Greek immigration crisis spawns shanty towns and squats - Telegraph
Greece's inability to tackle a crisis in illegal immigration has left thousands living in shanty towns and squatting in the heart of Athens.
Greek islands struggle with daily arrival of illegal migrants -
Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, known to British tourists as hedonistic summer playgrounds, are struggling to deal with a daily influx of hundreds of desperate migrants. The bodies of those who do not survive the crossing from Turkey also wash up on the shores of the islands.
Malta casts doubts on surviving Eritreans' claims :
Valletta, Malta - Malta's army chief admitted Saturday his soldiers provided fuel to five Eritrean migrants who were stranded at sea but cast doubts on their claims that 73 people died on board the same dinghy. The army sent a patrol boat to the area to offer assistance but according to army chief Carmel Vassallo the immigrants adamantly refused to be taken to Malta.
He told a news conference that the four men and one woman were looking "relatively fresh" and the dinghy appeared to be "good as new."
An Italian coast guard patrol on Thursday rescued five Eritreans, found suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, and floating in a rubber dinghy south of the Italy's Mediterranean islet of Lampedusa.
The five said that 73 of their fellow would-be immigrants died at sea after they sailed from Libya 20 days ago. But the story has been mired in conflicting versions, amid a potential diplomatic row between Italy and Malta.
When the dinghy was spotted for the first time by an airplane that forms part of the EU's Frontex mission it was in the Libyan search- and-rescue area and had only five people on board, Malta's Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said.
Despite the incident, Borg said Malta has no intention of reducing its search-and-rescue zone.
He told the news conference: "Our search-and-rescue zone is not for sale," though he did not rule out dialogue with Italy about the management of this zone.
His Italian counterpart Franco Frattini told the newspaper Corriere della Sera that it is clear Malta lacks the instruments, such as number of boats and crews, to control such a wide area.
Italy: Illegal immigrants top one million, says charity
Despite a tougher stance on immigration in Italy, immigrants have not been deterred from entering the country illegally. The Catholic relief organisation Caritas says the number of illegal immigrants now living in Italy has topped one million....
Opposition outcry as Italy legalises vigilante patrols
Silvio Berlusconi's government, which has already put several thousand soldiers on the streets of Italy, will tomorrow legalise vigilante patrols and set out the guidelines under which they will operate.
The plans prompted an outcry from opposition politicians and police unions, but got a mixed reception from Italy's mayors, who must decide whether they want law enforcement volunteers in their towns. An overwhelming majority of those in favour run cities in the north, where the anti-immigrant Northern League has long argued for wider use of vigilantes.
The interior minister, Roberto Maroni, a member of the Northern League, denied that the plan was to introduce vigilantism to Italy: "The decree does not create [vigilante] patrols; it regulates them."
After rejecting the scheme, Rome's mayor, Gianni Alemanno, a former neo-fascist, appears to have embraced it. The head of his council's security committee, Fabrizio Santori, said vigilantes in flurorescent jackets would be deployed in parks, outside schools and at tourist sites.
Read the full article by clicking the link above.
AGI News On - MARONI: PATROLS TO START ON AUG. 8.
Rome, 4 Aug. - "We are ready. In a week I will sign the decree that establishes the regulations for the so-called civilian patrols and on August 8 they will begin," announced Interior Minister Roberto Maroni in an interview with 'Padania', in newsstands today. The Northern League representative also rejected the request for an extension of an amnesty to other sectors including domestic help and caretakers by PdL Minister Claudio Scajola. "If this request by Scajola is the same as the one made by Epifani, the request is denied because there was a different agreement within the government".
Lampedusa, another dramatic case of immigrants being driven back to where they came from
Lampedusa, July 29th, 2009.
After the 89 refugees sent back to Libya on Wednesday July 1st, 2009 and the 47 people sent back to Ghaddafi’s “concentration camps” on July 5th; yesterday, July 29th, 14 more immigrants - including two women and a child - were picked out of the sea in the Strait of Sicily and deported back to the port they had set out from.
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.
timesofmalta.com - AFM coordinates rescue to Lampedusa
Fourteen illegal immigrants were rescued by the Italian authorities while drifting some 34 nautical miles south-south-east of Lampedusa because they did not have fuel to continue their journey.
The immigrants - 13 men and a woman, were in good health and were taken to Lampedusa. Their nationalities are not yet known.
The operation was coordinated by the Armed Forces of Malta, which is the search-and-rescue authority for the area. Its Italian counterpart at the Ministry of Transport in Rome alerted the Luqa Barracks' operations centre to the immigrants' plight.
