Fortress Europe: Activists trying to dismantle the fence around The Netherlands 'detention boats' in the town of Zaandam. Noborder Network under a Creative Commons Licence

The Atlas of Migration in Europe: a critical geography of migration policies is probably the single most comprehensive critical analysis of the extent and impact of the EU on political asylum and immigration in the European Union over recent years.

Each year, hundreds of migrants die by drowning or exhaustion, trapped at sea in boats that are unsuitable and overloaded. Seeking to flee countries in crisis or war, these people are not able to travel legally because of the enhanced surveillance of European borders, especially in the south and east. International law is often applied in a highly restrictive manner, or denied altogether. This leaves migrants in an almost impossible situation.

The text is enhanced with maps, charts and photographs throughout. For each of the themes, the Atlas brings together more than a hundred maps, graphics, texts and photographs: all resources that help us to understand how borders shift and are ‘outsourced’, expose the control infrastructure and illustrate the security development of migration in Europe and beyond.

The Atlas launches on Monday 2 December, 6-8pm, at the Garden Court Chambers, 57-60, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LJ. (Tube: Holborn).

Speakers include Liz Fekete from the Institute of Race Relations, Jerome Phelps of Detention Action and a former detainee. To attend please email [email protected].

Published by New Internationalist, the Atlas is the work of Migreurop, a network of researchers and activists across Europe and Africa, supported by the European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM).