Associations call for the revocation of the anti-informal camp order

From Meridionews – The associations, citizens and signatories of this press release are asking the mayor of Catania Salvo Pogliese to revoke order 89 from July 4, in which is outlined “the prohibition of informal camping [bivouacking] especially in the city centre areas, throughout the night, in the open, with seats and makeshift shelters… utilising […]

No Longer Human

We publish below a contribution from a humanitarian worker June 10th of this year marked a moment of change for Italy and Europe in terms of their joint relations and for the management of migration. Italy said “enough”, we’re no longer allowing foreign ships to enter our ports. And between diplomatic incidents, institutional mistakes and […]

After Three Days of Bureaucratic Stalling, 105 Rescued People are on Route to a Port of Safety in Italy

0.05.2018 – The Aquarius, the humanitarian rescue vessel hired by ‘SOS Mediterranée’ and run in partnership with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is making its way to the port of Catania with 105 people on board, who were rescued last Sunday by a Spanish vessel. After two long days of bureaucratic stalling, the ship received the […]

Messina and Catania: Recent Rescues from the Sea and from Torture in Libya

At around 8am on the morning of 24th April, the Sea Watch 3 was allowed into the port of Messina.

The life of 18-year-olds* in eastern Sicily

Most of the complex problems regarding immigration in Italy are rooted in a common and mistaken approach of emergency assistance used as a normal model to manage the phenomenon. Yet in fact we are not facing an exceptional state which requires procedures of emergency, but rather a permanent reality which needs to be addressed for […]

New arrivals in Sicilian harbours, while deaths continue at sea.

In the last few days, around 1500 people have been rescued in the Mediterranean. Two days ago, some of those people were taken to Palermo and Catania. Yesterday in Pozzallo the ship Open Arms also recovered three bodies: those of two babies and a twenty year old boy.

We’re Not Boat Drivers

Vita.it – They worked for days and nights to build Santa’s Grotto. One cut the wood, one painted the sleigh or the tree, one gathered the leaves for the details, one the moss and the stones to make the grotto itself. Between a visit to the lawyer and a phone call to their parents in Senegal […]

Decisions and Priorities Imposed Without Risk Evaluation

On Monday 27 November the Aquarius landed at Catania with 421 people on board, the majority Eritrean. There were also five men from Egypt, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Pakistan and South Sudan. The percentage of women on board was very high – 40% – of whom 7 were pregnant. There were 98 minors, of whom 60 were […]

Young People, Little Protection: From Landing to Turning Eighteen. The Situation in Some Centres in Eastern Sicily

For a few months, the Hotspot at Pozzallo has included a container for “welcoming” children and families. A space is “dedicated” to those who are meant to only be passing through the Hotspot after the landing, but in reality they are frequently illegally and lengthily detained, a fact which has now become “normal and inevitable.” […]

Criminalising Those Who Rescue, Supporting Those Who Arm: The New Strategies Of The War On Migrants

The Golfo Azzurro, the vessel belonging to the NGO Proactiva, arrived at the port of Catania on Thursday morning with 490 migrants on board, including a group who had survived a shipwreck. At least eight people died, the bodies of whom were transferred to the Vos Hestia (Save the Chidren) although there are strong suspicions […]