AGI News On - IMMIGRANTS: MARONI, WE'RE KINDER THAN THE VATICAN
(AGI) - Orvieto (Terni), 24 July - Minister of the Interior Roberto Maroni defended the new law on immigration and told the Church, which criticised him, that
"We did a good job reviving legality, and we were insulted and compared to Hitler's racist laws. Our law is similar to that of other European countries. Even the Vatican prescribes imprisonment for illegal aliens, it's a law that works very well for them. But we're kinder, we only provided a fine, an ancillary sanction because we don't want to send people to jail, we want to send them home".
Pacchetto (in)sicurezza? Noi disobbediamo / Iniziative / Partecipa / homepage - Vita Trentina
“se voi avete diritto di dividere il mondo in italiani e stranieri allora vi dirò che, nel vostro senso, io non ho Patria e reclamo il diritto di dividere il mondo in diseredati e oppressi da un lato, privilegiati e oppressori dall’altro. Gli uni sono la mia Patria, gli altri i miei stranieri”. Don Lorenzo Milani
Il “pacchetto sicurezza” approvato in parlamento rende la nazione più insicura introducendo la discriminazione tra persone in base alla distinzione di condizioni personali e sociali. Ciò è in contrasto con l’art. 3 della Costituzione Italiana.
decreta il reato di clandestinità. Chi cerca futuro o pane non è, di per se, un potenziale delinquente. Con questa norma incorre in reato il migrante che perde il lavoro ed entro sei mesi non riesce a trovarne un altro; l’assistente domiciliare o colf che da mesi assiste i nostri anziani; i minori figli di immigrati irregolari; molti lavoratori del settore agricolo e turistico; sono tutti da punire penalmente? E che fine farà tutto il lavoro svolto in questi anni per armonizzare il diritto con l’accoglienza per promuovere l’integrazione?
riconosce le associazioni “di volontari per la sicurezza” (ronde). E' preoccupante la delega a privati cittadini di compiti che sono propri delle forze dell’ordine, alimentando, in maniera perversa, un clima di diffidenza e insicurezza. Ritorniamo ad abitare i nostri territori, le strade e le piazze, re-imparando a relazionare: dal “buon vicinato” sino alla solidarietà quotidiana: ricerchiamo di tornare dall’io al noi.
obbliga i pubblici ufficiali alla denuncia. Le istituzioni pubbliche da garanti dei diritti fondamentali diventano persecutorie. E’ alto il rischio di fuga e paura verso i servizi pubblici fondamentali quali scuola, sanità, servizi sociali. Questo potrebbe portare al diffondersi di organizzazioni criminose che attendono a queste necessità.
istituisce un albo per i clochards e i senza dimora, stigmatizzando così una categoria di persone già debole e senza difese. Questo provvedimento toglie possibilità all’iniziativa degli Enti Locali di gestire situazioni e casi con sensibilità e buon senso.
Iniziativa promossa da Punto d’incontro, CNCA Trentino, Fondazione Comunità Solidale, ACLI, CGIL, Volontari di strada, Fondazione Fontana, Fondazione Migrantes, Caritas, APAS, Villa S. Ignazio, GrIS, Centro Missionario Diocesano, Comunità di San Francesco Saverio, Mensa della Provvidenza-frati Cappuccini, Casa della Giovane, Fiopsd, Commissione Giustizia e Pace, Pastorale Sociale del Lavoro.
Altre adesioni: CAM - Consorzio Associazioni con il Mozambico, ALFI - Associazione Laica Famiglie in Difficoltà, Casa Accoglienza alla vita "Padre Angelo", Comunità Murialdo del Trentino Alto Adige, CICS - Comitato Internazionale Cooperazione Sviluppo, Comunità dei Missionari Comboniani Trento, Associazione Indiegesta Ceccano (Fr), Coop. Villa S. Ignazio Accoglienza Sociale, Associazione Incontro fra i popoli, CIPSI - Coordinamento di Iniziative Popolari di Solidarietà Internazionale, Rovepace.org, Associazione Italia - Nicaragua, Associazione Cultura della Pace, Comunità Islamica Trento, Lila Trentino Onlus.
Per aderire: www.vitatrentina.it/partecipa o inviare una e-mail a: partner@unimondo.org.
EU warned against sending would-be refugees to Libya < German news | Expatica Germany
Brussels -- Europe's refugee agency urged EU nations last month not to send would-be migrants from Africa back to Libya, warning they could face long periods of detention in a country with a poor rights record.
The warning, by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), came on the eve of talks between EU interior ministers in Luxembourg on ways to stem the flow of people across the Mediterranean Sea as summer approaches.
