AYS Daily Digest 11/04/2019 Update on Athens Eviction
Reports from Al-Hol camp in Syria /// Calls for help from detainees in Libya /// Arrivals in Greece and Italy /// Prosecutor rejects accusation against Greek coast guard /// Boats are still being brought back to Libya, despite conflict /// more…
Update on Athens Evictions
Arash Hampay has reported that since the eviction of New Babylon and Azadi squats approximately 80 people (families) are being held at the police station, while others have been sent to camps and are not allowed to leave. The possessions of these individuals remain in their old homes and the doors have been sealed. Attempts at re-entry have been prevented by police.
This eviction has also left many homeless; to support them please go here.
Now the doors are closed with lots of metal — but this doesn’t mean that we stay outside! We will find new houses! As long as people are left alone there will be resistance! And we keep fighting against borders — for freedom of movement! — Azadi Squat Athens
SYRIA
Reports on Al-Hol Camp
Since the end of last year the population of Al-Hol in Al-Hasakah Governorate, North-East Syria, has been steadily growing. Relief web have recently published a comprehensive report on the camp. There are currently over 72,000 people present in Al-Hol camp, 90% of whom are women and children who have fled hostilities in Al Baghuz in the Deir-e-Zor countryside and 63,323 of these people arrived since the 4th of December, 2018.
The conditions within Al-Hol camp are over-crowded, uninhabitable, and threaten human dignity and life, with people forced to sleep on the ground during harsh weather conditions such as rain and low temperatures. Most families spend days walking to the camp and stay without food until they reach the camp, the vast majority of whom are women and children. The needs for GBV and Reproductive Health services are overwhelming and require urgent response. — Relief Web
The WHO have also published a report specifically looking at the medical situation, stating that there are currently 146 children with severe acute malnutrition, and that 80% of deaths in the camps up the 14th of March were children under 5. The U.N. Senior Humanitarian Advisor for Syria, Najat Rochdi, states there are no boys over the age of 15.
The gaps are wide and the needs are dire. — Relief Web
At the same time, SARC are delivering support to 45,000 people effected by the floods.
LEBANON
Volunteering Position in Beirut and Saida
SB Overseas is looking for volunteers interested in teaching English, maths, and science to children and adults in one of their non-formal schools and women’s training centres in Lebanon, in Beirut and Saida.
They asks for a minimum commitment of 2 months, with a possibility for volunteers to take Arabic classes too.
Look here for more information.
LIBYA
More Calls for Help from People Detained in Libya
There are continued calls from humanitarian organisations to release detainees trapped in Tripoli detention centres and ensure their protection from the escalating civil war. The reinstatement of SAR operations is also essential to the prevention of further deaths in the area.
‘There’s a clear need for things to change both in Libya and in the Central Mediterranean, and for those changes to happen now,’ said Turner. ‘We reiterate our call for all refugees and migrants in detention in Libya to be evacuated from harm as soon as possible, and pending their release, to ensure their safety and basic needs are met. Moreover, search and rescue capacity in the Central Mediterranean must be urgently increased, immediate solutions to disembark survivors must be provided, punitive actions to curtail NGOs must end, and anyone rescued at sea — by any vessel — must not be taken to Libya, but to a safe port as required by international law’. — MSF
People in detention are continuing to call for help:
Sally Hayden further reports that people are refusing to get on buses sent to Qasr bin Ghashir which are supposed to move detainees to Zintan or Gharyan detention centres, away from fighting. People state that too many have died in those centres already and they need to be evacuated. Yesterday, a bomb was believed to have dropped outside the female compound, where there are currently 600 children, women and men trapped.
Tell to them, everybody, the world. The war from everything, the morning until the… 24 hours… please, please (please, please). — Detainee in Qasr bin Ghashir
Info Migrants report on Germany’s concern that the conflict will lead to further migration to Europe. We already know that Europe has little concern for the lives of humans at risk in these situations; this is just one more step towards the complete destruction of the Human Rights Convention.
SEA
20 People Brought Back to Libya
After two days at sea, a small boat was intercepted by Libyan Coast Guard and the 20 people on board were brought back to the country at war.
Italian minister Salvini is pleased, but he forgot to tweet that 8 more people were on board of the boat and drowned before any help was provided.
