Across Europe, people are being criminalised for steering small boats carrying migrants across the Mediterranean and the Channel. Under broad and often ambiguous anti-smuggling laws, arrests have surged—boat drivers are prosecuted as smugglers or human traffickers and face extremely harsh sentences. What is too often overlooked is that many of these individuals are themselves seeking refuge, just like the passengers they accompany.

While migration has drawn widespread attention in recent years, the fate of those prosecuted for driving boats remains largely invisible. Accompanied by an exhibition of artworks responding to this criminalisation—including pieces by people with lived experience—this event brings together lawyers, activists, and scholars supporting boat drivers on trial in Greece, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom.

The evening will conclude with a solidarity letter-writing activity, inviting participants to take collective action in support of those imprisoned under these laws.

About the speakers
Vicky Taylor is a DPhil candidate at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford, and Associate Director of Border Criminologies. Her doctoral research examines the criminalisation of people crossing the Channel in ‘small boats’. She works in close collaboration with organisations providing material and legal support to those prosecuted for crossing the Channel to reach the UK.

Elise and Luca are members of the France-based group of the Captain Support Network. In and around Calais, their group provides alternative legal support for people criminalised as boat drivers, builds solidarity networks with detained captains, and informs those preparing to cross the Channel about the risks of criminalisation.

Francesca Cancellaro is a criminal lawyer specialising in fundamental rights. She has practised at Gamberini Associazione Professionale (Bologna) since 2015 and has been a Partner Lawyer at the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) in Berlin since 2018. She holds a PhD in Criminal Law from the University of Bologna.

Ioanna Begiazi is a Greek lawyer with the Human Rights Legal Project (HRLP), where she has worked since 2020. Her work focuses on defending asylum seekers and refugees, with expertise in human rights law, refugee law, detention, and criminal defence.

The Human Rights Legal Project is a legal aid organisation based on the island of Samos, Greece, dedicated to safeguarding the fundamental rights of people on the move and holding authorities accountable for state violence at EU borders. Its work includes litigation against pushbacks and rights violations in refugee camps—such as unlawful detention and inhumane conditions—as well as defending asylum seekers criminalised as ‘smugglers’ for steering boats.

About the organisers
Maria Hagan is a researcher and lecturer in anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. She has conducted research at the France–UK border since 2017, with her current work focusing on border violence and injury.

Simone Schwab is a recent graduate of the Master’s programme in Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. Her Master’s thesis examines the criminalisation of boat drivers on the island of Samos, Greece, and explores the contrasting narratives of the actors involved.

Practical information
Walk-ins to see the exhibition are from 16.00, with the roundtable discussion starting at 16.30. After the roundtable, we will close the event with time for a drink, informal conversation and a solidarity letter writing session, sending messages of support to people facing incarceration.