Early last month, Italian naval vessels escorted a boatload of around 500 people hoping to reach land in the EU to Libya and dropped them off without allowing them to apply for asylum, in a move slammed by the UN and NGOs.
"Libya cannot be considered a safe country for the disembarkation of persons intercepted by the member states in the high seas," ECRE said in a statement.
It noted that Libya is the only African country not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, does not have any asylum procedures and often detains people seeking protection indefinitely in extremely poor conditions.
Both Malta and Italy are grappling with a sharp spike in illegal immigration from outside the European Union, with 36,900 arriving in Italy last year -- a 75 percent increase from 2007.
Malta, whose population is about 400,000, saw a record 2,775 would-be migrants land in 2008.
Most of those making the crossing from the Libyan coast to Europe come from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, asylum experts said Wednesday. Italy acknowledges that 51 percent of them need protection, one expert said.
Christopher Hein, director of the Italian Refugee Council, the only international NGO working in Libya, said that Italy's new policy "could fundamentally undermine the international refugee framework."
Rassegna stampa estera: dopo il G8, rivalità inglesi-italiani, Grillo candidato al PD e il pacchetto sicurezza
Press Review of the G8 and Pacchetto Sicurezza
UN criticises Italian, Greek asylum policies
Refugee agency warns of maltreatment, failure to accept asylum applications and changes to legal system.
The UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR, today (14 July) criticised Italy's treatment of would-be asylum-seekers and Greece's decision to close down a camp housing asylum-seekers and change its laws on asylum.
The UNHCR said it feared that Italy's new policy of intercepting migrants at sea may has resulted in failures to honour its obligations to asylum-seekers and in maltreatment of migrants. It says that, since May, Italy has picked up 900 people at sea and returned them to the north African coast from which they sailed.
In a statement, the UNHCR said it had “expressed serious concerns about the impact of this new policy which, in the absence of adequate safeguards, can prevent access to asylum and undermines the international principle of non-refoulement”, which is intended to prevent refugees being returned to places where their lives or freedoms could be threatened.
The UNHCR cited a case on 1 July when the Italian navy picked up 82 people 30 miles from the southern island of Lampedusa. A “significant number” of the group wanted to claim asylum but were sent back to Libya on a Libyan ship and placed in detention centres, the UNHCR said. It has asked the Italian authorities to provide information on those sent back to Libya.
It added that it had been told “disturbing accounts” of Italian personnel using force to transfer the migrants onto the Libyan ship, resulting in six people needing medical attention. Their belongings, including documents, were taken from them and have not yet been returned. “Those interviewed spoke of the distress they were in after four days at sea and said that the Italian navy did not offer them any food during the 12-hour operation to return them to Libya,” UNHCR said.
Of the group of 82, 76 were from Eritrea, including nine women and at least six children. A recent report by Human Rights Watch said Eritrea was “one of the most closed and repressive states in the world”, and the government stands accused of repression and abuse of its citizens, including detention, torture, forced labour and restrictions of freedom of movement and expression.
Greece was similarly criticised on a number of counts, including its decision to close down a makeshift camp in Patras on 12 July, which left many of its residents, including registered asylum-seekers, without a roof over their heads.
An unknown number of undocumented residents of the camp were arrested and taken to a police station in Patras, where, according to the UNHCR, translation and interpretation services may be inadequate. The organisation also voiced concern about the decision to transfer 44 unaccompanied minors to a special reception centre in Konitsa, northern Greece.
The statement was issued just after Greece adopted a law decentralising asylum decisions to over 50 police directorates and abolishing the existing appeals process in favour of a judicial review that will address only points of law. “These new developments are likely to make protection even more elusive for those who need it in Greece,” it warned in a statement.
Almost 20,000 applications for asylum in Greece were lodged in 2008. During that year, Greece awarded international protection to just 379 people.
UNHCR demands explanation from Italy over refugee abuse claims
he UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) in Geneva has asked the Italian government for an explanation of how refugees who are returned to Libya are handled, following an incident that took place 1 July in the Mediterranean, about 30 km from the island of Lampedusa.
The Italian Navy intercepted a group of 82 people, 76 of them Eritreans, who were heading to Italy from Libya. The Italian ship transferred them to a Libyan ship, and they were returned to Libya and placed in detention. The UNHCR says that given the seriousness of allegations of mistreatment by Italian personnel during the transfer, Italy is being asked to respect international norms.
The UNHCR was able to visit and interview the group and says “it is clear that a significant number from this group are in need of international protection.” They told the UNHCR that personal effects, including vital documents, were seized by the Italian Navy during the operation and have not yet been returned to them and that although they were in a state of distress after four days at sea the Italian Navy did not offer them any food during the 12-hour operation to return them to Libya.
