AYS Daily Digest 8/11/2019: Around 800 people to be moved from Vučjak to other camps in BiH
Arrest warrants issued against Libyan human traffickers//International presence failing refugees released from detention centres//EU to reinforce Frontex’ corps//Sad news from Chios//71 people to be deported from Diavata after a fight broke out//600 pushbacks cases reported by BVM since 2017//More deaths on the Balkan route and in Italy…
FEATURED
Authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have officially decided to close the horrific camp of Vučjak, as announced also by Minister of Security, Dragan Mektić, thanks to international and national pressure. The camp is expected to close officially within the next seven days.
Nearly 800 people will mainly be moved to Miral in Velika Kladuša, Bira in Bihać and Ušivak around Sarajevo, as reported by this local source, aggravating the already precarious living conditions in these centres. The people will be moved to the above mentioned camps, until a new, adequate solution can be found; Mektić himself reached out to IOM in order to extend contracts for the management of Sedra, Bira and Miral (which were expected to close in Mid-November).
On November 15, 2019, IOM will be closing both Miral (in Velika Kladuša) and Bira camps, kicking out over 2,000 people without having secured alternative accommodation centers, all while the temperatures continue to drop. Recommendations for locations for new reception centers have been consistently rejected by local authorities. As occurred last year, the situation will continue to be managed at the last minute in an ad hoc fashion. The key difference is that IOM, the Bosnian authorities and the EU had the entire year to plan for winter and to create lasting solutions to the migration influx in BiH. No such solutions are in sight.
A big question mark remains, therefore, whether these temporary shelters will be able to host all the people currently living in Vučjak, a number that was close to 2.400 in October.
On the other hand, local authorities in Bihać have reinforced “security measures” across the streets of the city, incrementing the number of police forces and patrols deployed “to make citizens feel safer”, while the mayor, Šuhret Fazlić, stated that the local government will neither allow any expansion of existing capacities, nor the opening of any new reception centres in the city at this time.
It is very difficult, with these conditions and contradictions between the local and national governments, to trace eventual solutions for people on the move.
One new location, mentioned as a possible area for the establishment of a temporary reception centre, is Lipa, Canton 10.
LIBYA
The International Criminal Court has prepared multiple arrest warrants for Libyan human traffickers, who are also involved in militias’ activities and obvious crimes against humanity committed both in formal and informal detention centres. The criminals accused are also those figures involved in political games with European (mainly Italian) authorities, which could be also taken under investigation by the Court.
In 2019 alone, more than 4.800 people were arbitrarily detained in Libya, most of them being extremely vulnerable, due to their proximity with war zones around Tripoli. Torture, sexual violence, abduction, extortion, forced labour, forced detention in inhuman conditions and killings are the main charges moved against the traffickers.
Up until now, though, the chances to see these criminals actually sentenced wer every low.
EU
EU to reinforce its Border and Coast Guards with additional 10.000 agents deployed, starting 2021; more powers and equipment will be given to the corps, in additiont to more support to improve return operations and strengthened cooperation with non-EU countries.
The Agency will be able to launch joint operations and deploy border guards to countries outside the EU and beyond the neighbouring countries.
GREECE
Chios.
After some members of the municipality proposed to use the abandoned recycling building adjacent Vial camp to shelter those residing in the camp in case of emergency and critical weather conditions, the mayor decided today to seal the entrance of the building in order to avoid any possible use of the structure.
Lesvos.
Thanks to the amazing work of volunteers, the area is now clean, but we ask ourselves how long it would have taken for authorities to clean the area and avoid an additional sanitary crisis.
Mainland.
Donations and volunteering opportunities.
Mano Aperta needs donations in order to continue its work in Corinth camp and be able to feed the 600 people living there. Please, get in touch if you can!
CRIBS International is looking for at least one volunteer caseworker. Their housing project supports families going through pregnancies, or raising infants up to one year old. The NGO also provides follow up support to people on medical, administrative and social issues.
If you have any experience in legal assistance, midwifery, psychosocial care or just a good general knowledge and understanding of the situation in Athens for asylum seekers and migrants, get in touch with their team!
BALKAN ROUTE
From January 2017 until October 2019, Border Violence Monitoring has documented 600 pushbacks cases along the Balkan Route. From Hungary through Croatia, the EU has shown its dark side, institutionalising an illegal practice and adding violence and brutality to the tactics deployed to secure its borders.
Illegal pushbacks are accompanied by:
-Denial of the right to make an asylum claim
-Beating and assault, tantamount to torture
-Complete lack of adherence to official procedure
-Theft and damage of personal belongings
-Stripping of clothing
-Collective expulsion from territory
A young 20-year-old man died from exposure in Ilirska Bistrica, Slovenia.
Family members settled in Germany were the ones who discovered the body, in the mountains around Sneznik. The man called them out for help when he realised he could no longer continue his journey.
Rosarno, Calabria.
Yet another avoidable death occurred on Wednesday in the fields surrounding the Piana di Gioia Tauro, sadly known for the exploitation of migrants’ labour in the fields.
Keita Ousmane, a 24 year-old man, died falling from a tree, while picking up oranges in the fields. Allegedly, the working tool he was using, a pair of scissors, lodged into his throat during the fall. The young man was performing his first day of work in that particular farm and had been regularly employed.
Investigations are ongoing to try to restore some sort of justice in this horrible case.
Original source here.
FRANCE
THE NETHERLANDS
SWEDEN
“French police clear away the young Swedish Afghans that Sweden tried to get rid of. Our family members, sports mates and school students. What do you wanna do with them, @johanssonmorgan @MRibbenvik @Pat_Eng @annieloof @SwedishPM @NyamkoSabuni?”
The activist EvaMärta Granqvist addressed the Swedish Migration Minister, the head of the Migration Agency, the chief of the border police and some party leaders on Twitter with this question.
Young Afghans, whose applications had been rejected by Sweden, had traveled to France during the past years, with the hope to finally be granted protection there. But, once again, their dreams were crushed when the French police in the early morning on Thursday evicted 1.611 refugees and migrants from the Port de la Chapelle settlement in Paris. Several of the people evicted were part of the group of Afghans deported from Sweden, many of them unaccompanied minors.
According to organizations on the ground 1.500 Afghans from Sweden could be in France now. The number is getting higher every week.
Original source here.
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