Bill Gates cautions Europe on its open door immigration policy

news.com.au

By Staff writers News Corp Australia Network

5 July 2017


Italy’s Interior Minister Marco Minniti said he was “frankly surprised” by Doskozil’s threat considering “there is clearly no emergency at the Brenner Pass and cooperation with the Austrian police works perfectly”.

He slammed it as “an unjustified and unprecedented initiative” which he said would “impact security cooperation” between the two countries “if not immediately corrected”.

Announcing that arrivals had passed the 100,000 mark for 2017, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said nearly 2250 people had died so far this year attempting to make the perilous Mediterranean crossing.

Spain’s coastguard said Tuesday they feared another 50 or so migrants had drowned, citing survivor testimony from three “exhausted and disorientated” men rescued from a rubber boat that had initially held many more people.

Italy has taken in nearly 85 per cent of this year’s arrivals — most of them sub-Saharan Africans crossing from conflict-ravaged Libya — and has pleaded for help from other European Union nations, saying it is struggling to cope.

On Sunday, Minniti had called on EU neighbours to open their ports to rescue ships picking up migrants, after Italy issued a drastic threat to close its own ports to the boats.

But France rejected that idea, with an aide to Minniti’s counterpart Gerard Collomb telling AFP this would only encourage more migrants to set sail.

‘SHORT-SIGHTED AT BEST’

Italy, France and Germany have suggested creating a “code of conduct” to regulate the operations of privately-run rescue boats, as well as bolstering the Libyan coastguard through increased financing and training.

But the Red Cross slammed it as “short-sighted at best to think the migrant issue can be tackled by pointing the finger at those who save lives at sea and financing the coastguard of a nation like Libya that has not signed international treaties on refugees”.

The European Commission on Tuesday unveiled a new plan which envisages 35 million euros ($A52.53 million) in aid for Italy and working with Libya and other countries to stem the flow of migrants at source.

The EU should in particular help Libya better control its porous southern border and work further with other African countries — Egypt, Niger, Ethiopia and Sudan — to get them to take back their nationals, the Commission said.

The plan will be discussed by EU interior ministers meeting in Estonia’s capital Tallinn on Thursday to address the migrant crisis - the continent’s worst since World War II.

The EU put in place a policy in 2015 to distribute around 160,000 refugees across different countries.

But only about 20,000 have been relocated from Italy and Greece under the scheme, while Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic have flatly refused to take part.

European migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos called on Tuesday for EU countries to speed up deportations of failed asylum seekers to ease the pressure, but warned this needed cooperation from their home countries.

PRESSURE ON ITALY CANNOT CONTINUE

The UN figures show that between January 1 and July 3, more than 85,000 migrants landed in Italy, nearly 9300 in Greece, nearly 6500 in Spain and over 270 in Cyprus.

“We are under enormous pressure,” Italy’s Minniti said at the weekend, while the Red Cross warned the situation in overcrowded reception centres was becoming critical.

The UN’s refugee agency also weighed in, warning that Italy cannot continue absorbing tens of thousands of migrants on its own.

While the numbers arriving in 2017 are staggering, they remain far below last year’s figures.

During the same period in 2016, 231,503 people made the crossing to Europe, with the 100,000-mark passed already in February that year.

But at that time most of the migrants were crossing from Turkey to Greece, and an EU deal with Ankara in March last year effectively hit the brakes on that movement.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/world/europe/bill-gates-cautions-europe-on-its-open-door-immigration-policy/news-story/69aa93741619820a5e13093ba9c7294e

Prepare migrant NGO code of conduct, EU tells Italy

In action plan to ease migratory pressure on Italy

ANSAmed

4 July 2017

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, JULY 4 - Italy should prepare a code of conduct for NGO ships carrying out search and rescue operations in the central Mediterranean, the European Commission said in its action plan to ease migratory pressure on Italy. The plan should be drafted in consultation with the EC, and on the basis of dialogue with the NGOs, it said.

Italy has said it will instruct NGO rescue ships not to enter Libyan territorial waters. It has also mooted barring non-Italian NGO ships from Italian ports, a threat that will be a key issue at an informal meeting of EU interior ministers in Tallinn on Thursday and Friday.

France and Spain have already said they will not open their ports to such ships.

EU member States should also mobilise to support migrant repatriations from Italy, the EC said in its action plan Tuesday. They should also: contribute more to the Fund for Africa, to complete a 2.6-billion-euro contribution; accelerate relocations from Italy; and press ahead with reforming the Dublin regulation. The EC vowed to support the "organisation of a centre of coordination for sea rescues fully operational in Libya". It also urged Tunisia and Libya to name respective areas of search and rescue (SAR) for migrants and set up an official coordinating office for sea rescues. The two countries have never set up their SAR areas, which serve to map out the areas of sea they are competent for.


