Aug 29 '21 |
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Aug 31 '21 |
The
gateway to Europe. Dedicated to all the immigrants
who have lost their lives at sea. Very very
emotional. |
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Sept 1 '21 |
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Sept 2 '21 |
Uh, captain, I'll
wait, thank you. What time does the next
turtle leave?
![]() Note the Arabic text on the boat. |
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Sept 6 '21 |
![]() News sources in general are now reporting on the grim situation on Lampedusa. The Immigration Reception Center (IRC) is overflowing, with now (Sept 5) more than twice as many refugees (568) than it was built to hold (250). Some have been transferred by ferries to Sicily. Desperate "boat people" keep arriving daily by the dozens, 300 in the last few days. One "solution" is to warehouse in cruise ships moored off-shore at Lampedusa those who do not require immediate emergency care. The problem is not likely to get better. |
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Sept 7 '21 |
![]() ![]() ![]() SEP 9 - The Italian Coast said Thursday that it saved 125 asylum seekers on two boats off Isola dei Conigli, a small island near Lampedusa, after one of the vessels starting taking on water in choppy waters. The bad sea conditions made the operation complex and rescue swimmers were needed. All of the 125 people, including 49 women and 20 minors, are in good health although several are in a state of shock. |
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Sept 14, '21 |
![]() updated at 20.53 on Sept. 14 from the station at Agrigento on Sicily. Incoming refugee boats poured into Lampedusa today with the landing of 25 boats, towed in by Italian coast guard patrols. The boats held from 6 to 16 Tunisians. There are now 613 refugees house in the IRC facility. It was built for 250. The coast guard also took into tow one large boat (9 meters/28 feet) with 48 men from Bangladesh and another 12-meter/36-ft boat with 102 men from Bangladesh, Eritrea, and Sudan. Many have been warehoused in the large quarantine ferry in the harbor. |
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Sept 15, '21 |
Yes,
it's this bad. photo from Sept. 15 |
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Sept 16, '21 Sept.17,'21 Sept.18, '21 |
The plight of refugees is world-wide. The larger boat in the background off of Lampedusa is from the Spanish charity Proactiva Open Arms, in operation since2015. It is run from the Greek island of Lesbos. There are other organizations such as the UK-based International Maritime Rescue Federation. It's all less of a hierarchy than a group with everyone helping everyone else with the goal of preventing loss of life in the waters of the world. (photo: Juan Medina, Reuters) A Benefactor's Work is Never Done I remind you that EMERGENCY was founded by this man. "War is a persistent form of terrorism against civilian populations in which people are maimed by bullets, shrapnel, antipersonnel mines and so-called toy mines. Treating the wounded is neither generous nor merciful; it is only just. It has to be done.” -Gino Strada |
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Sept.19, '21 |
![]() ![]() When they find someone, they get that person into a life-jacket and into a small wooden boat. Coast Guard swimmers often go into the water to get those who cannot help themselves, such as (shown here) pregnant woman and young children. The Coast Guard gets the refugees back to the Immigration Reception Center where they will get immediate care if necessary. The center is already overflowing and there is a large cruise ship converted to a refugee hotel in the harbor. They're safe. That's a start. (photos: Juan Medina, Reuters) |
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Sept.21, '21 |
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A
REFUGEE?
