Since 2015, when the refugee and migrant crisis hit new highs across the coastal countries of the Mediterranean, the unrestrained activity of numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has been raising questions and concerns.

Sorting Honest NGOs from Imposters

Despite the presence of several acknowledged NGOs which have been clearly assisting in the mitigation of this unique challenge, there has also been a significant number of dubious entities with suspicious motives, literally created once the European Union started providing huge economic and material resources for the tackling of the refugee and migrant problem.

A recent coordinated operation of the Hellenic Police and the National Intelligence Agency of Greece brought to light a grim reality that many have been fearing for a long time: a number of NGOs not only neglected the problem but actually made the situation much worse by working alongside international networks of criminal migrant smuggling groups.

Operation ALKMINI

The joint operation under the codename “Alkmini” started approximately two months earlier around mid-August. Two individuals, recruited by the National Intelligence Service of Greece were sent to the coast of Izmir in Turkey, pretending to be migrants who were willing to illegally enter Greece.

In this context the two recruits established contact with a smuggling network, which offered to take them to Greek territory in exchange for a significant sum of money. The two agents were transferred to the Greek island of Lesbos alongside a number of other asylum seekers. In the process they collected information about the progress of the overall illegal operation and the role of specific NGOs that have been assisting all along.

Modus Operandi for Human Smuggling in the Mediterranean

According to the findings of Operation Alkmini the illegal transfer of these people was coordinated by members of four NGOs with presence in both the Greek and Turkish shores. In this case two women, an Austrian and a Norwegian, both of the working for NGOs, were coordinating the operation from Turkey acting as the link between the smuggling networks in Izmir and the NGO personnel in the Greek islands.

Once the vessels with the smugglers and the asylum seekers were en route, the NGO members in Greece were notified about the time of departure, the estimated time of arrival, and the number of people onboard. Also the exact location of the boats was provided through the ALARMPHONE application. Alarmphone (Watch The Med Alarm Phone Project) is a hotline for boat people in distress; as clearly stated in their official website, the number is not a rescue line, but an alarm number to support rescue operations.

One of the main means of ALARMPHONE is to constantly seek media attention and coverage in order to put political pressure on the local Coast Guard authorities. In the case of the illegal smuggling organized networks, Alarmphone was widely used to either provide data to the NGO members in the proximity of a staged boat sinking so they could push the Coast Guard authorities to intervene, or to spread false alarms of wreck incidents so the local authorities would be kept busy and the boat with the smugglers and the asylum seekers could approach the Greek shores unattended.

The Four NGOs Under Investigation

During the investigation by the Hellenic Police and the National Intelligence Service, 35 people, 26 from Germany, and the rest from Switzerland, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Norway, Austria, Iran and Afghanistan were identified as perpetrators in the illegal smuggling business.

These individuals have been identified and are currently being accused of participating in a criminal organization, people smuggling activity, and espionage. All 35 were arrested and released after once the Greek authorities contacted the respective embassies, and while the investigation is ongoing. All the aforementioned individuals – apart from the two individuals from Iran and Afghanistan – are members of the following four NGOs: FFM eV, Josoor International Solidarity, Mare Liberum eV, and Sea Watch eV.

Three out of the four NGOs are based in Germany, with only Josoor International Solidarity being headquartered in Austria. All four organizations are supposedly based upon volunteer work and donations, but further details about their financial backers and the key personnel working for them remains obscure.

It should be noted that according to the confidential report of the Greek authorities, the NGO Mare Liberum has been playing a key role in the operation since the vessel under the same name and managed by the organization was docked in the island of Lesbos, and has been assisting with the overall illicit process. The Greek task force raided the ship and arrested its crew, while confiscating the electronic equipment found onboard.

Also one of the founding members of Josoor International Solidarity was present in Turkey during Operation Alkmini, reportedly coordinating with the foreign smuggling network. Finally the NGO Sea Watch made headlines in the summer of 2019 with the wide-known case of Captain Carola Rackete, who was arrested after entering the port of Lampedusa carrying 40 migrants onboard despite the ban from the Italian authorities.

How Athens Has Been Handling Rogue NGOs

Since January 2020 the Hellenic Ministry of Migration and Asylum, alongside the appropriate national and local authorities, has adopted a series of measures to deal with the uncontrolled activity of NGOs across the Aegean Sea and within Greek territory. For this reason an official register with all the NGOs operating in Greece was created. The purpose of this record is to separate the NGOs that are operating in good faith and according to the international standards and those that have a rather dubious activity and whose motives are not clear.

