Migrant Sicily Newsletter, October 2017

• The Italian Political Deficit: Oppression and Exploitation in Seasonal Work
• New and More Isolated Extraordinary Reception Centres
• The Security Policies that Compromise the Protection of Migrants
• Institutional Discrimination in the Exercising of Rights and Access to Services
• News: The EU Confirms the Creation of a Hotspot at Messina; Doctors for Human Rights Presents an Online Map of Migrant Routes
• Events: OpenEurope Presents a Series of Multi-Disciplinary Courses for Workers in the Reception System in Messina and Syracuse
• Info and Contacts

Migrant Sicily Newsletter, August 2017

• Outside of the system: Foreign minors and young adults deprived of protection in centres in Eastern Sicily
• Fortress Europe declares war on migrants. Between repression, controls on rescuing, push-backs at sea and armed reception
• Disorganisation, illegal practices and violations of human rights: the failures of a reception system still based on “emergency”
• News: Migrants recount tales from the Libyan hell: “Sold as slaves, beaten and forced to leave”
• Information and contacts

Migrant Sicily Newsletter, July 2017

• 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

Migrant Sicily Newsletter, June 2017

• A system which ignores human dignity: from the landing procedures to the reception centres 
• Guilty of solidarity. The campaign of criminalising giving assistance to migrants continues 
• The 'ad lib' reception system for foreign minors: making a buck from the youngest 
• Out of sight, out of mind: a visit to the “Mondonuovo” extraordinary reception centre at Testa dell'Acqua (Syracuse) 
• Deportations from Lampedusa continue, while the situation in the Hotspot worsens 
• News: Trapani, the Hotspot were 5 migrants arrive every hour (since December 2015). The tin-city for migrants at Messina-Bisconte nears completion 
• Events: Controversies in European Migration Policy: Conceding protection vs. border security (KideM). The launch of the Threadable crowdfunder, a social enterprise transforming histories of exclusion through ethical clothing 
• Info and contacts 

Migrant Sicily Newsletter – March 2017

• The manhunt for the “alleged boat drivers” and the undignified reception at Sicilian ports
• Minors on the edge: between material deprivation and rights denied
• The unending massacre a stone's throw from Fortress Europe
• Deportations, evictions and abandonment: no way out for those in search of hope
• News: Caltanissetta. After the Eviction, the Shanty Town Returns. Shacks Without Water: The Asylum Seekers Speak Out; Migrants. A Clear Way Ahead For The Minniti-Orlando Decree: The Central Points
• Info and contacts

Migrant Sicily Newsletter, February 2017

• Europe's silent war on migrants, among illegality, mass rejections and abandonment
• The Lampedusa Hotspot: New arrivals and daily violations
• In Augusta, undignified detention, abuse and arrests await those who survive the sea
• News and Events: The Palanebiolo tent-city in Messina finally to be taken down. In Catania, the third event of the international “KideM” project
• Info and contacts

Migrant Sicily Newsletter, January 2017

• Police Operations, Repression and Daily Massacres: Europe Continues to Build Walls Against Migrants
• The Invisible People of Campobello di Mazara, Caught Between Exploitation, Destitution and Abandonment 
• Eastern Sicily: The Hostile Reception of Minors, Housed in Tent-Cities, Hotspots and Emergency Centres 
• News: Pozzallo: Money For Migrants Used By The Local Council For Everything From Fixing the Gym to Paying Overtime 
• Info and Contacts 

Migrant Sicily Newsletter, October 2016

• Commemorating the Victims, Shutting Out the Survivors: Fortress Europe's Crocodile Tears
• Sicily: An Improvised Reception System Producing Inhumane Detention and Illegal Practices
• Militarised Coasts and Invisible Borders: The Fatal Tools of a Europe Turning Its Back on Migrants
• News and events
• Information and contacts

Migrant Sicily Newsletter, September 2016

- Drawn-out Landing Operations and Facilities in Free-fall: The Failure of the Italian System Creates Violence and Exploitation

- Continual Rejections and Illegal Detention, Inhuman Consequences of the “Hotspot” Approach

- Hotspots and Extraordinary Reception Centres: The Non-Places of the Reception System for Unaccompanied Minors

