For Freedom of Movement & Fair Development!

Bamako Call for the respect and dignity of migrants (2006)

The World Social Forum took place in 2006 on three different continents. In the course of the Bamako, Mali meeting, a call against the worldwide murderous migration policy was composed.

The Polycentric World Social Forum is part of the construction process of an alternative to neoliberal policies.

In the name of the fight against clandestine immigration, governments implement a repressive policy with the externalisation of wealthy countries borders through camps, refoulements, deportations and labour force selection. Those policies lead to dramas such as in Ceuta and Melilla, deaths in the desert, in the Mediterranean sea or in the Rio Grande.

We propose to build at the international level a solidarity union against these murderous policies, between civil societies, NGOs, social movements and associations …

From Bamako to Nairobi, we suggest to devote a year for an international mobilization dedicated to the right of every person to freely circulate around the world and to decide on one’s own futur.

The following proposals stem from several seminars dedicated to migrations, hold during the Social Forum in Bamako:

1. We call for the creation of an international network for the exchange of informations and actions for the rights of all migrants.

2. We call for the implemtentation of a focus on «migrations» in the preparation of Nairobi 2007.

3. We propose the creation of an International Mobilization Day which can take place in places which symbolize the borders (airports, detention camps, embassies…) :

  • against the special regime reserved for the migrants
  • against the repressive policy of migration
  • for the closing of camps and for the free circulation of people

The Euro-African summit in Rabat, in spring 2006, should be the first step of this mobilization.

Bamako, January 2006

To sign the appeal (associations only): forumbamako@arci.it

Signatory organisations :

AEDH (Europe), AMDH (Maroc), ARCI (Italie), ATMF (France), CEAR (Espagne), Chabaka des Associations du Nord (Maroc), CIMADE (France), GISTI (France), IPAM (France), Migreurop, Paderas de la Vida (Maroc), Sincobas (Italie), Todo Cambia (Italie).