On April 3 we celebrated the XVIII Conference on migrations together with Fe y Desarrollo, reflecting on hospitality and migrations in the southern border, with Helena Maleno, one of the most important Human Rights defenders in the country, journalist, specialist in Migrations and Human Trafficking and founder of the NGO “Caminando Fronteras” (Walking Borders).
The Borja Hall hosted the conference, which was attended by nearly 250 people. Helena has been denouncing for many years the vulnerability of people on the move throughout all stages of the migration process. On a daily basis, they are victims of disappearances, deaths at sea, family separations, illegal refoulement and other forms of torture.
After the presentation, Helena Maleno’s intervention began with a powerful video, bringing back the memory and pain of the victims of the borders, people who try to reach Europe through the different routes and who could have been saved. During the conference, Helena reflected on the concept of necropolitics. “In front of life policies we are facing death policies that discard people, where humanity loses.”
Last year almost 30 people died every day in their attempt to reach Spain by sea. A total of 10,457 victims, 131 missing vessels from 28 countries, people who left behind families trapped in an unfinished mourning. “Imagine the impact these losses have on mothers, fathers, siblings, children. They start a search for their loved ones until they get an answer that almost never comes.”
These data are collected in the reports carried out by the NGO Caminando Fronteras under the title “Derechos la vida” (Rights to Life) https://caminandofronteras.org/monitoreo/monitoreo-del-derecho-a-la-vida-ano-2024/.
Faced with this reality, Helena also highlights the hospitality “I have found churches, houses or informal camps where these people are taken care of, where there is solidarity. We are in time and we have to put human rights at the center”.
It was a tremendous testimony that we believe needs to be heard. We leave you the video published by Fe y Desarrollo where you can see it in full.
This activity is financed by the City Council of Valladolid within the project “Tejiendo ciudadanía” (Weaving citizenship).