UN condemns detention of Lampedusa boat tragedy survivors

In October last year, a boat carrying refugees from Libya to Europe capsized off the coast of Italy, resulting in the death of over 300 people onboard. The survivors of the ship wreck were taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa where they were housed in cramped conditions. Concerns were expressed at the time about the criminalisation of irregular migration by many EU countries, and to what extent said criminalisation would lead to further immigrant boat tragedies.

Click here to read a previous Bulletin piece on the Lampedusa tragedy.

Following more than 100 days on the island, the remaining Eritrean asylum seekers were released. Their release was prompted by UN condemnation of their detention which it described as “not understandable and not acceptable”. Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman for the UN’s refugee agency the UNHCR in southern Europe, said the agency had sent a letter of protest last week to judicial authorities in Sicily over what it said amounted to a prolonged detention of people in urgent need of assistance.

The prolonged detention raised fears for the welfare of the remaining survivors given the trauma they are likely to have suffered during and after the disaster. Sami criticised the detention of the asylum seekers in a centre for first assistance stating that it “should be a centre where people stay for no more than 48 hours, and it is now structured that they stay there for many months.”

Click here to read a summary of Ms Sami’s comments in the Guardian.

Share

Resources

Sustaining Partners