UN criticises Italian, Greek asylum policies

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

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.

459 deaths 1ST 6 months 2009

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).