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Press Release<br>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br>
Climate No Borders<br>
Friday 11th December, 2009<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:climatenoborders@gmail.com">climatenoborders@gmail.com</a><br>
Tel: (0045) 52686496<br>
<a href="http://www.climatenoborders.wordpress.com" target="_blank">www.climatenoborders.wordpress.com</a><br>
<br>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br>
<br>
ACTIVISTS TO TARGET DANISH MINISTRY OF DEFENCE TO HIGHLIGHT FATE OF
CLIMATE<br>
REFUGEES<br>
<br>
As part of the range of actions during the UN COP15 Climate Summit in<br>
Copenhagen, activists have designated Dec 14ththe ‘No Borders! No
Climate<br>
Refugees!” Day of Action. As such, the international network, No
Borders, is<br>
organizing an action targeting the Danish Ministry of Defence as a
symbol of<br>
the military role in creating refugees and enforcing repressive border
regimes.<br>
<br>
At 11am on the 14th of December activists will gather in Israel Plads,<br>
Vesterbrogade, before marching to the Danish Ministry of Defence at<br>
Holmenskanal 42. There will be speakers from different campaigns, bands
from<br>
across the world, two sound systems, and a no borders performance
piece. We<br>
will open their offices to the weather they are changing and to the
people they<br>
lock out, so that the voices of all those disempowered by the COP15
process and<br>
border regime can be heard! (1)<br>
<br>
This protest comes at a time when global economic policies and war are
causing<br>
mass global displacement, while the effects of climate change will be a
major<br>
cause of further mass migration from the poorest regions of the earth,
on a<br>
scale we have never seen.<br>
<br>
At the Klima Forum today at the launch of the ‘International Campaign
on Climate<br>
Refugees’ Rights’ indigenous people from across the globe called for
an opening<br>
of the borders in the face of increasing climate chaos, a demand for
climate<br>
justice, and most importantly, the rights of freedom of movement, and
the right<br>
to stay in their homes without the threat of climate change, or the
impacts of<br>
globalization and neo-liberal policies. (2)<br>
<br>
Lars says “Rather than dealing with the problem, governments around the
world<br>
are instead employing increasing levels of division through heightened
border<br>
control, whilst failing to confront the root cause – capitalism - and
then<br>
further militarizing the globe by selling arms to anyone with the money
to buy<br>
them.”<br>
<br>
Mette Hagolani says “We will take action in solidarity with those who
are<br>
already displaced by the immediate effects of climate change (3), wars
for<br>
resources and the false market led ´solutions´ proposed by those with
the<br>
loudest voices in the COP15 process. We demand social change and reject<br>
increased repression and racist border controls (4),”<br>
<br>
ENDS<br>
<br>
Contact for further comment,<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:climatenoborders@gmail.com">climatenoborders@gmail.com</a><br>
<br>
Tel: (0045) 52686496<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.climatenoborders.wordpress.com" target="_blank">www.climatenoborders.wordpress.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Notes to Editor<br>
<br>
(1) No Borders No Borders supports the call of the CJA to promote
and<br>
strengthen the rights and voices of Indigenous and affected peoples
(including<br>
workers) in confronting the climate crisis, and to build a global
movement for<br>
climate justice that encourages urgent action to avoid catastrophic
climate<br>
change.<br>
<br>
(2) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states:
“Everyone has<br>
the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of
each<br>
State. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own,
and<br>
return to his country.”<br>
<br>
(3) In 2007, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
warned that an<br>
increase in sea levels of just 18 to 59 centimetres (seven to 24
inches) would<br>
make the Maldives virtually uninhabitable by 2100, and other Small
Island<br>
States face a similar fate. The finance minister for Bangladesh, Abdul
Muhith<br>
has called for the UN to give Climate Refugees the same status as
migrants<br>
fleeing political persecution. "Twenty million people could be
displaced [in<br>
Bangladesh] by the middle of the century. We are asking all our
development<br>
partners to honour the natural right of persons to migrate. We can't<br>
accommodate all these people – this is already the densest [populated]
country<br>
in the world," he said. See<br>
<a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/30/rich-west-climate-change"
target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/30/rich-west-climate-change</a>
.<br>
<br>
(4) Increased legislation such as the “The Stockholm Program”, which
was<br>
recently passed in Brussels, will foster more surveillance of the
internet,<br>
common access to European police databases and more cross-border police<br>
collaboration to fight "illegal migration". For photographs of the
most recent<br>
protest see <a href="http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=461"
target="_blank">http://www.noborder.org/item.php?id=461</a> . It will
force countries<br>
outside the EU to take back their citizens who enter the EU without a
visa and<br>
it will push the use of biometrics and radio-frequency identification
(RfiD)<br>
and enlargement of the police agency Europol and the EU border watchdog
Frontex<br>
(which conducts migrant hunting operations, trains border guards and
special<br>
units to hunt down people crossing borders, and helps to coordinate and<br>
standardize EU immigration surveillance and control policies) and its
military<br>
wing RABIT (Rapid Border Intervention Teams). The Program also
promotes the<br>
increasing use of hi-tech military equipment such as airborne early
warning<br>
planes, 'unmanned autonomous drones' in the UK, and naval ships off
the west<br>
Coast of Africa as well as the payment of millions of Euros to African<br>
countries to build and house internment camps to help manage migration
to the<br>
EU. The recent Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen is now the
leader<br>
of NATO. He has been pushing for 'security crackdowns' and
reinforcement of<br>
fortress Europe to prevent migration from places more immediately
effected by<br>
elite-caused climate change. On the Franco-English border in Calais
repression<br>
escalates against migrants everyday with both countries attempting to
create a<br>
´migrant free zone´by the end of 2009.<br>
<br>
see <a href="http://www.calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com"
target="_blank">www.calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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