[Dissent-fr-info] COP15: ACTIVISTS TO TARGET DANISH MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Sun Dec 13 22:42:48 UTC 2009

Press Release

Climate No Borders
Friday 11th December, 2009

climatenoborders at gmail.com <mailto:climatenoborders at gmail.com>
Tel: (0045) 52686496
www.climatenoborders.wordpress.com
<http://www.climatenoborders.wordpress.com>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACTIVISTS TO TARGET DANISH MINISTRY OF DEFENCE TO HIGHLIGHT FATE OF CLIMATE
REFUGEES

As part of the range of actions during the UN COP15 Climate Summit in
Copenhagen, activists have designated Dec 14ththe ‘No Borders! No Climate
Refugees!” Day of Action. As such, the international network, No Borders, is
organizing an action targeting the Danish Ministry of Defence as a symbol of
the military role in creating refugees and enforcing repressive border
regimes.

At 11am on the 14th of December activists will gather in Israel Plads,
Vesterbrogade, before marching to the Danish Ministry of Defence at
Holmenskanal 42. There will be speakers from different campaigns, bands from
across the world, two sound systems, and a no borders performance piece.  We
will open their offices to the weather they are changing and to the
people they
lock out, so that the voices of all those disempowered by the COP15
process and
border regime can be heard! (1)

This protest comes at a time when global economic policies and war are
causing
mass global displacement, while the effects of climate change will be a
major
cause of further mass migration from the poorest regions of the earth, on a
scale we have never seen.

At the Klima Forum today at the launch of the ‘International Campaign on
Climate
Refugees’ Rights’  indigenous people from across the globe called for an
opening
of the borders in the face of increasing climate chaos, a demand for climate
justice, and most importantly, the rights of freedom of movement, and
the right
to stay in their homes without the threat of climate change, or the
impacts of
globalization and neo-liberal policies. (2)

Lars says “Rather than dealing with the problem, governments around the
world
are instead employing increasing levels of division through heightened
border
control, whilst failing to confront the root cause – capitalism - and then
further militarizing the globe by selling arms to anyone with the money
to buy
them.”

Mette Hagolani says “We will take action in solidarity with those who are
already displaced by the immediate effects of climate change (3), wars for
resources and the false market led ´solutions´ proposed by those with the
loudest voices in the COP15 process.  We demand social change and reject
increased repression and racist border controls (4),”

ENDS

Contact for further comment,

climatenoborders at gmail.com <mailto:climatenoborders at gmail.com>

Tel: (0045) 52686496

www.climatenoborders.wordpress.com
<http://www.climatenoborders.wordpress.com>

Notes to Editor

(1)     No Borders No Borders supports the call of the CJA to promote and
strengthen the rights and voices of Indigenous and affected peoples
(including
workers) in confronting the climate crisis, and to build a global
movement for
climate justice that encourages urgent action to avoid catastrophic climate
change.

(2)    The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states:
“Everyone has
the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each
State. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and
return to his country.”

(3)   In 2007, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned
that an
increase in sea levels of just 18 to 59 centimetres (seven to 24 inches)
would
make the Maldives virtually uninhabitable by 2100, and other Small Island
States face a similar fate.  The finance minister for Bangladesh, Abdul
Muhith
has called for the UN to give Climate Refugees the same status as migrants
fleeing political persecution. "Twenty million people could be displaced [in
Bangladesh] by the middle of the century.  We are asking all our development
partners to honour the natural right of persons to migrate. We can't
accommodate all these people – this is already the densest [populated]
country
in the world," he said.  See
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/30/rich-west-climate-change .

(4)    Increased legislation such as the “The Stockholm Program”, which was
recently passed in Brussels, will foster more surveillance of the internet,
common access to European police databases and more cross-border police
collaboration to fight "illegal migration".  For photographs of the most
recent
protest see http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=461 .  It will force
countries
outside the EU to take back their citizens who enter the EU without a
visa and
it will push the use of biometrics and radio-frequency identification (RfiD)
and enlargement of the police agency Europol and the EU border watchdog
Frontex
(which conducts migrant hunting operations, trains border guards and special
units to hunt down people crossing borders, and helps to coordinate and
standardize EU immigration surveillance and control policies) and its
military
wing RABIT (Rapid Border Intervention Teams).  The Program also promotes the
increasing use of hi-tech military equipment such as airborne early warning
planes,  'unmanned autonomous drones' in the UK, and naval ships off the
west
Coast of Africa as well as the payment of millions of Euros to African
countries to build and house internment camps to help manage migration
to the
EU. The recent Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen is now the
leader
of NATO. He has been pushing for 'security crackdowns' and reinforcement of
fortress Europe to prevent migration from places more immediately
effected by
elite-caused climate change. On the Franco-English border in Calais
repression
escalates against migrants everyday with both countries attempting to
create a
´migrant free zone´by the end of 2009.

see www.calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com
<http://www.calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com>

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