To get a handle on how vast the
problem is, we should know the answers to a few
questions:Q1— How many people are there in the world? A— Almost 8 billion Q2— What's the difference between "refugee" and "internally displaced person"? A— Refugees cross an international border and are at risk in their own country. Displaced persons have not crossed a border, but have also fled their homes. Q3— How many of each are there? A— At the end of 2020, there were 82.4 million forcibly displaced people in the world, more than a quarter are refugees. That has doubled since 2010 and is higher now than ever before. So, about 20 million refugees. Q4— What is a refugee camp? A— A temporary settlement for refugees and people in refugee-like situations. They have fled their country. Camps with over 100,000 people are common, but as of 2012, the average camp houses around 11,400. They are built and run by a government, the United Nations, international organizations (such as the Red Cross), or non-governmental organization. Q5— Where are these camps? A— In the world? Many nations on all continents except Antarctica have them. Q6— Where are they in Europe? A— Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Turkey, France, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Montenegro. Q7— In general, what services do camps provide for refugees? A— Ideally, a headquarters to coordinate services; health care (regular and emergency, both physical and emotional, particularly important); hygiene facilities, such as washing areas, latrines, or toilets; places for water collection; food distribution; news (e.g. at least a radio); security and protection from theft; schools and training centers; cemeteries or crematoria; places for solid waste disposal. Q8— What is done at sea? A— There are at least 30 vessels dedicated to rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean. They are from Spain, Germany, Italy, Gibraltar, Luxembourg, France, Norway, Panama, Netherlands, UK, and Belize. There are also some single- and twin-engine planes that patrol. Q9— What happens to refugees when they are "finished" at a camp? A— Compassion and politics don't mix very well. Some camps go back decades. Some refugees have spent their entire lives in a camp. More to the point, in Italy they might move into Italian society. Many have useful skills: language teachers, medical skills, skilled laborers, whatever. They can apply for residence and citizenship. Then they are part of us. That would be ideal. |
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Sept.22, '21 |
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO RESCUE SOMEONE AT SEA? The rest is heavy legalese. Q1— What is a sea-resue? A — Saving someone who is in danger at sea in a sinking boat or already in the water. Q2— What laws govern this? A — International maritime laws specifically direct captains of vessels to rescue "those in peril on the sea." A captain who ignores that risks fines, prison, and his/her license as a captain. Q3— What do courts and scholarly legal opinion say about the affair. A — Capt. Rakete was justified. She had no choice. The law says "rescue and disembark safely" at the nearest friendly port. That was Lampedusa. She had critically ill refugees. She made the right decision. Q4 — Did they know she was coming? A — She radio'd ahead. An Italian Coast Guard boat went out to check and took about 10 refugees in critical health back to the medical facility on Lampedusa. Q5 — So what's the problem? A — Matteo Salvini, former head of the anti-immigration Lega (Northern League). He hates the south and refugees. He has told ports not to take refugees, but this time is charged with kidnapping —forceful detention— because he did not let them "disembark safely" in a sea-rescue. He says it is a citizen's duty to defend his country. His duty as a member of the legislature, however, is to help his country fulfill its commitments. His trial started in September of 2020 and will go on forever. He could go to jail, I doubt that will happen. He could lose his right to ever again hold public office. Maybe. Q6 — What happened to Capt. Rackete? A — Released after 3 days of house arrest. She is strong and believes in "doing the right thing". You will not shove this woman around. She is a committed political activist. She says, "I'm white, born in a wealthy nation, my papers are all in order, I studied at three universities and was successful when I was 23. I should help those who are less fortunate." Q7 — Where do we stand now? A — Conclusions? If no one really wants these people ... I don't know. Nationalism in the world is on the rise, as are authoritarian governments. Einstein once said that "nationalism is like a childhood disease. It's the 'measles of the human race." |
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Sept.26,'21 |
The forgotten victims at
the bottom of the sea off of Lampedusa.
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Sept.28,'21 Sept.30,'21 |
Kelly
T. Clements, assistant secretary to the UNHCR
(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)
said recently: Lampedusa is always a case-in-point. This comes from yesterday, 28 Sept.: "700 refugees in few hours. After a few of bad weather, calm seas have seen renewed arrivals, mostly in a single old 15-meter (45-foot) metal fishing boat, spotted four miles from shore by a vessel of the Guardia di Finance" [whose normally look for smugglers of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms) and escorted into disembark at Lampedusa. Those who require immediate medical care will get it. The others will be warehoused in the large cruise ship in the harbor. It may not be, as Clements suggests, that the world is "turning away". The world is swamped. From the UNHCR: "The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol are the key legal documents that form the basis of our work. With 149 States parties to either or both, they define the term ‘refugee’ and outline the rights of refugees, as well as the legal obligations of States to protect them. The core principle is non-refoulement, which asserts that refugeea should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. This is now considered a rule of customary international law. UNHCR serves as the ‘guardian’ of the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol. According to the legislation, States are expected to cooperate with us in ensuring that the rights of refugees are respected and protected." Both documents are at this UN link. |
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Oct .1, '21 |
(cont. below) |
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Oct .2, '21 |
(cont.)
