Across Europe, people are being criminalised for steering small boats carrying migrating people across the Mediterranean and the Channel. Under broad and often ambiguous anti-smuggling laws, arrests have sharply increased, with boat drivers charged as smugglers or human traffickers and facing extremely heavy penalties. Too often, it is ignored that many of these drivers are themselves seeking refuge - much like the other passengers on board.

While migration has received significant attention in recent years, the fate of those prosecuted for driving boats remains largely invisible. Supported by an exhibition of artworks responding to this criminalisation - including pieces created by people with lived experience - this event will host a roundtable discussion with lawyers, activists and scholars supporting boat drivers on trial in Greece, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom.

The evening will conclude with a solidarity letter-writing activity, inviting attendees to take part in collective action in support of those imprisoned under these laws.

About the speakers

Vicky Taylor is a DPhil candidate at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford, and Associate Director of Border Criminologies. Her PhD research focuses on the criminalisation of people crossing the Channel on ‘small boats’. She works collaboratively with organisations providing material support to those criminalised for crossing the Channel to reach the UK.

Elise and Luca are part of the France-based group of the Captain Support Network. In and around Calais the group organizes alternative legal support for people criminalized as boat drivers, creates a community of support in solidarity with detained captains and speaks with people trying to cross the Channel about the risks of criminalization. 

Francesca Cancellaro is a criminal lawyer specialized in fundamental rights. She has practiced law at Gamberini Associazione Professionale law firm (Bologna) since 2015, and has been a Partner Lawyer at the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) in Berlin since 2018. She holds a PhD in Criminal Law from the University of Bologna.

Ioanna Begiazi is a Greek lawyer working with the Human Rights Legal Project since 2020, specializing in the defense of asylum seekers and refugees. Her expertise spans human rights law, refugee law, detention, and criminal law.

The Human Rights Legal Project is a legal aid organization based on the island of Samos, Greece, dedicated to protecting the fundamental rights of people on the move in Greece and holding authorities accountable for state violence at EU borders. HRLP's work includes litigation against pushbacks and human rights violations in the camp (e.g., unlawful detention and inhumane living conditions), as well as defending asylum seekers criminalised as "smugglers" for steering boats.

About the organisers

Maria Hagan is a researcher and lecturer in anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. She has been carrying out research at the France-UK border since 2017, with her current research focusing on border violence and injury. 

Simone Schwab is a recent graduate of the Master's program Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. Her Master's thesis focuses on the criminalisation of boat drivers in Samos, Greece, and explores the contrasting narratives of the actors involved.