Source: http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2017/07/04/prepare-migrant-ngo-code-of-conduct-eu-tells-italy_aa7d0c3c-5a9c-4891-a56d-07913746c633.html

EU offers Italy migrant help, cautions private rescuers

Reuters

By by Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Editing by Gareth Jones

4 July 2017

The EU executive offered Italy more funding on Tuesday to help deal with Mediterranean migrants and said private rescue boats working off Libya should review their operations to avoid encouraging people to take to sea.

The European Commission announced 35 million euros ($40 million) in extra cash for Rome in response to Italian demands that its neighbors share more of the burden of handling thousands of people coming by boat every week. It also set out a list of other measures for EU ministers to discuss on Thursday.

Among the proposals was that Italy draft a code of conduct for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) running rescue services off Libya.

Frans Timmermans, the Commission's deputy head, told reporters after the commissioners' weekly meeting, that this was in part because their activities might be a "pull factor" -- encouraging people to risk their lives in flimsy dinghies in the hope of being picked up and then ferried over to Italy.

The Commission plan calls for beefing up Libya's coastal rescue services -- something Europeans hope may curb the number of people picked up close to shore by international charities.

Despite criticism of abuses by coastguards employed by Libya's shaky, U.N.-backed government, European officials argue that better local rescue services would mean more migrants being taken back to Libya or perhaps to neighboring Tunisia or Egypt.

"ABUSIVE CONDITIONS"

Human rights groups have been critical of EU governments, noting a jump in the death rate and more than 2,000 drownings so far this year off Libya; many want Europe to give safe passage to refugees, though some governments fear this would boost their anti-immigration opponents.

Human Rights Watch said a similar set of proposals agreed on Sunday by the Italian, French and German governments along with the Commission "fall far short" and were "awful for people fleeing Libya" and its "abusive conditions ... and conflicts".

It said France and Spain could help by having rescue ships dock there, rather than in Italy, where more than 85,000 people have arrived so far this year. Paris and Madrid have responded cautiously to Italy's warning that it might close its own ports.

Timmermans and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called on other member states to make good on two-year-old pledges to take in more refugees from Italy and Greece. An EU deal with Turkey last year has staunched flows that saw a million people reach Greece in 2015 but numbers reaching Italy from anarchic Libya are higher than last year.

"The focus of our efforts has to be on solidarity – with those fleeing war and persecution and with our Member States under the most pressure," Juncker said in a statement.

"At the same time, we need to act, in support of Libya, to fight smugglers and enhance border control to reduce the number of people taking hazardous journeys to Europe."

The Commission reaffirmed its readiness to mobilize EU agencies and personnel to help the Italians. It said a 46-million-euro project with Italy would bolster Libya's ability to make good on promises to help curb migrant traffic.

The EU also pledged to step up or otherwise enhance a range of other measures, including deportations of failed asylum-seekers, combat smuggling networks and fund African countries from which people are fleeing poverty hoping for work in Europe.

Italy, the Commission said, should speed up its processing of asylum claims and deportations of those rejected.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-eu-italy-idUSKBN19P1US

The first NGO reaction to the new "conduct code" agreement

Oscar Camps, founder of  the "Proactiva Open Arms" NGO via Twitter:

“You are a ‘pull factor;’ you deal with traffickers, you finance the mafias, the taxi drivers of the seas, and you will close the ports to us. We are the problem?”

Source: https://twitter.com/campsoscar/status/880742957141434368

https://twitter.com/campsoscar

Mediterranean rescue boat charities angry at code of conduct plan

New rules drawn up by Italy likely to bring NGOs under coast guard control, which they fear will hamper rescue bids

The Guardian

By Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

3 July 2017

Charities which rescue migrants and refugees from the Mediterranean have reacted angrily to plans to make them subject to a new code of conduct drawn up by Italy and endorsed by other EU countries.

The move is likely to bring them under the control of the Libyan and Italian coast guards, which might constrain their ability to save passengers from overcrowded and unseaworthy smuggling boats.

The Italian government, which is under intense political pressure over the surge in refugee numbers, convened an emergency meeting with France and Germany in Paris on Sunday.

The three countries are considering extra funding, as well as efforts to reduce what they describe as the “pull factor” created by the presence of NGOs (non-government organisations) in the Mediterranean.

But a proposal by Italy to unilaterally close its ports to ships containing migrants is expected to be shelved because it is in clear breach of international maritime law.

Some Italian politicians and the Libyan coast guard have complained for months that the NGOs’ presence just outside Libyan waters encourages migrants to risk the perilous journey to Italy.