Alarmphone gave the alarm about the boat at 6AM on Tuesday and all European coast guards refused to offer support. Nearby commercial vessels also ignored the distress calls.
Another normal day in the Central Mediterranean.
Second Evacuation from the Sea Eye’s Alan Kurdi
Today it is the 10th day since 64 people were rescued by the Sea Eye vessel. 10 days without being allowed a port for disembarkation. 10 days at sea with worsening conditions for all people on board. Yesterday, a pregnant woman had to be evacuated to a Maltese hospital after she suffered convulsions. Her husband was prohibited from staying with her and is still on the ship. This was the second evacuation after a man collapsed the day before.
Negotiations between EU countries on fair quotas are ongoing while MOAS had to intervene and bring food items to the people trapped on the Alan Kurdi…
GREECE
Arrivals
Aegean Boat Report inform of six boats that landed or were rescued on the Greek Eastern Islands:
On the night between Wednesday and Thursday, one boat was picked up off Chios coast (46 people: 5 children, 5 women, 36 men), and one boat was picked up nearby the airport, Lesvos south (27 people: 14 children, 7 women, 6 men).
On Thursday morning one boat landed in Agathonisi, carrying 46 people, and was transported to Samos.
During the day one boat with 28 people reportedly landed on Nera and was transported to Samos.
On Thursday night one boat with 34 people on board was picked up off Farmakonisi and transferred to Kos and one boat landed at the Windmills, Chios south east (30 people: 6 children, 5 women, 19 men).
Prosecutor Rejects Accusations Against Greek Coast Guard Regarding the Agathonisi Tragedy of March 2018
On the 16th of March, 2018, a boat carrying refugees sank near the Greek island of Agathonisi. Eighteen people lost their lives. Only three survived and have lost all their loved ones.
The survivors have given their testimonies saying that they, “remained from early morning until before it got dark in the sea and no one came to rescue [them].” Greek authorities had known about the position of the boat in distress since the morning.
The three survivors and a relative filed a criminal complaint against the Greek coastguard for failure to conduct a prompt search and rescue operation. Investigations were also conducted by the Kos Public Prosecutor (then moved to the Samos prosecutor’s office)and by the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Greek Coastguard.
Read more about the case here.
Conditions Have Not Improved in Samos Camp
Common Medicine No Longer Available
No Borders have published information on a common medicine, Ponstan Oral, that will no longer be available according to the National Medicine Organisation (EOF).
ITALY
Arrivals
The Italian coast guard yesterday rescued a boat with 70 people on-board not far from Lampedusa. As reported by many sources, 17 Libyans were on board, fleeing the conflict. They are all in the island’s hotspot now.
Updates from the North-East
Local media report that on Thursday Italian authorities stopped some small groups of people who seemed to have crossed the border from Slovenia. They were found in the woods in the Rosandra Valley. A total of 80 people (all men, with 7 minors) have been brought to the the offices of the border police and the sea-border police (polizia marittima). It seems that these people started their journey in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A series of initiatives have been organised for the next days in protest with the imminent re-opening of the CPR (Detention centre) within the structure that already hosts the CARA in Gradisca D’Isonzo, and in solidarity with people on the move and those who stand in solidarity affected by state repression.
Today, Friday the 12th of April, a fundraising event will be held at 18.30 at Germinal, anarchist centre in Trieste (via Bosco 52/a), in support of the people recently arrested in Turin and Trento for their actions against CPRs.
Tomorrow, Saturday the 13th, the “Prima le persone — people first” march will be held in Trieste. The demo is organised by a number of local organisations and will start at Largo Barriera at 15.30.
On Sunday at 16.00, the group No CPR No Frontiere have organized a demonstration in front of the structure that will host the new CPR.
No-Go Area for People on the Move Introduced by Local Council in the North of Italy
Caloziocorte is a small town nearby Milan governed governed by a mayor of the Lega (the party of the interior minister Salvini).
During the moral panic started by the policies of the last government against people on the move on the country, the local council introduced a new “integration” plan selecting nine areas of the town — nearby, “schools, the train station, the library, church community centres,” — where people on the move won’t be allowed to reside, Italian media outlets report. Reception centres or any program of hospitality will have to be built at least 150 metres away from ‘sensitive’ locations. Moreover, another five areas have been selected for which a special permission will be needed.
