Migrant Sicily Newsletter, July 2017

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  • Criminalisation of rescuing and push backs at sea: the ban on fleeing from hell
  • The former welfare centre at Burgio-Corsello di Canicatti in the Pian del Lago camp: between exploitation, degradation and desperation
  • The reception of unaccompanied foreign minors and the ‘case’ of the ‘Porta Felice’ cooperative in Palermo
  • When reception is business: the people making money from migrants
  • Borderline Sicilia mobilises against the docking of the anti-migrant ship C-Star at Catania
  • News: Messina: a change of scene: from today the migrant landing operations to be at the Nuremberg quay; Minors treated badly: “He can split blood for all I care”.
  • Events: Catania, presentation at Feltrinelli of ‘Welcome To Italy’, a practical guide for migrants; #IoMiDenuncio: we are free to say “no!” to the Orlando-Minniti decree
  • Information and contacts

CRIMINALISATION OF RESCUING AND PUSH BACKS AT SEA: THE BAN ON FLEEING FROM HELL

While news reaches us every day of push backs of migrants in Libya on the part of the Libyan Coast Guard, a new report of witness accounts from migrants has been published by Oxfam, Borderline Sicilia and Doctors for Human Rights (MEDU) relating to the violence, torture, starvation and rape suffered in Libyan prisons. “The Hell Beyond the Sea” provides accounts from men, women and children who have been abused, sold and illegally arrested by the local militia, people traffickers and armed gangs controlling a large part of Libyan territory.
http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/07/oxfam-borderline-sicilia-doctors-for.html

People under a state of shock, wounded by knives and fire, victims of violence and sexual abuse: this is the condition of the migrants leaving Libya and arriving on Italian shores. Nevertheless, the Italian government is proposing heightened controls on the NGO operations to the European Commission, and even thinking of denying some of them access to Italian ports. The push towards further fortification, militarisation and the externalisation of the border to Libya itself is ever clearer.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/07/they-leave-as-people-they-arrive-as.html

In order to keep rescuing at sea, NGOs now have to sign up to 11 rules laid down in the Code of Conduct developed by the Italian government. Many of the points are controversial, from the ban on entering Libyan waters to the obligation to allow judiciary police on board.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/07/from-on-board-police-to-ban-whats-in.html

THE FORMER WELFARE CENTRE AT BURGIO-CORSELLO DI CANICATTI IN THE PIAN DEL LAGO CAMP: BETWEEN EXPLOITATION, DEGRADATION AND DESPERATION
Those “interned” in the former welfare centre at Burgio-Corsello live in a state of total abandonment and isolation, without any kind of legal assistance, psychological support or interpretation service. There are people who have been hosted at the Extraordinary Reception Centre (CAS) for more than 3 years, including young adults who were originally in communities for minors. Many of them have accepted the nearby work in the countryside, which pays very little. The exploitation does not stop there however, but includes sexual exploitation as well in many cases. This is true not only of the women, but also the youngest of the men, who perform sexual acts in exchange for a few Euros or the promise of a new pair of shoes

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/10/criminalising-those-who-rescue.html

We returned to the encampment at Pian del Lago in Caltanissetta after some months,where 25 migrants and asylum seekers are living in make-shift dwellings between the motorway pylons. The slow pace of the bureaucratic procedures have forced them into conditions of extreme frustration: months upon months of waiting for a piece of paper that will allow them to feel free in building their own lives and futures.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/07/porta-felice-exception-or-rule.html

THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED FOREIGN MINORS AND THE ‘CASE’ OF THE ‘PORTA FELICE’ COOPERATIVE IN PALERMO
A number of critical issues continue in the reception of minors: the long periods of time spent in the initial reception centres; the lack of a named legal guardian; the number of cases of minors turning 18 while in the centres and forced to recommence the procedures for the recognition of international protection. Through a reconstruction of the events surrounding the cooperative Porta Felice, we ask a serie of questions about current procedures and praxis.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/07/the-camp-at-pian-del-lago-caltanissetta.html

