EU migration laws' double standards: what an alien just debarked on earth would see

Speaking at the Freedom Conference as part of a campaign to drop charges against three young men know as "The ElHiblu 3" , I imagined how an alien would be impressed by EU policies, looking at the outpouring solidarity towards Ukrainian refugees, until he finds out that migrants from Africa and the Middle East fleeing their land for the same reasons are stranded at sea, denied entry to Europe.

A panel at the Freedom Conference 26/03/2022. From left to right: Jelka, ( Organiser, EX Sea Watch), Neil Falzon ( Aditus Foundation), Regine Nguini Psaila (African Media Malta), Judith Sunderland, (Human Rights Watch), Maurice Stierl ( Organiser, University of Sheffield), Ramona Lenz, (Spokesperson of Medico International). Photo African Media Malta.

If an alien arrives on earth now, he will certainly be impressed by the level of solidarity offered to Ukrainian refugees. He could come to the conclusion that European governments are working hand in hand with advocacy NGOs and that they implement all their recommendations.

If it is an alien that leads a community somewhere in a remote land, he would probably want to copy that good practice. He would hope that if himself and his community ever find themselves in difficulty, other fellow aliens would welcome them, feed them, cloth them, and protect them.

Then the alien would want to network with terrestrial NGOs, with the authorities, with the media, in order to to know more about their strong advocacy, their humane policies, their fair reportages.

And that is where the alien will be faced with the cruel reality:

The strong advocacy by NGOs is a fact, most of the time.

For the media, it is so- so. There are some good reporters out there, but not so much.

As for the authorities, the alien will soon discover that they cannot care less about the people, especially those people who flee from certain regions of the globe, people who are of a certain religion, people who are of a certain skin tone.

The alien will hear of the notion of push back, where people who flee from dangerous places are arrested by the authorities and sent back just to those same places where they risk and face all sorts of degrading treatments. Push backs are illegal and cruel EU policies that have destroyed countless young lives.

Hearing about the story of the El Hiblu 3, the alien will be further horrified by the degree of viciousness of certain migration laws.

However, he will have no choice but to keep faith when he will see that for how hard it can be, the battle for human rights and human dignity is always alive.

Sometimes, It might seem that things are very bad and that advocacy doesn't work, but it would be wrong to think so. An African proverb says that "a falling tree makes more noise than a growing forest".

Continuous advocacy is a growing forest.