LAMPEDUSA MIGRANT CENTRES MAY CLOSE: MARONI

LAMPEDUSA MIGRANT CENTRES MAY CLOSE: MARONI

(ANSA) - Palermo, July 29 - Migrant centres on the
Sicilian island of Lampedusa may be closed down at the end of
the year thanks to a new government immigration policy,
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Wednesday.
There are currently two migrant facilities on the
island, where landings have dropped significantly since Italy
began a controversial `push-back` policy in May.
Under the policy, migrants are intercepted in the
Mediterranean and immediately returned to Libya, the main
stepping-off point on the North African coast.
``We`ll make a decision at the end of the year,`` Maroni
said.

``Things are going extremely well in terms of landings,
the accord with Libya is working well and if things continue
to go on like this all summer we could think about a
different use for the structures,`` he said.
Since the policy came into effect more than 900 people
have been sent back to Libya as part of an accord between the
two countries.
Under the accord, asylum seekers can present their
claims from there.
The push-back policy has been heavily criticised by the
centre-left opposition in Italy, the Catholic Church,
humanitarian organisations and the United Nations, who say
Libya does not have a system in place to adequately deal with
asylum claims.

According to figures released by the Italian interior
ministry earlier this year, around 37,000 people landed on
Italian coasts in 2008 - a 75% increase on 2007.
This is over half the total number of migrants who
arrived in Europe by sea last year, which totalled around
67,000.