Film Forum hosted a Fundamental Rights in Practice event and researchers from the Centre participated in film discussions and events throughout the festival.
On the opening day of the Film Forum, a unique public venue for dialogue on topics related to the festival, the Centre for Fundamental Rights hosted a panel discussion titled “Europe’s deadly borders: Seeking protection in bordered Europe”.
This Fundamental Rights in Practice event explored the consequences of the EU’s border policies. Cathryn Costello, Professor for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School and Co-director of its Centre for Fundamental Rights, who chaired the event, opened the discussion by emphasising that individuals have a human right to leave their country and to seek asylum, and they have the right not be sent back to a country where they can face human rights violations. She explained that carrier sanctions (the financial penalties imposed by EU countries on passenger carriers for transporting non-EU nationals with the travel documents required for entry into the EU) make the journey to Europe so dangerous for those who seek protection. These current policies have led not only to the criminalization of refugees and asylum seekers themselves but also to a criminalization of humanitarian activity
Panel members were: Dr Grazyna Baranowska, Marie Curie fellow at the Center; Salam Aldeen, founder and CEO of the non-profit organisation Team Humanity; and Meron Estefanos, human rights activist, journalist, radio presenter, co-founder of the International Commission on Eritrean Refugees and director of Eritrean Initiative on Eritrean Refugees in Stockholm, Sweden. They discussed paths for challenging European border practices, what can we do to contest those practices and the politics of exclusion that underpin them?
Watch the full discussion here:
Researchers from the Centre took part in film talks throughout the festival. Dr Grazyna Baranowska participated in the post-screening film talk on the prize-winning documentary Shadow Game, which follows the attempts of children and teenagers to cross European borders in search of a better future and their numerous encounters with Europe’s violent border and mobility regime.
Joseph Finnerty, PhD researcher at the Centre, participated in panel discussions on the rights of indigenous people following the showing of Eatnameamet, a documentary revealing the Finnish government’s assimilation and colonization policy towards the Sámi people.
Watch the film discussion with Joseph Finnerty and Petra Laiti (Sámi activist), moderated by Anna Ramskogler-Witt (Director of the Berlin Human Rights Film Festival) here.