AYS News Digest 15/3/23: New deaths in the sea, old issues
Deaths reported after shipwrecks in the Aegean and off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean / The politics of non-assistance and the delegation of the duties of Italy and Malta to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard led to the death of 30 people — a statement / Frontex steadily heading in the same direction, about to provide more support to Greece to deport rejected asylum seekers / and some good reads we picked up
A little girl was among the five dead bodies recently retrieved after the tragedy in Crotone, where 86 people have been claimed dead so far.
Continuing the line of recent events of pushbacks in the Aegean, reportedly, the Turkish coast guard has rescued 38 people and recovered four bodies after two boats were reported to have sunk off Turkey on Tuesday. The majority of those arriving and claiming asylum in Greece are reportedly from Afghanistan.
On the other side of the Mediterranean, the latest shipwreck off the Libyan coast on 11 March has left 30 people missing at sea. The 17 survivors, all Bangladeshi nationals, arrived on Monday afternoon (13 March) in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo in the Ragusa province, ANSA reported.
Read more: 17 survivors of shipwreck off Libya arrive in Italy’s Pozzallo.
Joint Statement by Alarm Phone, Mediterranea Saving Humans and Sea-Watch
The 30 people who died would still be alive, if only the Italian and Maltese authorities had decided to immediately coordinate a proper rescue operation.
“These deaths are not the result of an accident. They are the consequence of deliberate political choices. Italian and Maltese authorities could have intervened immediately. Instead, they chose to wait for too long and referred to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard as the responsible and ‘competent’ authority, thereby wasting the time that was needed to save all of the distressed.”
Find the entire statement here.
GREECE
Frontex to help Greece send people back
Greece has reiterated a call for the EU as a whole to increase returns of migrants to their home countries on the occasion of a deal made with the Frontex head, to have Frontex support and speed up sending the rejected asylum seekers back.
Frontex receives more funds than any other EU agency, with a budget of more than €750 million in 2022. It already provides a large number of officers and equipment to Greece to help control its sea and land borders through Operation Poseidon: More than 500 personnel, 11 boats and 30 patrol cars, as well as other equipment, are currently deployed, said the agency in a press release this week.
The activities of Frontex in Greece have been widely criticized in relation to alleged human rights abuses and illegal pushbacks of refugees. A report last year by the European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF accused the agency, then led by Fabrice Leggeri, of turning a blind eye to human rights violations.
If you have a particular interest in what Frontex is and what they have been doing during the past years, you can go back to our series of AYS Specials focused on the Agency.
Check out the series: PART 1 (2004–2016), PART 2 (2017–2019), PART 3 (2020) and PART 4
BELGIUM
Protesting for a place to stay
A protest was organized in Brussels on Monday to occupy a public building and demand an emergency solution for some 50 asylum seekers who are currently lacking accommodation.
The Belgian authorities are required by law to provide accommodation to those seeking asylum. However, on Monday, 13 March, it seemed at least 50 asylum seekers were still lacking that provision. A protest was organized to occupy a public building and demand an emergency solution, reported the German news agency dpa. It is just the latest in a long-running accommodation crisis facing asylum seekers in Belgium.
UK
Deaths in official accommodation more than doubled in 2022
46 people, including five newborn babies, died while housed at Home Office asylum-seeker accommodation in 2022 — more than double the number of deaths in 2021, reported The Civil Fleet.
Those deaths have, bizarrely, received very little attention and even less reporting.
A growing proportion of the torture survivors we treat are languishing in Home Office accommodation while their asylum applications are left in limbo
-clinical services manager at Freedom from Torture’s Glasgow Centre
“Rather than addressing the appalling conditions in which people fleeing torture and war are forced to live in this country, this government is ramping up hateful rhetoric and pushing ever more extreme anti-refugee legislation which will make life even harder for some of society’s most vulnerable.”
As the government aims to bar all those who cross the Channel in small boats from ever being able to claim asylum in Britain, it is a worrying fact that the proposed measures (The ‘Illegal Bill’) were passed to continue to a second reading in UK’s parliament on Monday.
Britain’s ‘illegal immigration’ bill makes progress through Parliament
WORTH READING
- Europe’s only preoccupation regarding people on the move is that they don’t arrive to Europe: Migranti, l’unica preoccupazione dell’Ue è che non arrivino in Europa
- The New Humanitarian’s Flipping the Narrative series looks at how colonialism and white supremacy are central to the formation and functioning of the global refugee protection system: The roots of the refugee protection system are colonial and racist.
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