This is from the Save the Children “European governments showed leadership by supporting the Italian government in rescue operations in the Mediterranean – but they must think about what happens to vulnerable children when they get off the boats,” said Carolyn Miles, President and CEO of Save the Children. “For many of these children, their journey has only just begun. We have a brief window of opportunity to save them from people traffickers when they land in Italy, before they disappear into a criminal underworld. Italy must be given more support to protect every unaccompanied child, at the point of arrival, and beyond. EU governments must share the responsibility for the care and protection of vulnerable children who cross the Mediterranean – especially victims of trafficking and violence. To prevent thousands of vulnerable migrants – including children – from becoming victims of violence, abuse, exploitation, and risking their lives to make the perilous journey to Europe, Save the Children is calling on Member States to strengthen resettlement and humanitarian admission program, as well as other safe and legal routes for migration to the EU. |
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Oct .4, '21 |
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Oct .5, '21 |
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Oct .9, '21 | When is bad weather good?
At the moment (Sat. Oct 9), there has been a temporary lull in the flood of refugees coming into Lampedusa because the weather has turned for the worse. Choppy seas and bad weather along the coast of Libya and Tunesia keep the refugee smugglers from putting out to sea. That lull gives the Immigration Reception Center time to deal with their overcrowded conditions. They has 628 migrants in a space built for 250, so now they can thin out the crowd a bit and move some of them to their real destination, Sicily. Yesterday they put 110 migrants (among whom were 30 unaccompanied children) onto a "refugee ferry" for the run to Porto Empedocle on the southern coast of Sicily. All of this is handled by provincial administration in Agrigento. |
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Oct .13, '21 |
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Oct.20, '21 |
The
International Organization for Migration https://www.iom.int/ Via L. G. Faravelli, Casale Strozzi Superiore. 00195 Rome Tel: (+39) 06 44 23 14 28 email: iomrome@iom.int |
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Nov.1,'21 |
These are a few passages from a
2016 article in Jacobin Magazine, a
journal for migrants and refugees. Not
much has changed in Italy.
"Far from Rome’s central train station stands an abandoned office building occupied by about seven hundred refugees, mostly from Somalia and Eritrea. Aside from a large handwritten banner hanging from its windows that says, 'We are refugees, not terrorists,' the eight-floor structure looks like any other in the neighborhood, a business district with international embassies and well-kept parks... Italians pass by without shifting their gaze, apparently used to such scenes in a country that’s been receiving “irregular” migration from Africa since the 1990s. I ask around and find the building’s inhabitants have been living in Italy with full asylum rights for six, eight, at times more than ten years...A recent study by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) found that more than ten thousand refugees live in abandoned spaces, handmade shacks, or camping tents throughout the country... Relegated to the margins for extended periods of time, just one-third of documented refugees living in such places have regular access to services they are entitled to, such as health care. For some, the proximate cause of their marginalization is the visa program. At the moment, asylum-seekers arriving in Lampedusa or Sicily are granted documents for seven days, and then they must decide whether to make their asylum claims in Italy or attempt to migrate to another country. This arrangement was originally a response to unpredictable waves of asylum-seekers..." The article contains links to a number of private organizations that attempt to provide assistance to migrants, such as MEDU (Doctors for Human Rights) and the Catholic organization, Caritas, all of which constitute an independent humanitarian aid system running parallel to the state. At best, volunteers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are a stopgap — an unsustainable solution to a humanitarian crisis. With this comes news that Sicily’s regional government has announced that it will set up a migrant assistance center in every province of the island with the aim of integration between Sicilians and newcomers. |
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Nov.3,'21 |
The
Global Detention Project (GDP) is an
independent non-profit association under Swiss
law. It gets funding and support from members,
charitable foundations, academic institutions, and
private individuals. The passage below is from
their "Overview of Italy" in 2019 (modified to
show that Matteo Salvini is no longer the Italian
Interior Minister). The GDP tracks all
refugee movements throughout the world, This (my)
paraphrase is from Nov. 2021-jm. (The blue
pin-drop in the image marks the location of the
Immigration Reception Center on Lampedusa.) |
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Nov.5,'21 |
Massive Sea-Rescue Saves 1,000
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Nov.9, '21 |
![]() I call your attention to this website of the Association of European Migration Institutions. It is a very valuable source. |
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Nov.13, '21 |
O Little Town of Lampedusa
One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six. —from A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas. |
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Nov.16, '21 |
Europe - a
cemetery? “It’s important to have
personal openness to our brothers and sisters in
need,” Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, President
of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of
the European Union, told Vatican Radio. He
added: “The Pope spoke about the
Mediterranean becoming a huge cemetery. Now with
this you have E.U. borders becoming a huge
cemetery. I do not feel well living in a
European Union surrounded by cemeteries of
people who wished to share our way of
life. We cannot forget our principles when we
see people in need.”