- News and Events

- Information and Contacts

Newsletter, June/July 2016

• Dying in Silence: dozens of migrants continue to lose their lives at sea
• Landings, transfers, reception: the emergency approach only produces violence
• A minor logic: young people in flight detained, with no dignified reception
• Parliamentary visits at Pozzallo, Mineo and Lampedusa
• Messina: New funds for the reception system, and rumours of a future Hotspot
• Events: Two international meetings in Palermo: “In flight from Libya, who really are the presumed boat drivers?”, a EACEA KideM project; and “Borders, Reception and Rights in Sicily and Europe”, a day of workshops and dialogue organised with the Evimed project.
• News: a course in Global Management, an education program designed for young graduates from Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt and Morocco
• Info and contact

Migrant Sicily Newsletter, May 2016

• Lampedusa: migrants protest against inhumane treatment, for dignity and clarity
• Hundreds of new deaths and disappearances. An unacceptable daily tragedy
• Unaccompanied minors: extended detention at Pozzallo and delays in funds for the management of Sicilian migrant centres
• The CARA* at Mineo is confirmed as the new Hotspot. Accounts of the use of force, and deportations from Ventimiglia
• A dignified welcoming becomes merely a mirage: the case of the Gambian migrants in Palermo, and the minors at Fondachelli
• News and events: Borderline Sicily, along with Oxfam Italia and the Diaconia Valdese, launches the #OpenEurope project. Seminar in Catania on reception and rejections
• Info and contacts

Migrant Sicily Newsletter, April 2016

- Isolated, abandoned and sleeping rough: Italy fails to welcome those who need protection

- “We fled to survive”: thousands of migrants continue to arrive on the Sicilian coast

- The massacres are commemorated, but the deaths at sea continue: Europe raises new barriers

- News: the accusation against a Borderline Sicily worker is filed. Lamin's experience: a refugee in Italy, but imprisoned in Mali by bureaucracy

Newsletter – January 2016

- Hotspots, rejections and relocations: Fortress Europe controls and discriminates against migrants in flight
- “We are refugees but we are not free”: the Eritrean migrants' protest continues, while Frontex declares a zero tolerance approach on identification
- A country which rejects people and a system which fails to welcome them
- News and events: the second edition of “Arte Migrante”

Newsletter, December 2015

-        Europe wants new hotspots: Italy continues to violate the rights of migrants.

-        Lampedusa, Agrigento and Syracusa: rejections, detentions and expulsions among migrant protests and institutional indifference.

-        New arrivals: ever greater confusion and less respect for human dignity

-        Unaccompanied minors: when the most vulnerable are the first to be turned away.

Newsletter, November 2015

- Hotspot, rejections and deportations: Further infringements and illegal methods in Italy
- Worrying about the ones arriving and commemorating those who have not survived the escape
- Establishing a life in Italy: the best practices of some centres in the province of Ragusa
- Exploiting migrants are an open secret. The case of the camp in the town of Campobello di Mazara
- News and events: the ‘Roadmap’ is coming and the right to asylum is utopian

 
HOTSPOT, BACK TRANSFERS AND DEPORTATIONS: OTHER INFRINGEMENTS AND UNLAWFUL PROCEDURES IN ITALY

Italy is neglecting the right of asylum to meet the European requirements. In Pozzallo MSF* publicly denounces what happens to the migrants during and after their arrival also in a report for the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission on Reception Issues. The lack of legal information and adequate support for asylum seekers, the use of deception to obtain fingerprints: These are just some of the clues that arouse the suspicion that provisional arrest is introduced insidiously, without judicial review and in violation of the fundamental rights of migrants who are not immediately deported, but held in an unworthy place. Also the condition of the centre in Pozzallo is far from the minimum standards: It is an unacceptable condition that requires an urgent and structured intervention.

http://siciliamigranti.blogspot.it/2015/11/dallo-sbarco-allhotspot-allespulsione.html
http://siciliamigranti.blogspot.it/2015/11/migranti-msf-denuncia-pozzallo.html

The illegality of some procedures affects partly vulnerable unaccompanied minors that are registered incorrectly as of full age upon arrival and therefore rejected at a later date. The lack of information exchange before the police screening and the fate of young people who have suffered serious acts of violence rests in the hands of a few stubborn lawyers and activists has also been denounced by the UNHCR and Save The Children.

But the insolence goes even further: The Italian government seeks to ensure the European interests ahead of human rights and participates implicitly in the handling of an initial reception that prioritises economic factors. More and more asylum seekers get a deportation reprimand following the rejection of the application for international protection by the prefecture of Agrigento. This is an illegal procedure against migrants who have the right to appeal against the rejection since they are still considered as asylum seekers with the right to be sheltered, but are sent to the streets instead where they are completely defenceless against exploitation. In a press release, Borderline Sicilia calls for a meeting with the relevant prefectures concerning the new procedures that have their origins in the policies of the new Road Map of the Interior Ministry.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.it/2015/11/the-factory-of-irregular-migrants.html
http://migrantsicily.blogspot.it/2015/11/agrigento-deportation-of-asylum-seekers.html

CONCERNS ABOUT THOSE ARRIVING AND COMMEMORATION OF THOSE WHO DIDN’T MAKE IT

Further hundreds of migrants arrive in Sicily and every time there are concerns about illegal procedures applied against them. There are also concerns about accommodation might be unfit for human beings. It even goes so far that there is doubt whether it is possible to apply for protection, legal advice and assistance at all. The uncertainty regarding the treatment of migrants, who are to be distributed to other countries, still dominates.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.it/2015/11/new-landings-at-augusta-and-pozzallo.html

With each arrival alleged human traffickers are being arrested and the media reports greatly about this fact, much more than about the disastrous situation in the countries of origin of migrants. These people are listed only as a number in the statistics and are not perceived as people with a history. These refugees are asked who has driven the boat in which they arrived. These "smugglers" are men and young people who have experienced violence like other migrants.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.it/2015/11/the-smugglers-on-boats-very-young-and.html

The situation in many reception centres is intolerable for the migrants, partly because they cannot communicate. In many centres, the services are reduced to a minimum and the migrants are left to themselves: In such a situation the wait for the papers is unbearable. A new approach, characterized by respect and the desire to get to know the opposite could make the difference, although the bureaucratic hurdles remain the central problem. See examples of the Centre in Canicattini and S. Giuseppe Iato in the province of Palermo.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.it/2015/11/when-its-better-being-senior.html

The group consisting of Christians, Jews and Muslims meeting at the Palermo Cemetery Rotoli to honour the deceased migrants with a prayer reiterates how important it is to combat indifference and to report on individual fates. The respect towards life and the rights of every human call for the opening of humanitarian channels and the demand for the right to decent accommodation at the arrival ports and in the face of death gets stronger.

http://siciliamigranti.blogspot.it/2015/11/cristiani-ebrei-e-musulmani-donano-un.html

EXISTENCE CONSTRUCTION IN ITALY: THE PROVEN PRACTICES OF CERTAIN CENTRES IN THE PROVINCE OF RAGUSA

The fact that accommodating refugees is handled as an emergency case has lead to the fact that the word accommodation has lost its meaning. Those people who reach Italy have not only the right to a dignified support but also the right to think of their own future as a free and autonomous citizen of the new host country. Fortunately, there are some centres where the concept of inclusion is realised in the best sense and is not only a written goal. An example for this is the highly specialised centre for unaccompanied minors in Ragusa. There, the employees try to optimise the given services and especially to keep an eye on the well-being of their inhabitants without leaving them alone after their arrival. Even in the extraordinary reception centre for women and men, Villa Tedeschi in Modica, the countless difficulties, caused by the slowness of bureaucracy, the expectations and the lack of understanding must be defied. In Villa Tedeschi, they try to draw a lot of attention to the development of local networks, to the moments of sympathy and to cohabitation. This helps the migrants to take their lives into their own hands; in small steps but in order to establish important relationships that facilitate integration.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.it/2015/11/visiting-highly-specialized-center-for.html
http://siciliamigranti.blogspot.it/2015/11/visita-al-cas-villa-tedeschi-di-modica.html


