Newsletter SICILIAMIGRANTI – December 2017
- The inhumanity of migration policies
- The forced boat drivers: the umpteenth scapegoat
- ASGI: Critical issues in the “E-Migrantes” project
- News: The Permanent Tribunal of the People condemns the EU and individual member states
- Info and contact
THE INHUMANITY OF MIGRATION POLICIES
The destiny of migrants is in the hands of the migration policies that the EU and, in particular, Italy put into action daily. Policies that have allowed unaccompanied minors – highly vulnerable subjects – and therefore recipients of greater protections, to find themselves amongst the atrocities of Libya and following that, forced to enter the corrupt Italian reception system that ignores the prescriptions of the Zampa Law. We end 2017 with an illustration of how in relation to the decrease in arrivals, the cases of isolation and bad reception, of exploitation in seasonal work, of illegitimate procedures, of discrimination and grave violations against the rights of migrants have not decreased.
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FORCED BOAT DRIVERS: THE UMPTEENTH SCAPEGOAT
Migrants who have suffered torture in Libyan detention camps alongside every type of threat and violence, are increasingly forced to drive the boats themselves. In the last few years the figure of the boat driver has changed from that outlined in Article 12 of the Consolidated Text on Immigration. It now requires a complete revision. In fact, the majority of those accused of the crime of facilitating irregular immigration are forced to be boat drivers and as victims of trauma should, on the contrary, be considered vulnerable people.
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ASGI*: CRITICAL ISSUES IN THE “E-MIGRANTES” PROJECT
On the 21st November 2017 the Tribunal and Court of Appeal of Catania presented the project “E-Migrantes.” ASGI outlined several critical issues to review including: the lack of development of the Tribunal staff, the insufficient use of telecommunication instruments, the temporary assignment of one magistrate who is unable to process the heavy load of cases, notably elongating the waiting time for appeals, and the choice of a single model for appeals for asylum seekers that does not guarantee an individual and rigorous evaluation of all the subjective and objective elements of every case. Such decisions could lead to an increase in an already extremely high percentage of rejections from the territorial commissions of Catania and Syracuse.
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NEWS: THE PERMANENT TRIBUNAL OF THE PEOPLE CONDEMNS THE EU AND THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBER STATES
After the session of Barcelona – the 7th and 8th of July 2017 – the PTP* convened in Palermo, from the 18th of the 20th December 2017, to evaluate if the policies and practices adapted by the EU and its member states constitute a violation of migrants’ human rights. Direct testimonials from migrants were heard and experts were called to present their evidence to the internal jury convened from the Tribunal. Organisations such as Sea-Watch, MEDU, Borderline Sicilia, Oxfam Italia, Baobab Experience and LasciateCIEntrare recounted and analysed the evidence gathered over several years. At the conclusion of the session at Palermo, the afternoon of the 20th of December, a sentence of condemnation for complicity in torture and other crimes was pronounced against the EU, its individual member states and Italy; the condemnation also included the code of conduct of Minniti and the facilitation of the Libyan Coast Guard operations in international waters to the detriment of migrants.
“To migrate is a political and essential act. The ius migrandi** is the human right of the new millennium that, supported by activist organisations, international movements and an increasingly well-informed and aware public opinion, will require a fight equal to that of the abolition of slavery. But there is no right to migrate without hospitality, not in the reductive or simple right of a temporary visit, but as a right to residency.” The second session will be held in Paris on the 4th and 5th of January 2018 and will focus on the internal borders of the EU, the political relationships and border closure procedures of the various member states.
INFORMATION 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
www.siciliamigrants.blogspot.com → In German
www.migrantsicily.blogspot.com → In English
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*Il Tribunale Permanente dei Popoli – The Permanent Tribunal of the People
* Ius migrandi – The right to migrate
* ASGI: Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration
Translated by Meg McLellan
