I recently returned from Rome and Lampedusa, where I assessed the crackdown on asylum seekers, migrants and Search and Rescue (SAR) NGOs by Meloni's new legislation. The situation I encountered was extremely grim.🧵
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925544731496448
On the Italian mainland, the new rules subject almost all asylum seekers to a border procedure in detention without proper safeguards and legal aid. Meloni's new law also restricts granting a humanitarian protection status, leaving many vulnerable people in legal limbo. 2/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925547893997568
It strips denied asylum applicants of the right to leave the country voluntarily and reintroduces mass reception facilities. Moreover, the new rules severely hamper NGOs in saving lives and criminalise them for rescuing people, as well as migrants, if they drive the boat. 3/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925551463260161
The already harsh reality at sea is worsening. 500 migrants drowned in April in the Mediterranean Sea, and many others are being sent back to Libyan or Tunisian waters. The Italian coast guard explained that they are doing their utmost to rescue people in distress at sea. 4/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925554688679937
Yet, due to the limited Italian rescue zone, migrants still face huge risks by the failure of the Maltese authorities to rescue people in distress at sea. NGOs are trying to fill these gaps but are constantly obstructed by Italy's and Malta's maritime coordination. 5/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925558136401921
Outside the EU SAR zones, migrants are handed over to the Tunisian and Libyan coastguards, who bring them back to places they tried to escape. Italy and Malta support this coastguard, known as traffickers, to send people back to torture and exploitation in detention centres. 6/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925561273819136
With its large-scale funding, the EU contributes to the crimes against humanity (documented by the UN) conducted by the Libyan Coast Guard. 7/
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/03/1135052
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925563014459392
During my visit to the Lampedusa hotspot, I was shocked by the substandard and filthy conditions. I spoke with minors who were detained for ten days, unable to call their parents to inform them they had survived the journey. 8/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925564998303745
This working visit gave me a frightening preview of what to expect once the EU's Asylum and Migration Pact is adopted: more difficulties in arriving at European territory, followed by closed and deficient border procedures for most asylum seekers. 10/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925572451557379
Member States shift the responsibility to border countries, which in turn outsource it to their non-EU neighbouring countries. And all at the cost of the right to protection and dignity. 11/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925575320444929
Join our action and urge the European Union to stop human rights violations at our borders. 12/12
Sign the petition ⤵️
https://act.greens-efa.eu/nl/pushbacks?source=nl_20230509
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925577157550080
Join our action and urge the European Union to stop human rights violations at our borders. 12/12
Sign the petition ⤵️
https://act.greens-efa.eu/pushbacks?source=nl_20230509
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660937044103778308
I urge the authorities to substantially improve the facilities to protect human dignity and public health, ensure a swift transfer to the mainland and lift the detention regime of the hotspot. 9/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Tineke_Strik/status/1660925569020616706