On April 25, 36 Nigerian men arrived in Porto Empedocle on the naval
ship Cassiopea and were brought to the reception center Villa Sikania
(Sicily). On May 8, the Prefettura issued deportation notices for the
36 men.
The group of Nigerians were subjected to pre-notification while the
migrants were waiting to be placed in a center to formally request
international protection. Instead, the Nigerian citizens were all
deported: 7 were transferred to the CIE in
Caltanissetta, 10 were transferred to the CIE in Torino and 19 were
sent to the CIE in Ponte Galeria in Rome.
Again this time it seems that the deportations were not legally
justified because of the individual conditions of the immigrants.
However, this situation shows how the CIEs are used to indiscriminately
sort potential asylum seekers, for the sole
purpose of making available places for the new arrivals in Attessa.
It is a very serious problem that the people from Nigeria, a country
known for ethnic and religious conflict in the North and for the abuse
of multi-national oil companies in the Nigerian Delta, are
indiscriminately subjected to the deprivation
of their personal liberties due to the lack of an Italian incoming
system and are prevented from their right to international protection.
Translated by Amy Mcminnn
