Italian media yesterday detailed how migrants, including Nigerians attempting to cross into Italy perished off the Libyan coast
Thirty-one migrants, including nine women, drowned off the coast of
Libya during an attempted crossing to Italy according to survivors who
managed to complete the journey, Italian media reported.
A dinghy carrying 53 migrants capsized on Friday evening, and
witnesses said 31 of those who had been thrown off it drowned in the
accident. Some of them are believed to be Nigerians.
The twenty-two survivors, who come from Nigeria, Gambia, Benin and
Senegal, said the dinghy had capsized after three days at sea. They were
rescued by a passing merchant ship and taken to Lampedusa Island, the
reports said.
Italian Interior Minister Angelo Alfano called for human traffickers
who shuttle migrants across the sea to Italy to be stopped on Sunday,
after 31 boat people drowned during an attempted crossing.
“The traffic of human beings must end. We need to stop the merchants
of death. The deaths off the Libyan coast and the terrible stories told
by the survivors show the need for a real collaboration between
countries to stop this string of tragic events,” Alfano said.
He called for “the network of collaboration to be strengthened with
the countries where the migratory flows begin” and slammed “the wicked
commerce of men who place their trust in the death merchants, who are
but cynical profiteers of a state of emergency.”
As the number of boat immigrants attempting the crossing soars in the
good weather, rescuers saved another 450 people trying to reach Italy
on Friday and Saturday, increasing tensions at the already crowded
refugee centre on the island.
Another 92 migrants — including 16 women — were rescued Sunday
morning in the Strait of Sicily after their boat got into difficulty.
Since 1999, more than 200,000 people have arrived on Lampedusa —
which is closer to North Africa than Italy — making it, along with the
Greece-Turkey border, one of the biggest gateways for undocumented
migrants and refugees into the European Union.
In nearby Malta, 112 migrants were saved from their drifting dinghy
overnight Saturday in a 13-hour operation during which eight of those
rescued were airlifted to hospital by helicopter for urgent medical
attention.
That group — which included 20 women and four children — was
suffering from exhaustion, dehydration and sun stroke, a Maltese army
spokesman said.
The Pope arrived on a Sicilian island to pray for boat migrants who
have died trying to land there – at the same time as nearly 200
immigrants from Africa were being detained.
Pope Francis was to throw a wreath of flowers into the sea off Lampedusa in memory of those who have drowned over the years.
The Vatican said he had been “profoundly touched” by the flood of immigration to the tiny island.
Just as his plane landed on the island in his first trip outside
Rome, a large group of immigrants was being escorted into the port on a
coast guard boat.
All were described as in “good” condition before they were taken away by bus to be processed.
The latest arrivals bring the number of migrants to land on Malta in
July to 880 — an all-time record for a month — while 1,200 people in
total have landed on the island so far this year.
Tensions between the migrants, who are held in overcrowded detention
facilities while their status is processed, and residents are frequent.
Pope Francis was also due to meet groups of immigrants who have successfully made the crossing.
His grandparents emigrated to Argentina from Italy, and as archbishop
of Buenos Aires he denounced the exploitation of migrants as “slavery”
and said those who did nothing to help them were complicit by their
silence.
The anti-immigration Northern League party is again fanning the
flames of racism in Italy, just days after a plea from Pope Francis for
greater tolerance in the predominantly Catholic country.
The pope last Monday flew on his first trip outside Rome to the tiny
of island of Lampedusa to “cry for the dead” migrants and refugees who
perish trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
He urged people to heed “the cries of others” on a trip that
humanitarian organisations and Italian parliament speaker Laura
Boldrini, a former United Nations refugee worker, hailed as “historic”.
But some politicians, who are little inclined to defend secularism in
Italy on issues such as crucifixes in churches, abortion or gay
marriage, called for greater “autonomy” from the Church.
Fabrizio Cicchitto, a deputy from Silvio Berlusconi’s People of
Freedom party, said there was a difference between “religious preaching”
and “a state handling a difficult, complex and insidious phenomenon”.
Lawmakers from the Northern League have gone further, calling on the
pontiff to provide “money and land to house immigrants” who land in
Europe.
The debate has taken a sinister twist after the deputy speaker of the
Italian Senate, Roberto Calderoli, a leading member of the Northern
League, compared Italy’s first black minister to an orangutan.
The remarks against Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge have been
condemned by most politicians, with Prime Minister Enrico Letta speaking
of a “shameful chapter” for the country and President Giorgio
Napolitano saying they were an example of “barbarism”.
Calderoli said the jibe was intended as a “joke” and added insult to injury saying he “liked animals a lot”.