Further to this, an additional record was established with the data of the individuals that are working as field operators and are actively involved in rescue operations and the day-to-day administration of the refugee camps in the Greek islands and mainland.

The measures of the Greek government have significantly limited the scope of the NGOs work through constant monitoring of their activities, the continuous control of their access to the “field”, namely the sea routes and the refugee/asylum seekers’ camps and the appointment of Greek officials in key positions for the camps and facilities management and administration. These were roles that until recently were undertaken by the members of the NGOs themselves.

Finally, a constant centralized and well-organized effort among the Hellenic Police, the Hellenic Coast Guard and the National Intelligence Service of Greece is taking place, bringing remarkable results as in the case of Operation Alkmini. Greek authorities are also coordinating with international agencies like Frontex and the role of these bodies is also critical to the accomplishment of each mission and to crack down on dangerous smuggling operations.

L'articolo Dozens of NGO Members Busted for Allegedly Helping Migrant Smugglers on Aegean Sea proviene da InsideOver.

In the early hours of September 9, the infamous Moria camp for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos burst into flames. The motives and the exact conditions behind the incident are currently being investigated, but the fire raises some serious concerns for the migrants and asylum seekers now without a home as well as the local administration and the Greek government.

The Latest Moria Fire

The first points of fire across the camp were spotted on September 8 at approximately 2300 local time following tensions between groups of immigrants in the camp. Shortly after midnight the fire started spreading across the site and by early morning everything was utterly destroyed.

Thousands of residents of the camp swiftly fled the scene. No casualties have been reported for now, however there is no conclusive picture so far and there are serious concerns that there could have been grave injuries or deaths following the fire.

Firefighters Response and Aftermath

Dozens of firefighters and fire brigade vehicles have also promptly reached the camp and managed to get the fire under control before it could expand to other areas of the island. It should be noted here that several groups of migrants tried to block the firefighters from approaching the scene in an act of protest for the allegedly low living standards in Moria.

In the aftermath of the fire, German Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas characterized the incident as a humanitarian disaster and highlighted the full support of the European Commission towards Greece in terms of financial and humanitarian assistance. Maas also emphasized that the EU members should work together in good faith and quickly express their intention to receive migrants from the overcrowded Greek camps.

Local Grievances and an Unsurprising Disaster

This is not the first time that the camp in Moria has made the headlines. The camp has been probably the most serious trouble spot for the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum in the whole country. Since its very establishment several years ago as a Reception and Identification Center (RIC) the camp has always been overcrowded.

With an official capacity of approximately 3,000 people, the camp has reportedly reached a population of about 20,000 migrants and asylum seekers in several instances in the past. After constant efforts, this number has fallen to roughly 13,000 people, still significantly outnumbering the actual capacity.

Further to the high numbers of people based in the camp and the poor living standards, there has been another point of friction causing complaints and disappointment lately. Due to the renewed COVID-19 outbreak in Greece, and the numerous cases in the Moria camp, asylum seekers based in the facility have been quarantined since early September, as per the guidance from the Hellenic Ministry of Health.

A random check in Moria earlier this week, identified 35 new Covid cases out of 2,000 samples in the camp, confirming that approximately the 1.75% of the people in the camp could be potentially carrying the virus. Considering the weak hygiene infrastructure at the camp and the high risk of further contamination, those 35 individuals were instructed to self-isolate for the necessary time-frame.

This development was reportedly been the spark leading to the massive reaction of disobedience that eventually appears to have led to the fire. On the one hand several people complained about the self-isolation instruction that would temporarily keep some family members apart, while other aggressively responded to these complaints, which could put in danger the total population of the facility.

During and after the fire all the 13,000 asylum seekers proceeded to a massive uncontrolled exodus from the camp, moving to unknown locations, ranging from nearby mountainous areas to the capital town of Lesbos, Mytilene.

A Dual Threat and Severe Concerns of Greek Officials

Following the Moria fire Greek authorities from the local to the most senior level are on high alert. Shortly after the incident Greek ‎Deputy Minister for Civil Protection and Crisis Management Nicholas G. Hardalias announced that the island of Lesbos is entering a state of emergency for at least four months due to public health reasons.

Indeed, the totally unrestrained and un-monitored movement of an unknown number of COVID-19 carriers could be an infectious time bomb for the entire island of Lesbos. This potential medical disaster has alarmed the local authorities and medical officials, who are now running in a race against time to prevent a catastrophe.

