Newsletter BORDERLINESICILIA – January 2018
- Libyan detention centres: slaves, torture and death
- The social exclusion that kills
- New arrivals in Sicilian ports: people keep dying in the sea
- The sewn lips of Lampedusa
- News: Borderline Sicilia celebrates its 10 years with a new homepage
LIBYAN DETENTION CENTRES: SLAVERY, TORTURE AND DEATH
Continuing to ignore what is happening in Libya is unacceptable: the accusations of violence committed in detention centres – supported by direct testimonies, videos and photos – are on today’s agenda. We wonder how the international community and the EU, while implementing policies that impede arrivals, allow that these people are undergoing inhuman torture and death. We cannot accept that in the year 2018 a human being still has to pronounce these words: “I am asking the international community, the EU, the African Union, the Italian state, to have pity on us black people, to have pity on us black people coming to Italy…”
http://localhost:81/newborden/libia-ecco-cosa-succede-nei-centri-di-detenzione-per-migranti
THE SOCIAL EXCLUSION THAT KILLS
Social exclusion and marginalisation have devastating psychological and physical consequences for the concerned. It is a marginalisation due to a political system that abandons migrants to themselves – the fear of being deported or repatriated – generates more and more “invisible people” who can only fear the system that surrounds them. There are many associations trying to compensate the lack of right to protection for those “invisible” in order to rehabilitate their dignity and their life. Unfortunately, most of the times it is impossible to address all needs since the work is constantly done in emergency caused by insufficient tools and collapsing structures.
http://localhost:81/newborden/homeless-tunisino-trovato-morto-a-palermo-terzo-decesso-in-3-mesi/
http://localhost:81/newborden/ali-and-the-other-announced-dead/
NEW ARRIVALS IN SICILIAN PORTS: PEOPLE KEEP DYING IN THE SEA
The tragedy of death continues unhindered after the tragic shipwreck on January 6th that has caused the death of 64 people. In the first month of 2018 – according to statistics of the Ministry of Interior – 4.256 people have been rescued at sea, thereof 3.146 coming from Libya. In the week from 15th to 21st of January the Sicilian ports of Catania, Palermo, Pozzallo and Messina have assisted the arrivals: ship operators active at sea report stories of extremely difficult and intense rescue operations, caused by bad weather conditions as well as the numerous damaged vessels and the few ships available for rescue. There have been many deferred rejections of men and women mostly from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. The Aquarius rescue operations on the 27th and 28th turned out to be not less complex, when the crew had to witness helplessly the intervention of the Libyan coast guard, that forced them to withdraw from a vessel in difficulty. Some hours later the Aquarius had to intervene in a rescue operation, when a dingy shipwrecked and some people lost their lives.
http://localhost:81/newborden/new-arrivals-in-sicilian-harbours/
http://localhost:81/newbordlo-sbarco-della-nave-aquarius-ad-augusta/
THE SEWN LIPS OF LAMPEDUSA
The protests of Tunisians locked up at the hotspot of Lampedusa continue, for days now they have sewed their mouths: a silent protest that continues to happen unnoticed amidst the indifference of many. They are forced to live every day in a deteriorating situation and in abandonment, waiting for imminent repatriation. Complaints concerning living conditions in the Hotspot have even reached Mauro Palma, Italy’s national guarantor for people deprived of liberty. After his second visit he stated that the situation has not changed: “The centre of Lampedusa seems to be a misused centre of detention although it should only be a hotspot, that means, a place where people are identified and stay for a very short while. We are on an island, and when migrants are given the expulsion decree with the obligation to leave the territory within 7 days, this merely triggers despair, because how can you leave an island without any means at all? And it’s in this context that we have to understand the suicide that happened on the 5th of January this year.”
http://localhost:81/newbordla-storia-si-ripete-la-giornata-della-memoria-a-lampedusa/
NEWS: BORDERLINE SICILIA CELEBRATES ITS 10 YEARS WITH A NEW HOMEPAGE
Our association was created in Sicily in 2008 with the goal of promoting activities for the social inclusion of migrants, providing legal and social assistance, raising awareness of the local population on topics related to migration, defending rights and guaranteeing equal opportunities through participatory and direct action, encouraging good regional practices and activating virtuous networks in the Sicilian context, spreading and connecting information in the sector of right defense and promoting research activities in the area of immigration. Until the end of this year all published content was accessible on the blog migrantsicily, while from January 29th it will be available in Italian, English and German on the new homepage http://localhost:81/newbord.
http://siciliamigranti.blogspot.it/2018/01/borderline-sicilia-festeggia-i-suoi.html#more
Translation: Helena Hattmannsdorfer
