AYS News Digest 12/07/23: Pylos Tragedy — where will Greece go from here?
Hundreds of sub-Saharan people are abandoned in Tunisian-Libyan borderlands // 204 people rescued by SOS Humanity as POS legislation persists in Italy // People released from detention in Libya’s Aizanara concentration camp // Illegal Migration Bill continues its journey in UK parliament & long read: “I spent a day watching asylum seekers being jailed. Here’s what I learnt”
FEATURE — GREECE
Pylos Tragedy — where will Greece go from here?
As further investigative efforts (see here and here) suggest that the Hellenic Coast Guard was indeed responsible for the tragedy, the Greek authorities continue to divert, distract and exonerate themselves from responsibility.
In Riga recently, Greek PM Mitsotakis said that
“It is very unfair for countries such as Greece… to be burdened with the task of managing this problem or be accused of not saving people at sea when this is what our coast guard does every day”
Mitsotakis’ coast guard is a work of fiction, his words here empty lies. The Greek authorities will not be let off the hook. The Hellenic Coast Guard failed on multiple accounts: failing to mobilise, turning cameras off, tampering survivor statements, and attempting to tow the vessel, which they have consistently denied.
Here is Forensis’ version of events:
Academics — predominantly from Greece — are calling for further investigation, as human rights organisations and investigative journalists continue to work with survivors to document the truth.
SEARCH AND RESCUE
SOS Humanity: 204 people rescued
However, the Italian authorities have assigned a Port of Safety (POS) that is over 1,400 km from their current position. The journey to Ancona will add three days of further transit at sea.
Italy’s inhumane policy of keeping people in traumatic conditions, as well as fatiguing and incapacitating the civil fleet continues.
Ocean Viking is currently impounded at the Italian port of Civitavecchia, where authorities claim it fails to comply with SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) international safety legislation. The irony of being accused of violating a ‘Safety of Life at Sea’ policy in the Mediterranean is nothing short of outrageous. SOS Mediterranée — Ocean Viking’s NGO — have challenged the Italian authorities.
TUNISIA
Hundreds of people from sub-Saharan Africa stuck at the border
Between Tunisia and Libya, there is almost nothing: sand, sea water, desert.
Yesterday, there were reportedly 150 in the Tunisian-Libyan border region. Some had been there for over five days without access to food or water. Needing immediate medical aid, they are surrounded by armed security forces on both sides. Reportedly, neither Libyan or Tunisian authorities are providing any aid.
This is not the first time Tunisian authorities have been dropping off sub-Saharan people in this desert no-man’s-land. Earlier this week, 800 people were reportedly abandoned there.
“The groups of Black refugees and migrants included children, women, pregnant women and they’d been left stranded in the Sahara with no shade, no food, no water,”
- Monica Marks, Tunisia researcher and assistant professor of Arab Crossroads Studies at the New York University Abu Dhabi, told DW from the capital Tunis.
Read more here about the background of growing anti-migration sentiment in Tunisia, as fears of further escalation grow.
LIBYA
After 18 months in detention, people have been released from Ainzara concentration camp
UNITED KINGDOM
MPs reject amendment to the Migration Bill: so the UK government can continue to violate international law
The UK government has announced it will make “no more concessions” on their so-called Illegal Migration Bill.
There will be more voting sessions next week, as the bill will return to the Houses of Parliament next week.
Sign Liberty’s petition to Stop the Bill here.
This news comes as Immigration detainees are refused the right to face-to-face legal advice in British detention:
WORTH READING
- MUST READ! — The reality of seeking asylum in the UK, in 2023?
“There is no entry clearance visa these people could have applied for, from outside the UK, in order to enter the country and claim asylum”
- Research done by Landworkers Alliance looking at migrant farm workers experiences of exploitation and destitution.
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