Institutional forms of support

Support for people on the move and refugees has become a real “sector”. There are a number of actors working in this context, from professional support services to self-organised solidarity groups. It is therefore useful — especially if you are new to the field — to familiarise yourself with the organisational landscape in order to consider where you would like to get involved.

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The task

Please go through the classifications below to learn how organizations can approach their work.

You can expand the text by clicking on the “−” icon.

It becomes clear that these classifications — political/non-political, symptom-fighting/critical, migrant/non-migrant — often do not apply to organisations in exactly the same way. The various structures lie in a field between the categories: providing practical support services while also making political demands and creating spaces for encounter that challenge the state’s intentional isolation of people seeking protection.

Migrant Self-organisation

Solidarity

Most of the support is provided by refugees themselves, in both formalized and less formalized ways. Contrary to the humanitarian narrative that reduces refugees to the image of passive victims, people affected by border policies support each other in everyday practices — sharing knowledge, accompanying people to appointments — as well as through political self-organisation, making political demands and standing up for their rights.

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The task

Click on the buttons below to explore migrant-led formal organisations and learn more about their work through their websites.

We cannot link the informal support work here — there are often diaspora groups of particular nationalities that support each other and organise politically.

Refugees in Libya
Refugees in Tunisia
Moria White Helmets
Migrationsrat Berlin e.V.
Migrant Organisations in Hamburg

Repression and Criminalisation of Solidarity

Fence

Voluntary work takes place within the European border regime and is therefore a politically sensitive field. Solidarity work is not always welcomed by governments and may sometimes face repression or criminalisation. However, this does not mean that support work is impossible. In Greece, for example, one consequence has been that organisations are now required to register.

While the case of Carola Rackete in Germany received significant public attention, there are many other examples of criminalisation. Organisations are generally aware of the legal and political framework in which they operate. Make sure to ask your organisation or project about the guidelines you should follow.

Borderline-europe has been working intensively on the issue of criminalisation — both of solidarity and of refugees themselves, particularly in Greece and Italy. The association has also published an overview of the different forms of criminalisation (EN).

Sources & Recommended Reading

glokal e.V.: Willkommen ohne Paternalismus. Hilfe und Solidarität in der Unterstützungsarbeit (DE)
Larissa Fleischmann (2020): Contested Solidarity. Practices of Refugee Support between Humanitarian Help and Political Activism (EN)
Sara de Jong und Ilker Ataç (2017): Demand and Deliver. Refugee Support Organisations in Austria (EN)

Curriculum

Institutional forms of support

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