Caloziocorte (with a population of around 13,000 people) hosts at the moment 30 asylum seekers.
SERBIA
UNHCR March Update
On [the 7th of] March, a man from Algeria, who had been accommodated in a government transit centre in West Serbia, perished in a tragic accident on the Sid train station at Serbia-Croatia border. Attempting to climb a train wagon, he touched the overhead high voltage cables and died on the spot. — UNHCR
In March, Serbian authorities ruled on 15 applications for asylum, granting protection to 11 and rejecting four. So far, during the first quarter of 2019, the Asylum Office recognised the needs for international protection of 25 asylum seekers in Serbia, granting 11 refugee status and 14 subsidiary status, which equals the total number of persons granted protection during the whole of last year.
Read the full update here.
GERMANY
Balkans Network Meetup in Berlin
A group of Berlin-based former volunteers who have been supporting people on the move along the Balkan route are organizing a meetup inviting, “all those in Berlin and surroundings who too were involved in the Balkans response to meet and exchange ideas and experiences.”
They aim to, “create networks within the volunteer community here in Berlin, and perhaps come up with ways of raising public awareness of the situation along the Balkans route.”
The first meeting will be on April 25th at the ‘Remise’ of the Housing co-op Wilma 19, in Magdalenenstraße 19, Lichtenberg, Berlin.
You can get in touch with the organizers via: magdalena.hartung@googlemail.com
Find more info here.
FRANCE
Paris Evacuations at Porte de la Chapelle and Rosa-Park
Solidarité migrants Wilson report that 10 police cars were present at Porte de la Chapelle and four cars at Porte D’aubervilliers. The eviction was carried out in the early morning without any prior notice to the people being evicted, or the collectives and organisations who help them. It is not known where they have been taken, although a citizen reported that a gym in Bagneux had been requisitioned, so it likely they have been taken here for “sorting.”
This camp has become the most visible in the Parisian sector. The others are normally confined under or along the periphery of Paris. “Out of sight, out of mind…”
After the eviction, citizens came to save and clean the tents, sleeping bags, and blankets that people had to leave behind. Despite the continued evacuations and evictions, the number of people present continues to grow and the citizens of Paris continue to work in solidarity with them.
Dunkirk Update
There are currently over 500 displaced people living in the Dunkirk area, with over 300 of them sleeping in rough conditions in tents. Mobile Refugee Support report that more people are arriving every day.
With spring now nearly here and the conditions no longer considered life threatening, there are growing fears that the emergency centre will soon be evicted. As we have seen in years before, these evictions put enormous strain on the organizations on the ground to provide tents and other essential items.
They have a current heeds list on their website if you can help.
EUROPE
Frontex Press Release on Migratory Situation in March
The border agency published a press release summarising the, “detections of irregular border-crossing at the external borders of the European Union.”
In March, 4,600 people were detected attempting to cross borders into the EU (7% less than in February). The main drop in arrivals was detected in Spain. The total for the first quarter of 2019 was 13% lower than a year ago at around 17,900.
The Eastern Mediterranean route accounted for two out of every three people detected in March. Numbers of people, “on this route increased by 10% from February to more than 3,000.” Since January, more than 9,000 people have been detected on this route. Predominant nationalities include Afghani (especially on the sea border) and Turkish (land border).
The Western Mediterranean saw the number of arrivals in March (450) drop to half that of February. Still, more than 5,450 people used this route since January (54% more than in 2018).
The Central Mediterranean saw a rise in the number of detections (225) in March. February, 2019 recorded a “nine-year low” of arrivals. Since January, 480 people used this route (92% fewer people than in 2018).
On the Balkan route there were nearly 650 detections. The total for the first three months reached nearly 2,300, or 81% more than a year ago.
Building Europe Manifesto
RSA are one of the five organisations from across Europe to sign a manifesto in preparation for the EU elections entitled — Building Europe, Together with Migrants and Refugees. They state that:
- The policy of deterrence rather than that of saving lives leaves the EU and its member states responsible for the increase in deaths at sea.
- The Dublin Regulation is unfair and falling apart, leading to dubious agreements, a situation of limbo, and uncertainty.
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