Over the past several decades and through a combination of legal, political, and social elements and factors, a logic of border control and securitization has developed in European States. The 2015 migration crisis has only exacerbated this negative approach towards migrants and the logic of securitization. Volunteers have stepped in to support migrants and formed solidarity movements that defy the logic of the securitization approach and propose a different narrative to that of States. To counteract their actions and deter volunteers from helping, States have passed criminal laws and so created a chilling effect that discourages solidarity. Scholars and activists often refer to the “criminalization of solidarity” to indicate this phenomenon. Using the example of the prosecutions of individuals who have helped migrants at the French-Italian border, this Article explains the legal framework relating to the criminalization of solidarity and highlights its effect on individuals and society at large. After asserting that a solution grounded in national law rather than European Union law is more suitable, the Article offers suggestions to curtail laws that criminalize solidarity towards migrants and so, at the very least, limit the negative effects of such laws. The authors argue that using the constitutional principles of fraternité—enshrined in French constitutional law—and of human dignity—found in many European Union Member States’ constitutions—is a practical and realistic solution.
