The JLProject team has formed an association: JLProject ETS is born.
We are very proud to announce that JLProject has legally become a Third Sector Entity (ETS) under the name JLProject ETS. This is an important and necessary legal step. In an increasingly dark political climate, we are taking on responsibility and officially joining the resistance.
What the association does
As stated in our statute, JLProject ETS is a non-profit association that provides technical and legal support to victims of human rights violations —specifically to all those persecuted, captured, and deported because of their origins or the color of their skin.
Beautiful words, right? But it is even better that they are not just words.
Over the years (the collective was founded in 2019), we have specialized in the Libyan route. We have studied extensively, uncovered evidence of thousands of illegal pushbacks, and assisted more than 600 people captured at sea and deported to Libyan detention camps. Thanks to the evidence gathered, a series of legal actions were launched to secure people’s freedom. We have already won the first cases. When the Italian government was ordered to issue an entry visa for the first individual, Harry Abdulatif, we bought his plane ticket from Tripoli to Rome, welcomed him at the airport, celebrated, and immediately got back to work subsequently winning Adam’s case as well.
JLProject is an association of people who don’t waste time on small talk; we use it to take practical action.
The past and future of JLProject ETS
During these years, we have built a network of collaborations with legal teams, university researchers, and other associations. Many volunteers have joined JLProject, different figures but united by the same desire to do and learn, which allowed them to quickly and effectively help people who needed support.
As we celebrate the birth of the new association today, we remember and thank everyone who has helped and inspired us over the years, starting with two people, the first, the most important, those who gave their names to the Josi and Loni Project (JLProject) and gave rise to everything:
- Josi, a young man who died on the floor of the Zintan detention camp in Libya due to an illegal deportation ordered by the Italian government (this is now a proven legal fact, thanks in part to our work).
- Loni, a child born on the floor of a Libyan detention camp (he was in his mother’s womb during the illegal deportation). Fortunately, he survived. He has already won the first-instance case against the Italian government that caused his suffering; today he lives in Europe, a beautiful child growing up free, giving us the hope and strength to succeed in changing things.