 
EXPLOITING IS AN OPEN SECRET. THE CASE OF THE CAMP IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF CAMPOBELLO DI MAZARA

It seems migrants in Italy are only welcome if they use their arms to work. They are indispensable as workers for economic profit of so many. The same happens in the small community of Campobello di Mazara where the migrants help with the olive harvest. It has been accepted tacitly for more than ten years by politicians and landowners. They all tolerate the exploitation of hundreds of migrants who cannot get any other work and are also desperate and susceptible to blackmailing. In the camp next to the fields we encounter solidary citizens who campaign with great effort that the conditions remain adequate. They sensitise the workers in terms of exploitation and its contractual power. We also meet migrants of which we never have believed to find here.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.it/2015/11/the-tent-city-of-campobello-di-mazzara.html

NEWS AND EVENTS: THE ROAD MAP IS COMING AND THE RIGHT TO ASYLUM WILL BE UTOPIA

By signing the Road Map, Italy begins to perform the immigration agreements which have been concluded with Europe: the expansion of agreements with African countries, including Nigeria and Gambia, the presence of consular staff during identification phases, the return to their home countries and the relocation to the identification and detention centres. These are just some points of the agreement but one can already guess the non-documented rise in deportations. In contrast, the number of asylum-denials multiplies and hearing before the Commission is handled more and more with less care for those who manage to stay on Italian territory and seek asylum.

http://migrantsicily.blogspot.it/2015/11/the-right-of-asylum-becomes-utopia.html

You can find more info in Italian for the new Road Map: http://www.asylumineurope.org/sites/default/files/resources/ministry_of_interior_roadmap_for_relocation.pdf 

Posted by Borderline Sicilia
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*MSF: Médecins sans Frontières is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation.
Translation by Aylin Satmaz

Newslettter SICILIAMIGRANTI – MAY 2015

• The arrivals and the deaths nobody wants to talk about continue

• The “black holes” of the immigration policies are paid by those without alternatives
• The new decisions of the European Commission: the urgent need to decide on which side to stay
• The parliamentary commission on Sicilian CARA and CIE: the centre in Mineo not compatible with human dignity
• Observatory on racism and xenophobia: aggression to a Senegalese young man in Scordia

Newsletter Borderline Sicilia - April 2015

Content

• Amongst the thousands of new arrivals, the biggest shipwreck of migrants in the mediterranean
• The drama of the Welcome Centres
• A poorly run system results in the violation of rights
• The fight continues for those who are not free to choose how to build a better future
• Donate your 5 per thousand to borderline sicilia onlus!!
• Info and contact

Newsletter Migrantsicily - December 2014

Contents

• Investigation "Mafia Capital": revealing the big business of reception centres for migrants and asylum seekers. On Mineo, Melilli, Catania and across the island.
• The landings continue: What awaits those who manage to survive?
• An inflexible and impenetrable system: The reception of migrants and asylum seekers in Agrigento and Caltanissetta
• Giving voice to their own rights: migrants' protests in Piana degli Albanesi and Catania
• New territorial commissions: What will change for migrants?
• Racism and Xenophobia observatory: Aggression and devastation in Avola and Messina
• Info and contacts

NEWSLETTER Migrantsicily - October 2014

Index

• TO LAMPEDUSA FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE MASSACRE OF OCTOBER : AN OCCASION FOR NEW MOBILIZATIONS

• THE BEGINNING OF NEW MILITARY OPERATIONS: MOS MAIORUM AND TRITON

• ONGOING SHIPWRECKS AND LANDINGS

• THE PRECARIOUS AND DIFFICULT SITUATION OF INSTITUTIONALIZED HOSPITALITY

• RACISM OBSERVATORY: ONGOING CASES OF EXPLOITATION, RACKET AND XENOPHOBIA

• NEWS AND EVENTS

• INFOS AND CONTACTS

Newsletter Migrantsicily of May

• New tragedies in the Mediterranean
• Eternal reception  “Chaos”
• More Nigerian Citizen expulsions
• Racism and xenophobia watchdog: grave episodes at Siracusa
• Forthcoming events: “IO STO CON LA SPOSA”