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Nov.19, '21 |
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Nov.20, '21 |
STILL MISSING!
As of today, however, Nov. 20, contact has been lost with 75 migrant "boat people" in trouble aboard an as yet unidentified craft. They were spotted yesterday about 80 km (50 mile) from Lampedusa by "Alarm Phone" a volunteer rescue service that tries to direct rescue vessels to the position of the emergency. Alarm Phone has complained that they are getting no cooperation from either Maltese or Italian authorities and that Tunisian authorities have called off their efforts. Last word from Alarm Phone: "These persons have not arrived at Lampedusa. They are missing. Don't let them drown." |
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Nov.21, '21 |
LIBYAN COAST GUARD: "SEA WATCH 4, SEA WATCH 4. CHANGE DIRECTION. LEAVE THE AREA NOW. IS THAT CLEAR?" SEA-WATCH 4, COMMANDER KLAUS MERKLE: "LIBYAN NAVY. THIS IS SEA-WATCH 4. THESE ARE NOT LIBYAN TERRITORIAL WATERS. WE ARE 40 MILES OUTSIDE OF LIBYAN WATERS ON INNOCENT PASSAGE AS PERMITTED BY LAW." LIBYAN COAST GUARD: "LEAVE NOW OR WE WILL TAKE YOU IN TOW." -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
The Alarm-Phone-Initiative
(Also known as: Watch The Med Alarm Phone
Project) has run since October 2014, staffed
by volunteers from Europe, Tunisia and
Morocco. It is committed to the sea rescue of
refugees. This Wikipedia
entry explains it in detail. This is a
further explanations by the Alarm Phone
site, itself, with videos in English and French. It is important to know that Alarm Phone does not rescue people. It calls vessels that can rescue you. The Watch the Med section monitors and summarizes ongoing refugee events in the Mediterranean. This is the Wikipedia general entry on Immigrant Rights Activism. This is the Wikipedia entry on Forensic Oceanography, a project that makes films and exhibits about the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. |
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Nov.23, '21 |
SEA-WATCH 4 (history
of the vessel here)
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Nov.23, '21 Nov.24, '21 |
Those 475 migrants, now at
least safe on board Sea-Watch 4, are still
looking for a "safe port". The captain patiently
explained (again) that Malta and Italy are
giving him the round-around: "International law
says that persons rescued at sea have to be
disembarked at the nearest safe port. We
are asking authorities to respect that law."
Meanwhile: The Children's Boat. There were 26
refugees on board. Three were adults! They were
spotted 2 miles out from Lampedusa by an Italian
Coast Guard vessel, checked for emergency
medical needs and
taken to the Immigration Reception Center on Lampedusa, a center built to house 250 but now with 667 "guests". |
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Nov.25, '21 |
What
is Frontex? and why do entities such as
Sea-Watch want it closed?