But at the same time, there is another quite concerning geopolitical aspect of this fire for the Greek government. This incident comes at a moment where Greek-Turkish tensions are reaching new levels, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Possibility of a Fifth Column Inside Greece

Lesbos is an island in the northern Aegean Sea, critically located in the proximity of the Turkish mainland and a possible theater of operations in a potential armed confrontation between the two countries. The asylum seekers in the island made it to Greece through Turkey and have been based at the Moria camp until the fire in order to be identified and then have their asylum applications assessed.

This means that there is no efficient data for an unknown number of these people, and some of these individuals could be acting on behalf of Turkey.

The Greek government should always keep in mind that even a handful of well-trained operatives could easily manipulate a massive crowd of disappointed and angry people who find themselves trapped in a detention center for a long time period. Utilizing the common language and religion alongside simple technologies based on social media manipulation techniques and the power of image, just a few malicious actors could prompt a genuine local revolt.

Was the Fire Intentional?

The fact that the weather at the night of the incident was ideal for an out-of-control wildfire due to the strong winds (another fire was also reported in the western part of Lesbos near the town of Vatoussa at approximately the same time) raises further concerns, indicating the the burning of the camp could well have been intentional.

The Two-Front Assault Scenario

The scenario of a mobilization of angry asylum seekers on Lesbos and other islands appropriately equipped through covert logistics operations, combined with a coordinated attack from Turkish tactical forces would find the Greek Armed Forces fighting on two different fronts at the same time, posing an appalling threat for the country.

Due to this possible scenario Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called for an urgent meaning with the Ministers responsible for the management of the developing crisis, including the Head of the Greek National Intelligence Service and the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff.

After several years of inadequate measures, Greece seems to be realizing the multi-dimensional challenge that the refugee crisis presents. Their actions from now on will prove if the Greek administration is ready to efficiently handle such a complex problem in these unprecedented times.

L'articolo Moria Fire Raises Serious Concerns for Greek Government proviene da InsideOver.

According to a new study released by Doctors Without Borders, more than two-thirds of migrants fleeing Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador left their home countries after a family member was murdered, kidnapped or disappeared.

What Does the Study Say?

The study, entitled “No Way Out,” was published earlier this month by Doctors Without Borders. It reveals that more than 40% of Guatemalan, Honduran and El Salvadoran interviewed said they fled after a family member was violently killed in the last two years. This follows a 2015 study conducted by The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) which declares the situation “another protection crisis unfolding in Central America”.

This “surging tide of violence” in all three countries and parts of Mexico, sees its citizens facing gunfights, disappearances, and death threats. Interviewees in the UNHCR study described “seeing family members murdered or abducted and watching their children being forcibly recruited by those groups.”

Authorities Unable to ‘Curb the Violence’

Authorities are unable to “curb the violence and provide redress”, and are accused of widespread corruption, leading, in-part, to the humanitarian crisis.

Marta, a Doctor’s Without Borders (DWB) community worker in El Salvador said: “The police enter this community and, during enforcement operations, they beat up young people who aren’t gang members. They steal their belongings —such as money, cellphones, sound systems— and destroy their homes searching for drugs.

“Sometimes the inhabitants feel more trust towards the gangs and normalize certain situations. This makes it difficult to establish links between the institutions and the community. We are trying to raise awareness about health care and the role of the various stakeholders in this issue.”

2011-2016: 2,249% Increase in Refugees from Northern Central America

Between 2011 and 2016, the number of people from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) who have sought refuge in surrounding countries increased by 2,249 percent, according to statistics from the UNHCR. In Guatemala and Honduras alone, there are over 2 million children out of school.

One of the most dangerous regions on earth, the UNHCR reports that, in many cases, children have had to make the journey to neighboring countries alone, making them some of the world’s most vulnerable refugees.

“During their transit through Mexico, 39.2 % were violently attacked and 27.3 % were threatened or extorted. Of those interviewed, 57.3 % had been exposed to some kind of violence along the migration route through Mexico,” the Doctors Without Borders report describes.

“The violence suffered by people living in the NTCA is comparable to that in war zones where [Doctors Without Borders] has been working for decades,” it states.

Central American Women are Particularly Vulnerable to Rape and Murder

Women refugees from Central America are also very vulnerable. Despite paying “exorbitant fees to unscrupulous ‘coyotes’” to move them into neighboring countries, women face being beaten, raped and killed on their journey.

“In my country, killing is ordinary—it is as easy as killing an insect with your shoe,” said one man from Honduras who was threatened by gang members for refusing their demand for protection money. He was later shot three times.

