Dozens of corpses on the Libyan beaches. The body of yet another victim of the crossing arrives at Pozzallo

On July 23^rd the media reported the news of around forty bodies given up by the sea and left on the Libyan beach of Sabrata. This number was destined to rise at the weekend, when a total of 87 bodies were recovered from the same beach.

Boys On The Outside

It's not only the title of a celebrated film by Marco Risi, but the situation lived out today by a vast number of young men and women who arrive on our coasts or who have remained for a long time in the Extraordinary Reception Centres (CAS*).

Last week we visited four such centres and met the residents from two centres for unaccompanied minors.

Foto Alberto Biondo

Migrants, the two faces of Lampedusa’s hotspot. Grasso: «Model». Activists: «Urine on the ceiling»

by MeridioNews

Today, the president of the senate visited the identification centre of the island. «To be overtaken as an absolute valid example of reception and solidarity», he stated. Contrary to this, the Askavusa collective published pictures of infiltration and urine bottles, filthy mattresses and dilapidated electrical systems.

Landings at Agrigento and Palermo: “Where is my husband? Please help me!”

Last Saturday (June 25^th), the Coast Guard ship “Diciotti” disembarked 886 people at Palermo, including around 150 women, many of them very young, and 96 minors. These Nigerians, Ivorians, Guineans and Senegalese set foot in the Sicilian capital only for a few hours. Around 13 Eritreans were present, including 3 young women who were taken for adults, despite the specific information provided by workers from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The "Diciotti" - Ph. Alberto Biondo

Western Sicily: A Week of Hell

Over the week just gone, our attention has turned not only to the landings at Palermo, Porto Empedocle, Trapani and back to Porto Empedocle again, but also to the number of requests for help from the provinces of western Sicily, a place interesting not only for its high climatic temperatures but also the neglect, abandonment and desperation which makes migrants' stay in Italy a living hell.

Foto: Alberto Biondo

Minors in the Pozzallo Hotspot. On the “unwelcoming” road.

“I arrived a month ago, after having been in Sudan and for months in Libya. On arrival I was locked in a large room with hundreds of other people, many of them my age, others older. There were also women and children. They gave me a change of clothes and a telephone card, saying that soon I would be transferred to a centre for minors. A month passed and I'm still here.” This is the story of 'Y', a 16-years-old Eritrean man, describing the reality experienced by hundreds of minors detained like him in an illegitimate way for weeks or even months within the Hotspot at Pozzallo. Dozens of minors who arrived in the nearby port have been housed without recognition of their age, in conditions of overcrowding and psychological stress within the centre, and without having received and personal assistance.

We have lost even the last speck of humanity

The accounts provided by doctors present at the latest disembarkings at Palermo, Trapani and Agrigento leave no doubts about the atrocious situation being experienced by thousands of long-suffering people now arriving in Europe.

So much hypocrisy and confusion, only one certainty: death - Agrigento

Agrigento – our journey had stopped in Palermo, at the confusion and the incompetence of the local politicians, as well as the one of their national colleagues, in giving adequate answers to the phenomenon. Let’s start again this time from Agrigento, where surely the situation is not bright, on the contrary it is rather pitch dark, where everything appears as concealed by the dominant powers, where news is issued when only something very serious happens that cannot be silenced.

The reception centre for minors in Villa Montevago of Caltagirone reopens with a new management

The first reception centre for minors in Villa Montevago of Caltagirone has reopened in October. After what happened during the summer (http://www.ilsettemezzomagazine.it/caltagirone-nuova-protesta-dei-minori-stranieri-di-villa-montevago/) the young migrants, exasperated by the long waiting times and by waiting conditions, had been hastily transferred to nearby centres and the facility was shut down. (http://siciliamigranti.blogspot.it/2014/08/caltagirone-chiude-villa-montevago-i.html)

Fleeing migrants. Who lands, who is returned and who loses his life at sea

In the anniversary of the 3 October carnage, it is still dramatic the situation of who has no other choice than running away by sea, in order to escape from bombs, survive and build his own future. Even during the last week, the arrival of 528 migrants was recorder just on southern Sicilian coast. 135 arrived during the night of the 30th of September in Pozzallo harbor. Out of these 135, 118 were men, 8 were women and 8 were children. They were rescued in international waters south from Malta by the Greek tanker “Aegean Myth”.

After landing: Staying in Italy between time-consuming beurocracy transfers

By now we read daily news about the landing of immigrants on the Sicilian shores and elsewhere. These episodes must be accurately monitored and analysed. Above all they must be considered as an example of what happened before and what happens after the media spotlight turns off. Following immigrants pathways once they land is not easy, even those who apply for international protection and are therefore included in the reception and protection system.
The ongoing state of emergency engenders instability in immigrants placement and is characterized by frequent transfers. These transfers are decided depending on necessities other than speeding up the immigrant’s asylum request process or the integration in our country. Despite their continuous transfers, immigrants are sometime able to establish relationships with the locals: they leave phone numbers;  they build small but resistant networks depending on their luck and possibilities.

A visit to Augusta’s centre for minors

Two police vans are parked in front of the entrance to Augusta’s first reception centre for unaccompanied minors. At least six men sit by the gate, keeping watch.
We can breathe an air of disorder and confusion already at the entrance of the building (previously, a school in Via Dessiè). A television is blasting commercial music; a few young boys and girls are sitting on school chairs, watching it absent-mindedly, without paying attention to the people around them. There are members from the Civil Protection, a social assistant, members from the Emergency team, and a lot of children running by, resting, laughing.