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Free movement roundtable
Freedom of movement underpins the full and free realisation of a person and their rights. For some, it is vital for their safety and security, their family life, or their identity. Nonetheless, the right to freedom of movement is often undermined and those who seek to exercise the right are frequently subjected to human rights violations and marginalisation. These forms of oppression cut across racialised and marginalised groups, whether they are categorised as citizens, migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless persons or persons without fixed habitation.
We believe that society needs to acknowledge that restrictions on free movement are often rooted in histories of imperialism, colonialism, and inequality, and want to help create a framework that fosters equity and freedom for all regardless of identity.
Europe-wide consultation
To make sure our work meets the needs of activists and movements, we conducted a Europe-wide consultation in the first half of 2022 to identify priorities for developing litigation projects.
We explored priorities for free movement in Europe on 7-8 July, with 16 participants from grassroots movements and those directly working with communities. You can read through the opportunities in more detail on our blog.
We approached all themes through an intersectional lens, centring how a person’s social or political identity and personal characteristics can combine to create different modes of discrimination, exclusion, and oppression. We considered issues across both digital and non-digital space.
Building community-driven litigation
The input from the roundtables was combined with input received through a survey conducted between October 2021 and May 2022, individual conversations, and desk research. The combined findings are available in our 2022 report Surfacing Systemic (In)justices: A Community View.
Based on the consultation process and the mapping of current litigation work in Europe, climate justice and social protection were identified as priority areas for organisations, movements, and collectives working on racial, social, and economic justice that are currently underserved by intersectional litigation. We are developing our first litigation projects on these themes, starting from the priorities and opportunities identified in the consultation.
Systemic Justice will continuously build on this consultation process to ensure our work aligns with communities’ priorities. We will also continue sharing our findings along the way: subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media to be updated about any new publications.