A Honduran patient treated by Doctors Without Borders in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, shared: “When we got off the bus, some men grabbed me and my brother and took my sister somewhere else.

“After a few hours, they released me and my brother, but not her. We still don’t know what has happened to her. We paid a US$5,000 ransom, that was all that we had, but they haven’t released her.

“I don’t know who can help us,” she added. “We don’t trust the police here. Our plan was to arrive and begin the asylum application process in the US, but now I don’t want to leave here until I know what happened to [my sister].”

Central America’s Deep History of ‘Social Inequality, Political Instability and Conflict’

DWB explains that the problem is also partly due to NCTA nations facing a deep history of “social inequality, political instability and conflict.”

In some cases, these countries have been “further destabilized by US interventions in the region over the past forty years.” Compounding this problem is the rapid rise, in the last decade, of transnational organized crime syndicates who deal with drug and human trafficking.

Additionally, new immigration policies by the United States and Mexico serve to trap Central Americans in very dangerous conditions, “with severe consequences for their physical and mental health.”

“It’s clear from years of medical data and testimonies that many of our patients are desperately fleeing violence back home,” said Sergio Martin, MSF head of mission in Mexico.

‘These People Deserve Protection and Care’

“These people deserve protection and care, and, at the very least, a fair chance to seek asylum. Instead they face more violence along the migration route, barred from countries where they wouldn’t be at risk,” Martin said. “Now they are trapped in dangerous places with no way to seek safety.”

Doctor Without Borders indicates the severe toll these unwelcoming immigration policies have on Central American refugees, particularly when detained or deported. Many such refugees are detained in terrible conditions in the US, sometimes in frigid cells “with the lights turned on 24 hours a day, with limited access to health care, and without adequate food, clothing, and blankets.”

“These policies to block people from asylum and send them back into danger have worsened the humanitarian crisis in the region,” said Marc Bosch, who oversees MSF programs in Latin America.

“The US and Mexico must end these policies and governments of the region must put people at the center of migration policies and ensure that victims of violence have access to humanitarian assistance, health services, and protection. All people, regardless of their legal status, deserve to be treated with dignity.”

L'articolo Central American Migrants Facing a Global Humanitarian Crisis proviene da InsideOver.

Violent clashes at a refugee camp for migrants in Greece and the looming spectre of another tragedy in Libya this week served as potent reminders that European policy chiefs will be grappling with the continent’s migration crisis for many years to come.

On Sunday in Greece, a woman was killed after a fire broke out at the sprawling and overcrowded Moria camp on Lesbos island, where violent clashes between asylum seekers and police escalated and left more than a dozen people injured.

Some 1,400km away in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, the United Nations declared a warning that migrants were being forced back into the Tajoura detention centre. This came three months after an airstrike aimed at the city had claimed dozens of lives.

Speaking at a press conference alongside United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on Wednesday, Italian foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said the “crisis in the Mediterranean” was at the “very core of our concerns”.

Di Maio described a “special focus on Libya … an essential dossier as far as we’re concerned”. Italian fears went far beyond migration, he said, with the North African country’s proximity to Sicily offering up a “possible terrorist risk”.

Libya has long been a transit route for sub-Saharan African migrants seeking to build new lives in the European Union, but people flows grew ever-larger as the country spiralled into chaos after president Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster and death in 2011.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), a UN agency, is also concerned. On July 2, a detention centre on a military base at Tajoura, a suburb of Tripoli, the capital, was hit in a double military strike that left 53 detainees dead and more than 130 others injured.

Three months later, and Tajoura remains open, with Libya’s coastguard apprehending migrants aboard vessels on the Mediterranean, returning them to land and locking them up in the bombed-out facility, the IOM says.

After the disaster, Libyan officials promised to shutter Tajoura and two other lockups, but “this plan needs to be transformed immediately into action to avoid further tragedies like Tajoura from recurring,” said Federico Soda, IOM mission chief in Libya.

Soda also issued an “urgent call for the end of arbitrary detention in Libya, in a gradual orderly manner, that guarantees the safety of all detainees.” The IOM says that some migrants can be supported in Libya’s towns and cities while their status is determined.

Officials were also raising concerns in Greece, where the Moria camp has ballooned into the size of a small town of some 12,000 people, four times its capacity, and where outbreaks of rioting are a common occurrence.

It remains unclear what started the fire that sent smoke billowing above Moria’s collection of flimsy tents and containers on Sunday, but the blaze added to what Lefteris Economou, Greece’s deputy citizen’s protection minister, called a “national crisis”.

