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Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) AISSR

From Liberation to Incarceration

The Criminalisation of Migration and Targeting of Boat Drivers in the EU

19 December 2025

Across Europe, people are being criminalised for steering small boats carrying migrating people across the Mediterranean and the Channel. Under broad and often ambiguous anti-smuggling laws arrests have sharply increased, with boat drivers charged as smugglers or human traffickers and facing heavy penalties. Too often, it is ignored that many of these drivers are themselves seeking refuge - much like the other passengers on board. While migration has received significant attention in recent years, the fate of those prosecuted for driving boats remains largely invisible.

On Friday the 7th of November 2025, anthropologists Simone Schwab and Maria Hagan hosted an event titled ‘From Liberation to Incarceration: the Criminalisation of Migration and Targeting of Boat Drivers in the EU’ at VOX-POP to draw attention to this issue. Roundtable guests including lawyers, scholars and activists provided deep and powerful insights on how and why state authorities are committed to criminalising people accused of driving small boats in Italy (Francesca Cancellaro), Greece (Ioanna Begiazi), the UK (Vicky Taylor) and France (Elise & Luca), shedding light on these governments’ incentive to deflect responsibility for deaths in the Mediterranean and Channel from themselves and their border policies.

Artworks from the ‘Zero Years Exhibition’ shared by #LeaveNoOneBehind and the Human Rights Legal Project were also displayed, alongside testimonies from Simone and Maria’s own research with people criminalised as boat drivers in Greece, Morocco and France. After the event, the exhibition moved to Contra (Oudezijds Achterburgwal 235), where it will be displayed until the end of January 2026.

Solidarity letter-writing activity

After the event, several audience members took part in a solidarity letter-writing activity, showing support to boat drivers in Greece, Italy, France and the UK.

Funding for this event was provided by the Amsterdam Research Centre for Migration for providing the funding and support to organise this event, as well as to VOX-POP for hosting us. Looking forward to organising more such events in future!

About the organisers

Maria Hagan is a researcher and lecturer in anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. She has been carrying out research at the France-UK border since 2017, with her current research focusing on border violence and injury. 

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

About the speakers

Vicky Taylor is a DPhil candidate at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford, and Associate Director of Border Criminologies. Her PhD research focuses on the criminalisation of people crossing the Channel on ‘small boats’. She works collaboratively with organisations providing material support to those criminalised for crossing the Channel to reach the UK.

Elise and Luca are part of the France-based group of the Captain Support Network. In and around Calais the group organizes alternative legal support for people criminalized as boat drivers, creates a community of support in solidarity with detained captains and speaks with people trying to cross the Channel about the risks of criminalization. https://captainsupport.net/blog/category/regions/france/ 

Francesca Cancellaro is a criminal lawyer specialized in fundamental rights. She has practiced law at Gamberini Associazione Professionale law firm (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 working with the Human Rights Legal Project since 2020, specializing in the defense of asylum seekers and refugees. Her expertise spans human rights law, refugee law, detention, and criminal law.