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Dec. 1, '21 |
"A year after signing a memorandum with Libya, we see it has not only failed but been arbitrarily betrayed by Libya and Italy. Italy has continued to furnish boats to Libya, in effect helping Libya expand its borders beyond accepted territorial waters. The situation for migrants and refugees is as bad as ever. If refugees fleeing Libya are sent back to Libya —men, women, and children— they are confined and subject to unspeakable acts of violence —murder, torture, and rape. The current Italian government has said it is working on getting a memorandum that all parties will abide by. [That AI comment is from early November. From what I can tell —as seen in the item just above (for Nov. 21) of the piratical behavior of a Libyan gunboat— Italy is still helping the pirates. |
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Dec. 6, '21 |
Pope Francis in Lesbos,
Greece and pleads for action on migrant crisis
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Dec. 12, '21 | Nelson Mandela:
"When the history of our times is written, will we
be remembered as the generation that turned our backs in a moment of global crisis? Or will it be recorded that we did the right thing?" |
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Dec. 13, '21 |
Investigative Journalism vs
the Bad Guys
W.B.Yeats wrote in The Second Coming of a terrible time when "...the ceremony of innocence is drowned;/The best lack all conviction, while the worst/ Are full of passionate intensity." I've just read The Outlaw Ocean (2019 by Ian Urbina)*. It tells of crimes offshore — the murder of stowaways, sea slavery, rape, and torture— --the wholesale, literal "drowning of innocence" in the ongoing refugee crisis in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. For my brief "fair use" comment, I cite briefly from The Outlaw Ocean below. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Ian Urbina is an investigative journalist and the director of the Outlaw Ocean Project. |
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Dec. 20, '21 | Little joy for many migrants
and refugees this festive season
18 Dec 2021by Dr Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization's (WHO) Regional Director for Europe. [ed. note: edited to focus on Dr. Kluge's points about the Mediterranean refugee crisis.] The U.N. estimates a staggering 274 million people in the world will need humanitarian help in 2022, a 17 percent increase from 2021. Humanitarian aid to countries in need can also help address why so many people leave in search of a better life in the first place. On all these fronts, WHO is working with partners to lessen human suffering, deliver supplies, and address immediate national needs such as sanitary facilities, setting up medical units, and improving measures against COVID-19, such as testing and vaccination. But these measures are no substitute for more sustainable solutions. This is a make or break moment. No matter political consensus or lack thereof, refugees and migrants must have humanitarian aid and access to healthcare. Our region faces a new wave of COVID-19 with the emergence of a new variant and sharply rising cases, so we must ensure protection against the virus for the most vulnerable. Health should never be a matter of politics, and access to health must be safeguarded as a fundamental human right. The WHO Regional Office for Europe has long championed migrant and refugee health with support to countries in preparing for large arrivals of refugees and migrants, and developing health systems that are inclusive and migrant-friendly. It is a our principle to leave no one behind. But we need to speed up this work, with broader political backing. This is why we are inviting health ministers from the European as well as the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions to a high-level summit in March 2022 to find a common way forward and mobilise commitment to ensure the health of refugees and migrants. Good health is something that everyone, everywhere, should be able to enjoy. A change of season should not be a matter of life or death. Health is not a privilege: it is a fundamental right for all people, including refugees and migrants. Let us give all human beings respect, dignity, and access to healthcare, not only this winter, but for years to come. |
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Dec. 28, '21 Dec. 29, '21 |
I
This comes at a time when the refugee situation in the Mediterranean is utterly catastrophic, the worst in many months, boats swarming out of Turkish ports -- no one knows exactly how many --trying to pass through the Greek islands and make their way to Italy, either Sicily or Lampedusa. Reports are conflicting, confused, and disjointed. For example: "The Greek coastguard is scouring the Aegean Sea for survivors after the latest in a series of refugee boat accidents that killed at least 30 people in just days. Late Friday, the coastguard found 16 bodies, including those of three women and a baby, and rescued 63 people from a boat that overturned and sank near the island of Paros (image). According to those rescued, around 80 people had been on the vessel." [...] "11 bodies were recovered from another boat that ran aground on an islet north of the Greek island of Antikythera on Thursday evening..." [...]"Overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, a boat thought to have been carrying up to 50 refugees sank off the island of Folegandros, with an unknown number of persons still missing..." It is a complete disaster. This is not going away. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Geo Barents, the Doctors Without Borders hospital-ship has disembarked 558 migrants in Augusta on the southern coast of Sicily. Officials there await the arrival of 440 additional refugees aboard Sea Watch 3. All arrivals have been --or will be-- ID'd and tested for covid. Of the 550, 174 were unaccompanied children. Many of the 550 shows signs of fuel burns, respiratory infections, and having been beaten. Most of the migrants are from sub-Saharan north Africa. |
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Jan. 12, '22 |
The image shows the cover of the Human Rights Law Review, Volume 19 Issue 3 November 2019. Here is the link to that issue. It concerns the violations of human rights in extraterritorial migration controls and the complicity and responsibilities of nations towards refugees and migrants. There is also this Wikipedia entry on the responsibility of the international community towards refugees and migrants. They both give you an idea of internationally wrongful acts, including refoulement;* arbitrary detention; violations of the right to life; cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment; and violations of the right to leave. *refoulement: lit. to force back: The expulsion of refugees from a place where they can rightfully claim refugee status to a place where they may face persecution or other threats, such as the country or disaster area from which they originally fled. |
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Jan. 22, '22 | 142
men, women and children (many sick and weak) have
disembarked at Lampedua from a single rescue ship.