WHEN RECEPTION IS BUSINESS: THE PEOPLE MAKING MONEY FROM MIGRANTS
The reception system in Sicily is a business woth more than €143,000 per day, if you multiply the €30 that the state provides daily for each resident in an Extraordinary Reception Centre by the 4,791 migrants currently present in such centres on the island, according to the most recent ministry data. A galaxy of cooperatives manages the system, including those involved in politics as well as those which have worked in the sector for years.
http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/07/the-migrant-business-more-than-143000.html
The millionaire migrant reception businesses not only include pseudo-cooperatives and fake non-profits, but also well known construction companies and even a society for government oversight. This information is taken from the “Report on the workings of the reception system for the management of extraordinary circumstances connected to the exceptional influx of foreign citizens in national territory (2015)”, presented by the Minister of the Interior to the President of the Senate of the Republic on 13 March 2017.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/07/when-public-and-private-companies-take.html

BORDERLINE SICILIA MOBILISES AGAINST THE DOCKING OF THE ANTI-MIGRANT SHIP C-STAR AT CATANIA
Borderline Sicilia has signed the appeal launched by the anti-racist groups in Catania against the landing of the Fascist ship C-Star­ at the city port. The ship is being used by the group Generazione Identitaria, a racist and xenophobic group intent on carrying out paramilitary activities in the Mediterranean Sea in order to push back migrants and interrupt the work of the NGOs saving lives at sea.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/07/borderline-sicilia-mobilises-against.html

NEWS: MESSINA: A CHANGE OF SCENE: FROM TODAY THE MIGRANT LANDING OPERATIONS TO BE AT THE NUREMBERG QUAY; MINORS TREATED BADLY: “HE CAN SPLIT BLOOD FOR ALL I CARE”.

From 13 July the landing operations in Messina will take place in the military port, the Nuremburg dock, out of sigh of journalists and staff from voluntary associations, as well a from the eyes of tourists on the nearby cruise ships.
http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/07/messina-change-of-scene-from-today.html

The Justice of the Peace has issued a prison order on request of the prosecutor of Catania, relating to Giovanni Pellizzeri, 56, employee of the provincial health authority (ASP) and candidate in the recent mayoral elections in Mascali; his son, Mario Pellizzeri, 29, and Isabella Vitale, 48, his business partner. They are accused on corruption, maltreatment of minors and defrauding of public funds.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.fr/2017/07/young-migrants-abused-he-can-spit-blood.html

EVENTS: CATANIA, PRESENTATION AT FELTRINELLI OF “WELCOME TO ITALY”, A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR MIGRANTS; #IOMIDENUNCIO: WE ARE FREE TO SA “NO!” TO THE ORLANDO-MINNITI DECREE
The guide “Welcome To Italy” was presented at the Feltrinelli book store in Catania. The guide has been edited by activists from Euro-Africana non governmental network Welcome to Europe, who have offered direct support to migrants and refugees in North Africa and Europe since 2009.

http://siciliamigranti.blogspot.it/2017/07/catania-la-feltrinelli-presenta-welcome.html

Borderline Sicilia signs the appeal “IoMiDenuncio”: we are free to say “no!” to the Orlando-Minniti decree, in support of the lawyer Gianluca Dicandia and other activists who have been criminally charged following the flash mob in Rome on June 20th. The protest was organised by Amnesty International to mark the International Day of the Refugee.

INFO AND CONTACTS

For information on how to donate to Borderline Sicilia Onlus – Banca Etica Popolare di Palermo Agenzia di Via Catania, 24 IBAN IT 28 Q 0501804600000000141148 Codice BIC CCRTIT2T84A – and for updates on the current situation of migration in Sicily see the blog:

www.siciliamigranti.blogspot.com or follow our Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/Borderline-Sicilia-ONLUS-1145159495525466/

Our blogs

www.siciliamigranti.blogspot.com → In Italian

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Translation by Richard Braude