BBC NEWS | Politics | Sink immigrants' boats - Griffin
The EU should sink boats carrying illegal immigrants to prevent them entering Europe, British National Party leader Nick Griffin has told the BBC.
ANSAmed
(ANSAmed) - ROME - ''The massacre continues: 459 deaths in the first six months of 2009.'' This is the most recent figure from Fortress Europe, the online observatory on the victims of immigration. There is however some hope: ''the figure is falling for the first time in three years. In the first few months of 2008, there was a total of 985 victims.'' A report by Gabriele Del Grande published on the observatory's website claims that most migrants die in the Sahara: ''a route they are forced to take, which is more dangerous than the sea crossing''. According to a census carried out through international press, at least 1,691 people have died in the desert since 1996. On her journey in the footsteps of the migrants, Del Grande stopped at Agadez in Nigeria, the crossroads for all African migrants who want to reach Algeria or Libya across the Sahara. The final destination is either Spain or Italy, despite the policies of expulsion or immediate return undertaken by the two countries. Amongst the many resources available on the Fortress Europe website is a video by a Senegalese journalist, which was filmed on June 16 at Barajas airport in Madrid. It reports on violence perpetrated on a fellow countryman: ''feet and hands bound like an animal,'' a note on the website explains, ''whilst a plain-clothed policeman holds him to the ground, underneath an airplane bound for Dakar.'' An investigation into forced returns from Lampedusa that began some weeks ago reports that ''the passengers onboard the boat refused entry off the coast of Lampedusa on July 1 were Eritreans. Eritrean refugees who now risk being repatriated. Or else they risk long-term detention in Libyan prisons, where they are already under arrest.'' Fortress Europe also notes that Italy knows the dangers facing Eritreans who are sent back. ''Italy is well aware of the fate that awaits Eritreans. So much so that last year the authorities granted permits to stay to most of the 2,739 Eritreans who landed on the Sicilian coast.''(ANSAmed).
Ferrara. ''Ci sentiamo tutti clandestini''
Pochi giorni fa è stato definitivamente approvato il “pacchetto sicurezza”, attraverso cui il territorio dello stato italiano assumerà ancor di più il carattere di laboratorio a cielo aperto della repressione permanente. A few days ago has been finally approved the "security package" through the territory of the Italian state will assume ever more the character of open-air laboratory of permanent repression. L'entrata o la permanenza “irregolare” al suo interno diventa reato, la durata massima della permanenza nei CIE (Centri di Identificazione ed Espulsione) è estesa da 2 a 6 mesi, le ronde razziste vengono legalizzate, solo per citare alcuni degli inasprimenti repressivi previsti dalla nuova legge. The entry or stay "illegal" in it becomes a criminal offense, the maximum duration of stay in the CIE (Center for Identification and Deportation) is extended from 2 to 6 months, the patrols are legalized racist, just to mention some of the escalation of repression under the new law. Intanto i reclusi dei CIE di Milano, Bologna e Gradisca d'Isonzo stanno già protestando con uno sciopero della fame. Meanwhile, the inmates of the CIE in Milan, Bologna and Gradisca d'Isonzo are already protesting with a hunger strike.
Una volta in più questo Governo ha dimostrato la sua vera natura: è un governo razzista, xenofobo e populista. Once more this government has shown its true nature: it is a government racist, xenophobic and populist. L'ondata di destra che avvolge l'Italia, la deriva culturale xenofoba che si è impossessata del nostro paese, come risposta ad una crisi economica di vasta portata, tende a legittimare le disposizioni di legge aberranti che trasformano i clandestini in criminali, le ronde in “sicurezza partecipata” ei “pericolosissimi” writers (sì, proprio i graffittari) si ritrovano ad essere puniti con sanzioni di carattere penale. The wave of the right that winds Italy, the xenophobic cultural drift that has possession of our country, as a response to an economic crisis of vast scope, tends to legitimize the legal outliers that turn illegal immigrants into criminals, patrol in "shared security" and "dangerous" writers (yes, just the graffittari) are found to be punished with fines of a criminal. E questo per citare solo alcune norme. This is to mention only a few rules.
Ci pare ovvio ricordare ai tanti, troppi, sostenitori di questa legge che gli italiani per primi sono un popolo di migranti che spesso sulla propria pelle ha vissuto discriminazioni e che tassare chi viene in Italia per sfuggire alla fame o alla violenza che imperversano nel proprio paese è un atto moralmente inaccettabile. It seems obvious to many to remember, too, supporters of this law that the first Italians are a people of migrants on their skin often experienced discrimination and that taxing those who come to Italy to escape hunger or violence raging in their country an act is morally unacceptable.
