Statewatch News Online: Italy: ASGI asks for the rights of the migrants and refugees who landed in Catania to be respected
28 March 2012
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Italy
ASGI - Catania press
statement, 27.10.2010 
Press Release: ASGI
asks for the rights of the migrants and refugees who landed in
Catania to be respected
ASGI expresses
deep concern over the development of events concerning the management
by the law enforcement agencies of the arrival of 128 foreigners,
several of whom are minors, on 26 October at around 12 o'clock
on the coast near Catania. The way in which the intervention
took place when the fishing boat laden with migrants was blocked
at sea and the use of force in this context remain unclear.
It appears that all the foreigners have been placed in police
custody and are held in a makeshift structure in a sports hall
that is located in the outskirts of Catania.
The nationalities and composition of the group of migrants are
not yet known but, as stated in the declarations by coronel Minuto,
commander of the naval-aviation group of the Guardia di Finanza
[customs and excise police, which has military status] in Messina,
the migrants "have claimed that they are Palestinians in
order to be able to apply for asylum", although, the coronel
added, "we are convinced that they are Egyptians".
So far, access to the structure in which the migrants are held
and where ongoing police questioning is taking place has been
consistently denied to representatives of UNHCR, Save the Children
and the IOM. In this way, the bodies responsible for protection,
which have agreements with the interior ministry, are being prevented
from exercising their role of informing and providing assistance
to the migrants, asylum seekers and minors.
ASGI deems this behaviour serious and unacceptable, because access
cannot be denied to UNHCR under any circumstance, either at the
border or in the territory, even if the foreigners were in a
condition of detention, in order for the mentioned United Nations
agency to be able to exercise the function entrusted to it, of
monitoring the presence of potential asylum seekers and to inform
the people concerned about access to asylum procedures, without
it being conditioned or limited.
Likewise, ASGI recalls the duty of the Italian State in the field
of the protection of minors, who must be able to enjoy the assistance
of qualified bodies at all times and in any circumstance, including
the delicate phases of arrival and identification, under the
control of the minors' judicial authority.
ASGI has cause to fear that the purpose of the Italian authorities'
"forceful" behaviour may be to enact an operation for
the migrants' collective expulsion in the shortest possible time,
with summary identifications, and preventing the migrants from
being able to enjoy adequate assistance and from submitting asylum
applications if they ask to do so. ASGI strongly calls upon the
Italian government to fulfil its responsibilities and asks for
the protection bodies to be immediately granted access to the
structure.
ASGI - Associazione per gli Studi Giuridici sull'Immigrazione
[unofficial translation by Statewatch]
The original, "ASGI
chiede il rispetto dei diritti dei migranti e dei rifugiati sbarcati
a Catania" (in Italian), 27.10.2010
Information about the case from ARCI (in Italian, including interior
ministry data on recent expulsions), "Sbarco
di migranti in Sicilia. Calpestato il diritto alla trasparenza
delle associazioni nei luoghi di detenzione", 27.10.2010
and in:
- French
- Spanish
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