The Northern League on Monday even decided to capitalise on the
publicity it is receiving and announced it would hold a demonstration
against illegal immigration in Turin on September 7.
Kyenge, a doctor and an Italian citizen of Congolese origin, says she has received daily threats since being nominated.
Her reaction has been low-key but she has said the slur shows “a lack
of knowledge of others and of the phenomenon of migration, as well as
an absence of culture of immigration”.
The centre-left Democratic Party has been equally critical and
leading senator Luigi Zanda said Kyenge’s proposal on a law to allow
children of immigrants to acquire Italian citizenship should now be
adopted as quickly as possible.
Historically a land of emigration, Italy’s foreign-born population
has increased exponentially over the last two decades ever since the
wave of immigration from Albania in 1992.
Since the revolutions in Tunisia and Libya there has also been an
increased influx of migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa transiting
through these countries.
In 10 years, between 2002 and 2012, the share of immigrants in the
population has tripled to reach 7.9 percent, according to figures from
the labour ministry.
At a meeting in Rome on Monday, Letta and his Maltese counterpart
Joseph Muscat called for greater assistance from the European Union to
manage undocumented migration.
Muscat, who last week threatened to send migrants back to Libya, said
the situation was “unsustainable” since there were no EU rules on the
“pushback and push forward of migrants” to other parts of the EU.
A former member of the Christian Democratic party, Letta said it was
“fundamental to apply the pope’s appeal launched in Lampedusa: ‘Never
again’.”
The United Nations says thousands of people have drowned in recent
years trying to reach Italian shores and 40 have died so far this year.
Italy has come under fire from groups as diverse as the Vatican and
the European Commission for its strict new anti-immigration laws, which
were passed in early July.
Under the legislation, illegal immigrants are liable to pay a fine of
10,000 euros (£8,700; $14,200) and can now be detained by the
authorities for up to six months.
In addition, people who knowingly house undocumented migrants can now face up to three years in prison.
The new law also permits the formation of unarmed citizen patrol groups to help police keep order.
The European Commission is investigating the new laws to see if they comply with existing EU legislation on immigration.
“Italy is absolutely not a racist country. We just want to be sure
that the immigrants who arrive on our land want to be here to work, not
to make crimes,” says Paolo Grimaldi, an MP for the right-wing Northern
League.
Mr Grimaldi, whose party leader, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni,
ushered the new law through parliament, firmly believes Italy is facing
an emergency.
With nearly 37,000 immigrants arriving on their shores last year, mostly via boats from Libya and Tunisia, many Italians agree.
“There are too many people. You see in the city, on the streets in
Milan, two million immigrants, I think,” says one Milanese man, who did
not want to give his name.
“I want to help people who are poorer than me, but I want to know
where they come from and what they are going to do,” says Martina, a
23-year-old Northern League supporter. “It is better if they come here
legally.”
According to Saskia Sassen, an expert on European immigration at
Columbia University in New York, Italy’s new laws could be the beginning
of “a catastrophic phase” for not only migrants but also Italian
citizens.
“This law really alters the landscape by criminalising the violation,” she says.
“In the past you were in violation of the law. That doesn’t mean you
were a criminal. This law means if you break the law, now you are
considered a criminal. That’s a big deal.”
Mr Grimaldi readily admits that almost no illegal immigrants would be
able to pay a 10,000-euro fine. In fact, he says, that is the point.
European Union laws oblige all 25 countries party to the Schengen
Agreement, which allows passport-free travel across the area, to allow
illegal immigrants to make two “mistakes”, and the new Italian law makes
such “mistakes” more likely.
“We want to expel these illegal immigrants to their country of provenance,” Mr Grimaldi says.
“If they have already been arrested for something before, if they don’t pay the fine, we will have recidivism.”
The immigrant will have made two “mistakes”, and “so then we can make the expulsion”.
Italy issues very few visas to people who are already living in the
country, and demand for work permits from potential immigrants greatly
outstrips supply.
It quickly becomes a Catch-22 situation – illegal immigrants who have
no visa are unable to get a job; those without a job are unable to get a
visa.
As a result, both illegal and legal migrants have become an increasingly obvious presence on the streets of Italian cities.
Pendo
says when it was time to leave the hangout spot, the organizers thought
it best for them to leave in separate cars just to avoid the media. ‘So
David paid for my cab that followed them directly to the hotel located
in Hurlingham. When I got there, he sent his deejay (DJ Olu) to give me
his key card to his room as he talked to someone. He escorted me to the
room and the rest is self-explanatory’.