E' tutto questo quando i “clandestini” altro non sono che donne e uomini che lavorano nelle nostre case assistendo i nostri anziani, donne e uomini che vengono sfruttati per poco più di 3 euro all'ora per lavorare nelle nostre campagne o “schiavizzati” dai caporali del nord est nei cantieri edili. And 'all this when the "illegals" are not more women and men who work in our own homes by assisting our elderly, women and men who are exploited for just over 3 euros per hour for work in our campaigns or "slave" corporals from the north east on building sites.
Padre Alex Zanotelli, dalle pagine di Nigrizia, chiama alla disobbedienza civile, dichiarando di vergognarsi di essere italiano e di essere cristiano. Father Alex Zanotelli, from the pages of Africa, calls for civil disobedience, claiming to be ashamed of being Italian and being Christian. Noi accogliamo questo appello e invitiamo tutti gli uomini e tutte le donne, i movimenti, le associazioni, i sindacati ed i partiti della nostra provincia che intendono opporsi all'ennesima vergognosa legge di questo Governo a promuovere tutti assieme iniziative tese a denunciare i contenuti di un provvedimento tanto iniquo. We are responding to this call and invite all men and all women, movements, associations, trade unions and parties of our province who intend to oppose all'ennesima shameful law of this government to promote all efforts together to denounce the contents of a measure so unjust.
In un paese che ha dimenticato il significato di parole come giustizia e solidarietà ci sentiamo tutti clandestini. In a country that has forgotten the meaning of words such as justice and solidarity we all feel illegal.
La segreteria provinciale del Partito della Rifondazione Comunista di Ferrara The provincial secretary of the Party of Communist Refoundation of Ferrara
BNR • Child victims of trafficking increase in EU:
"The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) released a report alarming that every year EU children fall prey to trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation, adoption and donor extraction. Trafficking affects the entire EU, but insufficient data obscures the true magnitude of the problem. According to the report, in January-November 2008, 131 children in Romania and 51 in Bulgaria fell victim to trafficking. In Italy, 400 out of 1320 minors in immigration camps on the island of Lampedusa have disappeared. In recent years some 50 children in Irish social care centers have disappeared as well. The Agency calls for more effective legislation to combat child trafficking, as well as for better protection and support of child victims."
Sanatoria, pacchetto sicurezza e reato di immigrazione clandestina: il governo in un vicolo cieco
The government reaches a dead end.
‘PACCHETTO SICUREZZA’: UNA “BARBARIE” PER PRESIDENTE ECUADOR - MISNA
Nel suo programma radiofonico del fine-settimana, il presidente dell'Ecuador Rafael Correa ha condannato con forza il cosiddetto 'pacchetto sicurezza', approvato la scorsa settimana dal senato italiano, giudicandolo “una barbarie”.
In his radio program of the weekend, the President of Ecuador Rafael Correa has strongly condemned the so-called 'security package', which was approved last week by the Italian Senate, considering it "barbaric."
It is estimated that 185,000 Ecuadoreans live in Italy.
Amnesty Italia - Approvato il "pacchetto sicurezza": i diritti umani dei migranti rischiano di essere compromessi
Italian Amnesty International's comments on pacchetto sicurezza
Pacchetto sicurezza: un danno per tutti « Antonio Ricci
Commentary on the Pacchetto sicurezza by Antonio Ricci.
Immigrazione, Giovanardi: «Sanatoria per colf e badanti»| italia| Il SecoloXIX
Il nuovo pacchetto sicurezza che istituisce il reato di clandestinità crea un’emergenza in centinaia di migliaia di famiglie italiane. Sono quelle che si avvalgono di colf e badanti stranieri e non in regola con il permesso di soggiorno. Persone che la legge italiana considera ora alla stregua di comuni delinquenti.
Sicurezza; Bossi: In Vaticano i clandestini non entrano - Politica - Virgilio Notizie: "Bossi's reply to Agostino Marchetto"
Il pacchetto sicurezza è legge. Ve lo spieghiamo in 10 punti
The pacchetto sicurezza summarised in 10 points.
Bergamo News | il quotidiano online della provincia di Bergamo | Politica | "Si criminalizzano i migranti"
The new law will bring "many sorrows and difficulties" to immigrants, according to Monsignor Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants.
Alessandro Ghebreigziabiher: Pacchetto sicurezza: mi vergogno come italiano e cristiano (Alex Zanotelli)
I am ashamed of being Italian and being Christian. I never thought that a country like Italy could adopt a law as racist and xenophobic. We who lived for centuries by emigrating to find a loaf of bread (there are 60 million Italians living abroad!)...