the total for the day is 208, counting those from
smaller vessels that arrived. A vessel took 70 of
those migrants in the worst condition to the port
of Pozzallo (southern tip of Sicily in the
province of Ragusa. |
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Jan. 28 |
"Give us a port! Give us a port!"
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Feb. 6 |
3,000 Unmarked Refugee Graves in Sicily |
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Feb. 19 |
the small port where the Italian naval yards are located. The gunboats are like the ones shown in the image, above. A line from the circle to the gap between the peninsula and Capri is to the SE. |
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Feb. 28 Mar.2 |
Unity and Solidarity
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is an excellent and comprehensive article on migration in the Mediterranean on Wikipedia here. |
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Mar.7 |
Finally, an Oligarch When you Need One. |
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Mar.24 |
About Physicians for Human Rights (the link has complete information about this group. Please read it.) |
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Apr.10 |
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid and relief, nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1942 after amalgamating with the similar Emergency Rescue Committee, the IRC provides emergency aid and long-term assistance to refugees and those displaced by war, persecution, or natural disaster. The IRC is currently working in about 40 countries. It resettles refugees and helps them become self-sufficient. It focuses mainly on health, education, economic well-being, power, and safety. The staff is made up of first responders, humanitarian relief workers, international development experts, health care providers, and educators. The IRC has assisted millions of people around the world since its founding. In 2016, 26 million people in about 40 countries benefited from IRC programs. Their HQ is in New York City. Their website is here. They welcome donations. If you can give, give. At least read what they do. Be aware. |
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Apr.22 |
Just a reminder, lest we forger. With the refugee
attention of the world focused on Ukraine at the
moment, 476 human beings, have died so far trying to get to Italy, largely from Libya. It's a trickle, but they are still innocent persons drowned at sea, The situation shows absolutely no sign of easing. With summer approaching, it will get worse. Do what you can. Please. |
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May 30 |
IDMC |
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June 6 |
adapted from Wash Post text by Ishaan Tharoor with Sammy Westfall image: logo of the IOM (International Organization of Migration). |
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Sept 20 |
Refugees in the Mediterranean, a forgotten war
by Lorenzo Marone The massacres have been pushed away; no one cares about the "boat people" children, dead from starvation and thirst. 19 September 2022 (published in la Repubblica. Permission to translate pending and assumed.) Lucky
survivors taken aboard a roaming rescue
vessel
It's a catastrophe that knows
no end; estimates says that since 2014 about
25,000 migrants have died trying to cross
the waters to find a new life for themselves.
The water takes them down where we can't see
them so we forget about them and find
their bodies months later, like that mother
and her baby still clutching each other in the
hold of a boat. When you talk of
shipwrecks, you envision waves as high as
buildings, but on these migrant crossings you
can lose your life even when the waters
are not rough because you are stuffed by the
hundreds into cheap rubber rafts, so-called
"boats," that cost €100 on the Alì Babà
website. You'll die smothered in a shallow
pool of water at the bottom of the
raft. If you fall, you'll be crushed, and
others won't help you out of fear of
winding up down there with you.
This is a Slaughter of the Innocents and
civilian Europe has washed its hands of the
affair and is off to vote for those who
doesn't care about it.