On Monday, the Greek government announced plans to deport 10,000 migrants by the end of 2020 and to tighten the country’s borders following a spike in the numbers of migrants arriving and requesting asylum in August.

On October 8, EU interior ministers are set to discuss plans to “fast-track” arriving asylum seekers at talks in Luxembourg. The scheme would involve screening and returns of rejected migrants, while those granted asylum could be distributed throughout the Euro-bloc.

The talks are aimed at resolving tensions, which have seen Italy and Malta row with neighbours over whether they were obliged to admit migrants picked up by humanitarian ships. The deaths in Greece and Libya show that these talks cannot come soon enough.

L'articolo Amid Tensions From Libya to Lesbos, Will Fast-Tracking Migrants Help? proviene da InsideOver.

Rwanda, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNCHR) and the African Union have agreed to evacuate refugees and asylum seekers in Libya. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed last week, in the capital city, Addis Ababa, to set up a transit mechanism for evacuating refugees out of Libya. The UNCHR reported that refugees and asylum seekers will be transferred to Rwanda voluntarily.

Rwanda’s policy, like Uganda’s, allows refugees the right to work, with an aim of “progressively integrating refugees into national systems for health and education”. In 2017, Rwanda hosted about 172,000 refugees, many from recently war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo and politically unstable Burundi.

Despite its horrific past with the Rwandan genocide, the nation has been developing at a very fast pace in recent years. Under President Paul Kagame, the nation has curtailed corruption, revived the economy and maintained political stability. It is one of the cleanest places on earth. It also holds the title for the world’s number one country for women in power. Nevertheless, like Uganda, the country’s humanitarian stance is blighted by an ever-increasingly authoritarian government under President Kagame, who has been accused of human rights violations.

In a statement released last week, the UNCHR said: “The first group of 500 people, predominantly from the Horn of Africa, will be evacuated, including children and youth at risk. After their arrival, UNHCR will continue to pursue solutions for the evacuees.

“Evacuation flights are expected to begin in the coming weeks, and will be carried out in co-operation with Rwandan and Libyan authorities.”

The plight of refugees and asylum seekers will be decided once they arrive in the country. Some refugees will be resettled in third countries while others will be assisted with moving to countries in which they were previously offered asylum. Refugees who can safely return to their home countries will also be assisted with their return, while some will be permitted to remain in Rwanda. The conditions to be met for granting asylum in Rwanda to Libyan refugees is, at yet, unascertained.

Since 2017, the UNCHR has evacuated more than 4,400 refugees and asylum-seekers out of Libya. The Northern African country currently has 5,600 refugees arbitrarily detained in refugee camps. There are also about 800,000 migrants and 50,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers in the country. Refugees in Libya have spoken of the inhumane conditions in which they are held, including a recent airstrike on the Tajoura Detention Centre where 50 refugees and migrants were killed, and another 130 wounded. The UN claimed that both sides of the ongoing Libyan conflict knew the location of the detention centre.

Following the July airstrikes, António Vitorino, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, appealed to the European Union and the African Union to “consider the protection of the human rights of migrants and refugees a core element of its engagement in Libya.”

They asked for countries in the international community to provide more evacuation and resettlement places, and extra resources, to guarantee the safety of refugees and migrants in Libya.

The evacuation of Libyan migrants to Rwanda is another political and humanitarian step towards Pan Africanism. Libya’s ongoing conflict and anti-migrant policies does not protect its refugees and asylum seekers as it should. African nations with better refugee policies, such as Rwanda and Uganda, can better protect refugees, and enable them to integrate into a new African society.

Humanitarian refugee-integration policies enables Africa to take care of its refugees, without returning to the tradition of seeking help from the West. Refugees, permitted to use the resources of their host country, can go on to enrich their host country which in turn enriches Africa. While there are many obstacles to reaching Pan Africanism, such as corruption, international debts, terrorism and conflict, continued intra-continental humanitarian support is one battle won.

L'articolo Refugees in Libyan Detention Centres Evacuated to Rwanda proviene da InsideOver.

Currently, two Iraqi asylum seekers Taha and Salah are living in uncertainty, their cases were rejected by Swedish immigration services, “After leaving Iraq, I went to Sweden, but after three years and half I got a rejection on my asylum case” says the 20 year old Taha, to InsideOver.

