AYS Daily Digest 24/6/19: Tunisia, World Refugee Day celebrated with arrests and beatings
43 people still stranded on the Sea Watch 3 /// Emergency accommodation needed in Nantes /// Red Cross Bosnia prevent aid delivery in Bihac /// 600 families signed up to host refugees at home in Italy /// Voices from Libyan detention centres /// more…
#noborders — #OpenEUborders
Feature — Tunisia: no space for asylum seekers
Giulia Tranchina, human rights lawyer, and a few other observers reported about the situation in Tunisia.
Last week, 75 people were allowed to disembark, after having spent 18 days stuck in the port. The disembarkation was allowed only after all the people inside had been forced to accept being returned to their home countries, which they had fled in the first place, all with the complicity of UNHCR, whose special envoy for the central Mediterranean situation, Vincent Cochetel, sided with the decision of the Tunisian authorities and stated that the expectation of those stranded on the boat to be able to seek protection in Tunisia was “irrealistic”.
Last week, for World Refugee Day, a group of refugees and asylum seekers held a peaceful protest outside the UNHCR centre in Medenine, where they live. The demonstration was met with brutal repression by the Tunisian police.
A total of 30 people were arrested and reportedly beaten in the police station. Two journalists who were covering the event were attacked by the police.
Police violence was denounced by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES).
UNHCR has reportedly published a press release, blaming the refugees for the protests.
A number of people are still in detention, while their friends insist that they “did not do anything wrong, did not act in any ‘aggressive manner’ and they were the victims of violent beatings at the police station”. One was unconscious for several hours before being released.
Amnesty is now trying to support the detainees and a lawyer has been appointed.
TURKEY
A total of 4.9 Million refugees in Turkey
Turkish media report that, according to a UN official statement, Turkey is the country hosting the largest number of refugees in the world, for the fifth year in a row.
Selin Ünal, the spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Turkey, said that in 2019 numbers had increased since the year before. Turkish Interior Ministry figures say the number of refugees in Turkey was 4.2 million in 2017 and has now reached 4.9 million.
LIBYA
Messages from Zintan and Zawiya Al Nasr migrant detention centre
Sally Hayden published messages she received from people detained in the two detention centres in Libya:
From Zawiya Al Nasr:
From Zintan:
SEA
On their 12th day at sea, the SeaWatch3 addressed the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, to ask for the implementation of “interim measures asking Italy to allow the vessel to disembark migrants”, an Italian news agency reports.
The ECHR sent a series of questions to both the Sea Watch 3 and the Italian government. The Italian government should have answered by Monday afternoon, but no information could be found on any response.
The regulations of the court allow it to ask Italy to adopt what are defined as urgent measures that “serve to prevent serious and irremediable violations of human rights”.
Sea Watch is asking for donations to support the 43 people on board.
Another story about a “mother ship” boat in the Med
As happens every few months, the Italian authorities and Frontex have detected what they call a “mother ship” vessel in the Med, carrying 80 people and a smaller boat to squeeze them in and leave them in the middle of the sea.
Italian authorities have seized the boat and arrested the suspected traffickers.
It is worrying that, in the promotional efforts regarding this ‘victory’ of the border security regime carried out especially by the Frontex Agency, not a word was spent on the fate of these 80 people.
From other sources, we managed to discover that they disembarked safely in Lampedusa.
GREECE
Arrivals
Aegean Boat Report states that five boats arrived on the Greek islands on Monday 24th . They were carrying a total of 150 people.
Read the full post (in English and Arabic) here.
ITALY
A total of 600 Italian families sign up to host refugees
About 600 Italian families have in the past six months expressed their willingness to host a refugee as part of the Refugees Welcome Italia project, according to an Italian news agency report. The association said that this figure shows that ‘’the desire to help those forced to leave their homes due to conflict, persecution, or poverty remains strong despite the fact that the political climate is not very favourable. To the contrary: most of the time it is precisely the desire to do something tangible in such a critical moment that pushes people to sign up on the Refugees Welcome website.’’
BOSNIA
Red Cross preventing aid delivery in Bihac
Udruženje Solidarnost — Bosnia report that in Bihac the local Red Cross is preventing Bauern Helfen Bauern (‘farmers helping farmers’, a long-running organisation based in Salzburg) from delivering aid in the camp.
FRANCE
Accommodation urgently needed in Nantes
If you are in Nantes, or you know anyone who can help, L’Autre Cantine Nantes has published an urgent call for accommodation for two families and one single woman. Find the details and how to help here.
Conference on the situation of unaccompanied minors this weekend in Paris
This Saturday, members of Utopia 56 are organising a conference on the situation of unaccompanied minors in France. This will be the opportunity to describe their administrative and legal routes as well as the difficulties they face. Volunteers will present the different solutions and answers they are trying to bring to these young people.
The conference will be held on Saturday 29th, at 5PM, at the Cité Traeger, 19 Rue Boinod (18th arrondisment), Paris.
AUSTRALIA
Second case of self-immolation in two weeks on Manus island
Asylum Insight report that a man set himself and his accommodation alight at Hillside Haus on Manus Island. “The incident occurred following the man allegedly returning from the local medical centre where he sought treatment for back pain but was denied. The man is currently being treated at the Pacific International Hospital.
To add to the tragedy, Papua Guinea Police stated that the man will be charged with arson, which carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment, according to media outlets.
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