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Sept 24 |
At least 77
people die when a boat carrying migrants
sinks off Syria
The incident was the deadliest so far as a surging number of Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians have been trying to flee crisis-hit Lebanon by sea for a better future in Europe. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs while the Lebanese pound has dropped more than 90% in value, eradicating the purchasing power of thousands of families that now live in extreme poverty. Victims' relatives have started crossing from Lebanon into Syria to help identify their loved ones and retrieve their bodies. The vessel left Lebanon on Tuesday and news of what happened first started to emerge on Thursday afternoon. The boat was carrying Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinians. Twenty people were rescued and treated at al-Basel hospital in Syria's coastal city of Tartus. There were conflicting reports on how many people were on board the vessel when it sank, with some saying at least 120. Details about the ship, such as its size and capacity, were also not clear. The Lebanese army has stormed the homes of several suspected smugglers, detaining four in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest and most impoverished. Three others were detained in the nearby village of Deir Ammar. The suspects were involved in smuggling of migrants by sea while others were planning to buy boats for the same reason. Lebanon, with a population of 6 million, including 1 million Syrian refugees, has been in the grips of a severe economic meltdown since late 2019 that has pulled over three-quarters of the population into poverty. |
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Mar 29 2023 |
MEDITERRANEAN REFUGEE CRISIS CONTINUES -strung together from Wash Post reports
26-28 Mar 2023 Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says the migration pressure on Italy is “unprecedented.”If this year fits the pattern of others — with crossings rising during the warmer months — Italian officials worry that it all spiral out of control, rivaling or even eclipsing the migration apex of 2015 and 2016, when an exodus from warring Syria and Afghanistan spurred political strife in Europe and a populist backlash against Middle Eastern and African asylum seekers. above:Mourners
surround the coffin of a migrant who, along
with 58 others, died when their ship crashed
before reaching the
Italian shore last month. (photo:Remo Casilli/Reuters) The situation isn’t an exact match for seven or eight years ago. That was a period of relative free-for-all migration, with huge flows into Italy and especially Greece. Since then, Europe has invested billions in clamping down, building fences, beefing up coast guards and offering financial incentives to transit countries to tighten the doors. Those efforts have resulted in a continent that is harder, but not impossible, to reach. Migrants are still finding paths. And right now, those paths lead predominantly to Italy, a country that hasn’t gone as far as other front-line nations, Greece and Spain, in using brute force to deter arrivals. So far this year, Italy has seen 26,800 people arriving by boat, four times the pace of 2022, and 1.5 times the record mark of 2016, when 181,000 people reached the country’s shores. So far this year, about 80 percent of people crossing the Mediterranean have headed toward Italy, with Greece and Spain seeing far lower shares. Critics of Europe’s migration strategy say it’s wrong to frame the uptick as an emergency, noting that last year, the continent accommodated some 5 million Ukrainians — a figure that dwarfs any flows from Africa and the Middle East. Some but not all people crossing the Mediterranean are fleeing conflict or persecution. Last year, Italy saw arrivals chiefly from Egypt, Tunisia and Bangladesh, countries whose citizens do not generally qualify for international protection. Italy makes for an unlikely preferred migrant destination, given that, for several years, it had been a crucible of Western European anti-migration sentiment. In 2018, the far right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, authored a close-the-ports crackdown that spurred legal challenges but bolstered his personal, get-tough brand. Meloni was in the opposition at the time, speaking regularly about dangers of “invasion.” But even with Meloni in power, the public sentiment has softened. The shift was crystallized after a deadly shipwreck last month along Italy’s Calabrian coast. Bodies, including of children, washed ashore. Many were Afghans escaping after the Taliban takeover, and their personal stories made headlines in Italy for weeks. Italy’s much-respected president, Sergio Mattarella, stood vigil in a sports hall lined with coffins, saying the disaster had “moved” the country. Meloni seems to have registered the change. She has so far avoided explicitly anti-migrant talking points and instead tried to bargain with Europe for more support. An overwhelmed Italy, she has argued pointedly, will have a harder time stopping migrants from leaving Italy and heading north to other parts of Europe. |
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