UNHCR concerned over humanitarian situation in Lampedusa, Italy
Press Releases, 23 January 2009
Friday, 23 January 2009
GENEVA – The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees today expressed mounting concern over the conditions faced by nearly 2,000 boat people, including asylum seekers, currently crammed into one reception centre on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. The centre has a capacity for only 850 people and hence cannot accommodate such high numbers. The result is that hundreds of people are now sleeping outdoors under plastic sheeting and adequate reception standards cannot be maintained.
The reception centre in Lampedusa was established to temporarily accommodate people rescued at sea while preparations are made for their transfer to various special centres set up throughout southern Italy to examine their situation and needs. Until now this arrangement has been seen as a model for the responsible management of mixed migratory flows. The practice has been to accommodate asylum-seekers in open centres and have their asylum applications examined by the territorial refugee status determination commission. At the beginning of this year, the government made changes to this arrangement whereby all migrants and asylum seekers must remain in Lampedusa until a decision is made on their cases.
The overcrowding of the temporary reception centre on the small island is creating a humanitarian situation of concern which also complicates the work of UNHCR and other organizations active there under a project funded by the Ministry of the Interior and the European Commission.
"During the past years, UNHCR has been working closely with the Italian authorities to develop a better system of managing mixed flows of asylum seekers and migrants reaching Lampedusa by sea," said Pirkko Kourula, Director of UNHCR's Bureau for Europe. "We urge the Italian authorities to take all necessary steps to address the difficult humanitarian situation now unfolding in Lampedusa."
Available data show that many boat arrivals in Lampedusa are persons originating from Somalia and Eritrea. According to preliminary figures for 2008, about 75 percent of those who arrived in Italy by sea last year applied for asylum, and around 50 percent of those who applied were granted refugee status or protection on other humanitarian grounds.
The link between movements of refugees and broader migration attracts growing attention.
Migrants are different from refugees but the two sometimes travel alongside each other.
All in the same boat: The challenges of mixed migration around the world.
Implementation of the 10-Point Plan in Different Regions
Regional Stakeholder Conferences
- Regional Conference on Refugee Protection and International Migration in Central Asia
(Almaty, Kazakhstan, 15-16 March 2011)
- Regional Conference on Mixed Movements and Irregular Migration from the East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region to Southern Africa
(Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania, 6-7 September 2010)
- Regional Conference on Refugee Protection and International Migration in the Americas: Protection Considerations in the Context of Mixed Migration
(San José, Costa Rica, 19-20 November 2009)
- Regional Conference on "Refugee Protection and International Migration in the Gulf of Aden"
(Sana'a, Yemen, 19-20 May 2008)
- Regional Conference on Refugee Protection and International Migration in West Africa
(Dakar, Senegal, 13-14 November 2008)
Expert Roundtables
Stocking of the 10-Point Plan Project
Drifting Towards Italy
Every year, Europe's favourite summer playground - the Mediterranean Sea - turns into a graveyard as hundreds of men, women and children drown in a desperate bid to reach European Union (EU) countries.
The Italian island of Lampedusa is just 290 kilometres off the coast of Libya. In 2006, some 18,000 people crossed this perilous stretch of sea - mostly on inflatable dinghies fitted with an outboard engine. Some were seeking employment, others wanted to reunite with family members and still others were fleeing persecution, conflict or indiscriminate violence and had no choice but to leave through irregular routes in their search for safety.
Of those who made it to Lampedusa, some 6,000 claimed asylum. And nearly half of these were recognized as refugees or granted some form of protection by the Italian authorities.
In August 2007, the authorities in Lampedusa opened a new reception centre to ensure that people arriving by boat or rescued at sea are received in a dignified way and are provided with adequate accommodation and medical facilities.
Drifting Towards Italy
Angelina Jolie meets boat people in Malta, Lampedusa
Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie joined UNHCR chief António Guterres on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where they met with boat people who have fled unrest in North Africa.
More than 40,000 people, including refugees and asylum-seekers, have crossed the Mediterranean on overcrowded boats and descended on the small island since the beginning of the year.
The UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador flew to Lampedusa from Malta, which has also been a destination for people fleeing North Africa by boat.
Angelina Jolie meets boat people in Malta, Lampedusa
Fleeing Libya by sea
Thousands of people, mainly sub-Saharan Africans, are taking to the sea in ancient, leaky and overcrowded boats to escape war in their adopted homeland. Libya. The destination of choice is the Italian resort island of Lampedusa, some 600 kilometres north of Libya in the Mediterranean. Many of the passengers arrive traumatized and exhausted from the high seas journey. Others perish en route.
One Ivorian migrant describes life in Tripoli before leaving: "There was no peace. There was rifle fire everywhere. Then NATO started to bomb. We had nothing to eat. Some Libyans started to attack strangers at night, to steal your money, your mobile, whatever you have ... No way to stay there with them. Better to flee."
UNHCR estimates that one in 10 people die during the sea journey from Libya. Those bodies which wash ashore get a simple burial in Lampedusa's cemetery.
May 2011
Fleeing Libya by sea
Mexico: Fleeing Central American Gang Violence
Tens of thousands of people make their way to Mexico on mixed migration routes every year. They include victims of gang violence who need protection.
Italy: Jolie and Guterres visit Lampedusa
Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie and UNHCR chief António Guterres see conditions for migrants, including refugees, on Italy's Lampedusa Island.
Malta: Angelina Jolie meets asylum seekers
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie visits an old air force base on Malata and talks to asylum-seekers who have fled North Africa.
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