May 24, 2021
AYS Weekend Digest 22–23.5.2021: Suicides and self-harm in Italy’s CPRs
Turkey and EU supporting Libyan Coast Guard // Lives at risk at sea // Another death on Chios // Parwana Amiri call to action // Questions raised over 6.2 million camp consultancy in Greece // Boy dies trying to reach Cueta // Updates from Moria, Spain, Italy and much more…
FEATURED: Suicides and self-harm in Italy’s CPRs
This weekend a suicide took place in the CPR in Turin. The 23-year-old boy from Guinea was in solitary confinement for health reasons. On May 9 he had been attacked in Ventimiglia by three people who were identified and denounced thanks to video surveillance images. However, as a result it was discovered that he did not have papers. He was being detained in Turin in order to be deported and had limited access to mental health support. Visits from the Department of Mental Health only take place every 15 days.
At the same time, in Milan’s CPR a boy, thought to be from Iraq, attempted to take his own life by drinking a bottle of detergent. After a few hours he was transferred to the hospital, there is no update at the time of writing.
Mai più lager — NO ai CPR report that mental health problems are increasingly common among detained people as is the misuse of sedatives. As a result of those who are detained being seen as a risk to themselves, other problems have arisen.
A guy with a twisted ankle who needs a crutch has been left without the latter, refused to him because of the potential use of blunt objects for self harm.
Another one, with an abscess underway to a wound and high fever, was left without weekend care and without even a thermometer to check his temperature, possibly for fear of self-harm.
The situation these people face is severely under reported and they remain trapped in prison-like conditions with no way out and no support.
A country that hosts places of humiliation of human dignity like these cannot be proclaimed to be a civil country.
We are disgusted by what is happening but above all the complete silence in which this is happening. — Mai più lager — NO ai CPR
LIBYA
Turkey supporting Libyan Coast Guard
Local media report that Turkey is continuing to support the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG), including intercepting boats and handing them directly to the LCG. On the 17th of May this was the fate of 97 people who had escaped Libya.
Meanwhile, the EU will also continue to support Libyan returns. EU commissioner Yvla Johansson did mention that adequate reception facilities were important… by which we can only assume she means that returning people to a situation of systemic abuse and danger is wrong…?
It’s difficult to keep up with the many statements made by official bodies trying to justify returns to Libya. The only thing that is universal to all of them is that their decisions are not based on the wellbeing of people on the move.
SEA
Lives at risk
Alarm Phone report that 95 people are still on a rubber boat off the Libyan town of Sabratha. They have sent the GPS location to relevant authorities but no action has been taken at the time of writing.
They are in grave danger due to strong winds and high waves that could capsize the boat any moment. We demand an immediate rescue operation! Don’t put people’s lives at risk!
GREECE
Another death on Chios
In the third incident in recent weeks a young woman of 34 who was suffering from tuberculosis has lost her life in hospital. She was living outside the official camp in diabolical conditions and was originally from Somalia. Deaths such as hers would be easily preventable if there was a humane asylum process in place which respected people’s right to life.
Photo update from Moria 2.0
Families are still living in tents with limited facilities. What has changed? Nothing. Read our Special about the aftermath of the fire in the old Moria camp HERE.
Parwana Amiri asks us all to take action against the walls
You can sign the petition against the walls being constructed as part of the new ‘closed and controlled’ approach to housing structures HERE. After all, it’s our money they’re spending.
From Malakasa, Nea Kavala, Polycastro and Diavata camps to the world!! “if you have find us silent against the walls, it doesn’t mean that we agree to live like prisoners, but in fact we are all afraid to be threaten, if we speak out and raise our voices!! — Parwana Amiri
More money mysteries…
Local news reports that judicial authorities have opened an inquiry about procurement irregularities regarding a 6.2 million Euro contract awarded by the Migration Ministry to a consultancy firm for monitoring the construction of the new closed camps. Despite the public call, only one firm is known to have responded. The Ministry has denied any knowledge of this.
Legally a consultancy on construction contracts in Greece cannot exceed 240,000 Euros.
Update from Patras
No Name Kitchen report on the ongoing difficult situation in Patras where people live in abandoned factories with very limited support. However, they did celebrate Eid together. Find out more and how to support them HERE.
SPAIN
Cueta: A young boy died this weekend
A young person from Morocco died this Saturday in Ceuta after falling from a height of ten meters as he tried to jump onto one of the ships that goes to the Peninsula. 7000 people from Morrocco have now been returned after the recent high numbers of arrivals. Over 400 children, some as young as seven, are spread throughout Cueta often sleeping rough.
Protest at the CAI of Santa Cruz
ITALY
Italy and Tunisia cooperation
Mai più lager — NO ai CPR report that Tunisia has accepted Rome’s request for greater flexibility on returns. There are currently two weekly flights carrying up to 80 people. There will now be a ‘dedicated hotline’ between the Italian and Tunisian authorities in order to report the departure of boats from the Tunisian coast using aerial and radar surveillance.
Seven billion Euros of the new EU Mediterranean Agenda will also serve to ‘promote the development’ of North African countries with the aim of creating alternatives for the population and limiting ‘migratory flows’.
SAR rescue crews forced to do longer quarantine
MALTA
Arrivals reduced
A total of 147 people have disembarked in Malta between January and May, in contrast to the 1,273 who arrived in the same period last year, according to UNHCR data. According to Alarm Phone this has coincided with a drop in rescues by the Armed Forces of Malta.
WORTH WATCHING
On the Move with Begüm Başdaş: Pushbacks & Criminalization in the Aegean Sea / Guest Lorraine Leete from Legal Centre Lesvos.
WORTH READING
Frontex: Around 180 refugees drowned despite aerial surveillance — “Frontex is increasingly monitoring Europe’s borders from the air. BuzzFeed News has reconstructed several cases in which more than 180 refugees have drowned, although Frontex planes have previously circled nearby. By Vera Deleja-Hotko, Ann Esswein, Bartholomew of Laffert”
AP PHOTOS: Death and despair on Europe’s African Frontier: “The young man wore red-and-white-soled sneakers for what proved to be his fatal final journey. The shoes were still on his feet when Spanish rescue workers fished his inert body from the waves of the Mediterranean and wrapped it in foil, like a macabre gift.”
‘My life’s on hold’: inside the UK’s hostile environment for hidden migrants — An overview of life lived in the UK’s hostile environment.
Government ‘devoid of compassion and competence’ over English Channel crossings as numbers double — “Netherlands and Sweden join list of EU countries saying they will not agree to take asylum seekers from UK”
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