From “open heart” to “problem”:

Sweden has been well known for its welcoming atmosphere toward refugees. In 2014, the previous Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt made a speech inviting Swedish citizen to open their heart to refugees seeking protection. In 2015, Sweden received 58,802 asylum cases for which 55% were granted asylum according to Swedish immigration service.

Fast forward to the present, the situation has changed completely. The number of asylum cases dropped down notably in 2018. Just  35,512 aplications were recorded with just 11,217 being accepted, meaning more than 68% of cases were rejected. Even the tone has changed from opening hearts, into solving the Swedish “problem”. “There was a dramatic shift in the discussion in the last four years, immigration issues are now used on the center stage of political debate” Sanna Vestin told InsideOver, author and lecturer in asylum matters and a board member of the Swedish network of refugee support group.

“My father was threatened by the militia, we escaped to Kurdish camps, and then I followed my father to Sweden” says Taha. Taha like many other Iraqis, has been forced to abandon her home because of conflict and violence, According to ‘“Iraq body count”, the number of civilians death since 2014 stood at 80,237 up to the end of October 2018. “I left Iraq after the death of my brother in 2014, he died in an explosion” says Mohamed Yacin, 28. “If we did not have problems, we would not leave our family’s and our settled life behind” Says Salah, a 32 year old who’s father died in an explosion as well.

The number of Iraqi nationals making asylum aplications has declined dramatically from 10,139 in 2017 into 4356 in 2018, in which the number of positive decisions has also lowered to 23% compared to 35% in 2017, according to the statistics of the Swedish immigration service. “The decision now is to reduce the number of refugees in Sweden to the minimum” confirms Vestin.

According to the Swedish Migration Agency, “a person is considered a refugee when they have well-founded reasons to fear persecution due to race, nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender, sexual orientation or affiliation to a particular social group.” but Vestin states that the kind of reasoning the Sweden immigration policy now applies is that not everyone is in danger, if some zones of the country are at war, that person can go and live in an other part of their country”.

Fleeing for a second time

“I was afraid to get deported to Iraq, so I came to Italy” says Taha. Like many other asylum seekers, Mohamed, Salah and Taha, were advised to come to Italy, “when I arrived, many people helped me with the procedures to present my asylum case, and to get a place in the camp”. “Well, it is not easy, it is actually very hard, to handle the life here with no help” confirms Taha.

Many asylum seekers are coming to Italy after being rejected by Northern EU countries. “According to the rules of the Dublin regulation, if someone presents his asylum case in one EU country, he/she cannot seek asylum in another EU country”, emphasises Loprieno Donatella, researcher on migrant rights and professor at university of Calabria. “Dublin regulation defines which state has the obligation to evaluate the asylum cases presented by people who arrive in Europe,” says Francesca parisi, a lawyer specialised on migration issues and based in Palermo, Sicily.

But, even with such a rule, many asylum cases were recognized by Italy and were granted protection. According to Parisi, every country in Europe that signed the Dublin regulation has a free choice on its application, so when someone is rejected by an other European country, usually, they are given a provisory residence called a Dublin, waiting to decide if the case will be taken by Italy or if they will be sent back to the first country responsible for their case. Within a few months, if the country in question does not reply, then Italy will open their case.

For Fausto Melluso, responsible for immigration affairs in Sicily, he considers that Dublin regulation was never applied, “if you look at the statistics, where there are fewer asylum applications, these are the countries without external maritime borders, states that are hard to be the first country of entrance”. “I made the right choice by coming to Italy, I got subsidiary protection status some months ago” says Mohammed. “International protection is divided into two sections, political asylum and subsidiary protection, and in Italy, there is also humanitarian protection which was applicable unti 2 months ago” says Francesca Parisi

The absence of a EU perspective on asylum cases:

In Europe, there is a lack of desire for greater unity, according to Melluso, European countries do not have a common plan on asylum cases. Even though there are some international agreements like the Dublin regulation, every country judges asylum cases based on its own migration rules, confirms the lawyer Parisi.

Sharing the same perspective, Michala Bendixen, head of ‘Refugees Welcome” in Denmark emphasises, “A common EU asylum system is obviously a good idea and would solve such situations, but the EU cannot agree on such a system, the assessment in each country is very different.”

With all of this struggle, and without a future perspective, Taha and Salah are waiting for their asylum cases to be processed with the hope of getting the piece of paper that will give them safety once again. “I hope that Italy will not disappoint us” says Salah, “I am resisting this hardness and I hope to win in the end.” States Taha.

L'articolo Once Open Sweden Now a Hostile Environment for Refugees proviene da InsideOver.