networks/
- ES: https://antologia.stopthewall.org/declaracion-conjunta-eu-mundosinmuros/
Manifesto on Migration:
- EN: https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/open-the-borders-stop-the-war-on-migrant-and-refugee-peoples/
- ES: https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/abran-las-fronteras-detengan-la-guerra-contra-las-personas-inmigrantes-y-refugiadas/?lang=es
- FR: https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/ouvrez-les-frontieres-arretez-la-guerre-contre-les-peuples-migrants-et-refugies/?lang=fr