Jul 22, 2020
AYS Daily Digest 21/7/2020: Germany increasingly uses charter flights for deportations
And Frontex pays for it / Reportedly new fire in Moria / More boats in distress and abandoned by the EU / Man in Libya dies in front of UNHCR centre
The deportation industry
Every second day, a charter flight in Germany is departing. Since 2016, when Frontex became the authority to pay for such flights, the number of flights has increased massively to almost 170 per year, reported by taz referring to a small request of the Left party. In 2019, this equalled almost one fourth of all deportations. Contrary to regular flights, no third party or the public is observing such actions, and pilots rarely refuse to carry them out. Only 0.3% of failed deportations happened on such charter flights. Police violence was also hard to track on such actions, criticized Ulla Jelpke. Every three weeks, the EU agency is paying for a flight with its own airplanes. Hence, federal police does not need to accompany them. Until now, there have been 690 “experts” for this.
The situation within Germany is also becoming more tense. In Bamberg, an abbess is currently on trial, because she granted an asylum seeker from Eritrea church asylum. In case of a deportation, the woman would have been separated from her husband — they have a child together, reports Süddeutsche.
Greece
Reportedly, a big fire broke out in Moria camp on Lesvos. So far, no confirmed information is available. However, the camp itself and the surronding jungle seems to have been unaffected.
Journalist Giorgos Christides has discovered that military forces at Evros river were told that their summer leaves are being suspeneded. Police border forces and the navy were placed on high alert, as they expect a hot summer — and therefore an increase of people trying to cross in this region. Additionally, Ekathimerini speaks about Greek naval forces being alarmed over Turkish exploration over Kastellorizo until August.
Refugee.Info informs that wearing masks in supermarkets in Greece is becoming mandatory again. In other stores, shops and public transport it remains the same. The fine for not wearing masks is 150€.
The Moria Corona Awareness Team is delighted that its newly implemented recycling system is working. “Everyone already knows what to do, people know where to bring their bottles too and our teams started collecting. It’s working”, the group says.
Activists say that riot police is harrassing the Notara26 squat for no reason.
Sea
According to its own account, Alarmphone was aware of four boats in distress off Morocco last night. Overall, some 130 people where in need. Even though Spanish air planes helped in this Search and Rescue (SAR) operation, bad weather with high waves made it difficult to locate them. Hence, Alarmphone criticized the EU operations:
Instead of rescuing, Europe sends only aerial assets to observe from the sky how people suffer at sea. Stop watching, start rescuing!
In Italy 102 people from Tunisia arrived in Lampedua in six small boats, Ansa reports. More boats have been sighted.
Spain
Within only one week, three fires broke out in reception centers. According to AYS information, the new fire took place in the early hours of Friday in the settlement located along the Corchuelo road, in Lepe, and devastated some 70 shacks according to the 112 Andalusia emergency service. This goes along with the demands of the ombudsman demanding better conditions for the people.
Meanwhile, two people died in the Strait of Gibraltar trying to reach a safe harbor. Twelve more are still missing.
Lybia
A human rights activist on Twitter claims that one man has died in front of a UNHCR facility as medical workers did not let him enter. AYS cannot currently confirm this incident.
France
Caritas Intermelia has accused the French authorities of pushing back around 100 peope per day back to Italy. Maurizio Marmo, the charity’s president criticized, the new camp in Ventimiglia was still closed for new people, speaking to InfoMigrants: “We have learned that people can’t be stopped and it isn’t possible to modify a human being’s migratory plan,” he said.
Channel France24 reports on unaccompanied minors in Paris being abandoned by authorities: https://www.france24.com/fr/video/20200720-mineurs-isol%C3%A9s-paris
EU
Further reading
- ‘Fighting to prove we’re British’ (BBC)
- The aspirations and vulnerabilities of migrants in Ventimiglia (OpenDemocracy)
- Quarterly Mixed Migration Update (Mixed Migration Centre)
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