AYS News Digest 27/02/23: The Death Toll Continues to Rise in the Med
US Visa delayed for Afghans in Pakistan // Deportation from Benghazi // Updates from reception crisis in Belgium // Fear of pushback in Evros…
FEATURED: At least 64 people died, many still missing off Calabria, Italy
At least 64 people are now known to have died in the shipwreck off Calabria which took place on February 25th. Survivors state there were as many as 200 people on board.
They left Izmir on February 22nd, during this time there were points where rescue was possible. Frontex had spotted the ship the night before but not initiated rescue.
Although NGOs don’t operate in this area as it is patrolled by the Guardia Costiera and Guardia di Finanza (GDF). The GDF were also aware of the boat but after sending out reconnaissance they turned back due to bad weather. This tragedy should have been prevented allowing everyone to travel safely and underlines the danger that people face when NGO boats are not present as a support system to other rescue ships. The first distress call had been sent at least 24 hours before the shipwreck, to a local Italian radio, and the Italian coordination centre had sent a generic search and rescue (SAR) warning without location. Now, Italian authorities have opened an investigation into the shipwreck, trying also to retrace the rescue attempts, if rescue attempts were made. The Italian GDF is indeed tasked with “contrasting illegal migration”, while SAR operations are handled by the coastguard. It is still unclear which patrol boats were used to try and locate the people in distress and why the coastguard, which is equipped with far more powerful vessels, and able to sail in bad sea condition did not join.
The Italian interior minister blamed the shipwreck on the people fleeing their countries, saying that “being desperate” is not reason enough to “abandon your country” and put your family at risk. While echoing old tropes of the far-right and neo-fascist movement blaming asylum seekers for fleeing war and poverty, the minister’s statement is in line with the Italian government’s position, which is lobbying the EU to introduce more externalisation instruments to prevent departures.
The route connecting Turkey to Italy is not new, but it has been used more frequently over the last two years, following the widespread use of pushbacks by the Hellenic coastguard, which makes it extremely difficult to reach the much closer coasts of the Greek islands.
LIBYA
Deportation from Benghazi
The Benghazi Immigration Centre has deported a group of Sudanese women and children to the city of Kufra from where they are likely to be deported to Sudan or stranded at the border in the desert. Libya is still not a safe third country.
PAKISTAN
Protest against US visa delays
Afghan people have held a protest in Islamabad about the failures of the US visa system. Some applicants have been waiting for over a year and a half to receive an answer. The programme is for people at risk since the withdrawal of the Americans in August 2021 and includes journalists and rights activists. Applicants must have worked for the US government, a US based media organization or nongovernmental organization in Afghanistan, and must be referred by the US based employer.
SEA/SEARCH and RESCUE (SAR)
Weekly report from the Mediterranean
GREECE
Turkish asylum seekers fear pushback
It is becoming increasingly common for people to put their initial statement of intention to claim asylum online, especially for those coming from Turkey. They hope that by making their presence on Greek territory public they will be able to prevent their own pushback.
Greece has purposefully ‘reinforced’ both the land and sea borders with Turkey to prevent earthquake survivors from crossing the border.
SERBIA
Blindspots have published another in their series of updates from Serbia. This episode covers often violent evictions from squatted housing spaces.
BELGIUM
Update from the Reception Crisis
Last week there were approximately 314 male asylum seekers. They have not received any shelter. The number of tents at KLK has doubled, despite the cold. Interim measures of the ECtHR from January have not yet been implemented.
FRANCE
Response to far-right mobilization
In Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, the extreme right is mobilizing against the opening of a reception centre for asylum seekers. Utopia 56 have organized a demonstration to confront their hate speech.
Hate calls being spread by the far right are discriminatory and illegal. Exiled people have rights: nearly 400 of them have been welcomed into the municipality since 2016 without incident.
Utopia 56 have also launched a petition calling for a Citizen’s Convention on Migration in the run up to the discussion of the latest Asylum and Immigration Law which will be discussed in the Senate on the 28th March.
AUSTRALIA
UN anger over continued Offshoring of Asylum Claimants
150 people are still being held in Nauru and Papua New Guinea despite calls from the UNHCR, human rights groups and grassroots advocates demanding their immediate evacuation. Under international law Australia is obligated to insure the well being of people claiming asylum in it’s territory and ‘offshoring’ people does not negate this responsibility. Since 2013 when this process was introduced at least 12 people have died.
WORTH READING AND WATCHING
NEW EPISODE: Somalian refugee Hanad Abdi Mohammad tells us how he was sentenced to 142 YEARS behind bars in Greece after he briefly steered a rubber boat because human traffickers abandoned him and 30 others in the Aegean Sea and the coastguards endangered their lives.
The System Sucks: One year after the beginning of the war, Berlin does not know what to do with the refugees. The arrival centre in Tegel becomes a “home” for many months to come.
External Solidarity in Integrated Border Management: The Role of EU Migration Agencies
This chapter sheds light on the rather neglected external dimension of European Union (EU) migration agencies, in particular, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the EU Agency for Asylum that succeeded to and replaced the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). The chapter describes the normative and practical manifestations of solidarity in the external dimension of EU migration management (external solidarity), examining its embodiment in the work of the two agencies.
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