About the project

Our mission is to document legal cases against people helping irregular migrants, known as crimes of solidarity and humanitarianism.

Around the world an increasing number of states are seeking to criminalise those who help people to cross borders, or survive within a country irregularly. This is part of a wider global trend towards strict border controls and limited safe and legal pathways to protection for forced migrants. Criminalised activities include a wide range of activities from leaving water in the desert, saving someone from drowning in the sea, giving someone a lift to a medical facility, to offering them a bed for the night. A large body of research has explored the proliferation of border controls seeking to curtail irregular migration globally. But the criminalisation of humanitarianism and solidarity is under-researched in civil society and academia. While studies have looked at this phenomenon in various specific localities, and particularly in the European Union, we still have little understanding of the criminalisation of people who help irregular migrants as a global phenomenon. Crimes of Solidarity and Humanitarianism aims to produce a step-change in understanding through the creation and promotion of a living archive.

The database Crimes of Solidarity and Humanitarianism records cases where people have been criminalised for helping migrants. It is a database collecting historical, recent and ongoing cases. The website where the database is hosted serves to provide an overview of the phenomena of crimes of solidarity and humanitarianism, and the trends of such cases both regionally and globally. It also provides historical context, news and updates on relevant cases and issues, as well as an annual report. The aim of the project is therefore to provide information on the circumstances of individual cases, as well as to situate individual cases within a wider context.

Stakeholders and uses

The database offers a unique dataset for anyone seeking information and knowledge about the issue of crimes of solidarity and humanitarianism. For international organisations such as the UN and IOM, it is a resource to build understanding across contexts, and to raise concerns related to the persecution of human rights defenders. It can aid politicians, journalists, civil society organisations, and activists looking for an overview or a better understanding. It is a resource for student and academic research. Furthermore, it can be used by defendants and legal teams involved in defending cases to connect and share experiences, strategies, and good and bad practices from their individual cases, campaigns and legal proceedings.

Board

The database is managed by the thinktank Free Humanitarians and overseen by a board of directors, led by Dr. Lucy Mayblin (University of Sheffield), who initially founded and researched the database. The role of the board is to seek funding to support the work of the database, to promote Crimes of Solidarity and Humanitarianism across contexts and languages, to produce analytical resources for interested stakeholders, and to build learning resources and create learning opportunities within civil society in different countries.

Growing the database

Cases are identified through a large international network of regional human rights organisations, primarily maintained and followed up on by a Free Humanitarians’ researcher. Data provided from the organisations will be prepared and populated by Free Humanitarians’ researchers onto the platform and database once overseen by the board, or prepared and populated by volunteer university students and interns, together with Free Humanitarians’ researchers.

You can add a case now by clicking the 'Submit case' button in the navigation menu. All submitted cases are checked and verified for accuracy and alignment with database criteria.