One leading NGO organiser reacted incredulously to criticism of his organisation’s rescue work. Oscar Camps, the founder of the Catalan group Proactiva Open Arms, tweeted:“You are a ‘pull factor;’ you deal with traffickers, you finance the mafias, the taxi drivers of the seas, and you will close the ports to us. [And] we are the problem?”

Activists point to the loss of 2,000 migrants lives this year as proof that their work is necessary. In March, several NGOs drew up a voluntary code of conduct, stressing the importance of humanitarian goals, independence from government and the need for coordination.

The Italian civil society forum AOI expressed its deep concern over the plan, saying that any proposal to limit the NGOs’ freedom will damage their ability save lives and reduce their funding. It added that numerous inquiries had cleared them of allegations that they were colluding with the smugglers.

But spokesman for the Libyan coast guard claimed the NGOs were acting inside Libyan coastal waters in breach of international law. More than 84,000 migrants have landed in Italy this year, and 12,000 in the past few days. The past three years have shown June to September are when migrants numbers peak.

Libyan coast guard spokesman Ayyoub Qasem accused the NGOs of “encouraging illegal immigrants – who flock to Libya from over 30 African countries – and not worrying at all about Libya’s sovereignty over its territory and its territorial waters.”

He claimed the rescue groups were acting in open violation of of Libyan maritime sovereignty, adding that the number of migrants embarking from Libya had risen 20% since last year despite measures designed to reduce the flow. “This is a clear indication that the measures taken to stop or reduce the phenomenon are partly wrong – or rather increase the number of migrants and smugglers,” he said.

Some of the ships operating on behalf of charities are registered in Germany, Spain or Malta, but most of them disembark refugees in southern Italy – one of the causes of political resentment in parts of Italy.

A new code would be matched by extra funding from the Libyan coast guard, said the EU commissioner for migration Dimitris Avramopoulos. He said specific proposals will be put in front of the EU College of Commissioners on Tuesday before an informal meeting of EU interior Ministers in Estonia due to start on Thursday.

Italian prime minister Paolo Gentilioni claimed the emergency meeting in Paris had produced some initial concrete results, but said the status quo was not sustainable. The Italian government fears the first and second wave of its reception centres are full, requiring a third wave to be built, and is eager for other countries to share its burden.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it was not realistic for Italy to take all the migrants from Libya. It warned in a major study of Libyan smuggling networks: “Irregular migration through Libya is unlikely to slow down, given the current political and security stalemate in the country and neighbouring states, the continuing drive for a better life, the increasing professionalization of the smuggling industry and the significant profitability of the route between Libya and Italy.”


Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/03/anger-at-rules-plan-for-migrant-charities-in-mediterranean

Fewer than 3% of migrants who reached Italy after crossing the Mediterranean in 2016 were deemed refugees, UN report shows

* UN said 181,436 migrants arrived in Italy last year, mostly across Mediterannean
* Only 4,808 were granted asylum in Italy and 90,334 became 'clandestini'

Mail Online

25 April 2017

Only 2.65 percent of those migrants who arrived in Italy were granted asylum as genuine refugees, according to the United Nations.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said 181,436 migrants arrived in Italy last year, most of them crossing the Mediterranean from north Africa in flimsy boats.

UNHCR said only 4,808 were granted asylum in Italy and 40% of the arrivals were found to be in need of international protection.

Italy's anti-migrant Lega Nord (Northern League) party is planning to sue senior figures for allowing illegal immigration.

Breitbart reported Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini, said: 'It is now clear that illegal immigration is organised and financed and for this reason we have decided to bring a case against the government, the President of the Council, the ministers and the commanders of the Navy and the Coast Guard.'

The UNHCR report said 90,334 of the migrants did not request asylum but disappeared into the black market economy.

Of the 91,902 who applied for asylum, 54,252 had their requests rejected unconditionally.

Another 18,979 were given 'humanitarian protection' status and 12,873 were given 'subsidiary protection'.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4442910/Less-3-migrants-reached-Italy-refugees.html

Italy aims to focus attention on the migrant emergency at G20 in Hamburg

Il Sole 24 Ore

By Andrea Carli

3 July 2017

This week could signal an important change in European policy toward the management of the migration emergency. This is the hope of Italy and the Italians, who feel left alone to deal with the reception of those who leave the coasts of Libya mainly (but also Turkey) to reach its ports. All will be understood at the end of the week, when G20 heads of state unite in Hamburg.

Diplomacy at work

Diplomacy, the operative arm of governments, has been aimed at creating a wide consensus on individual proposals. Italy intervened through its premier Paolo Gentiloni, using strong words at the preparatory meeting for Hamburg, held in Berlin at the end of last week. Italy is under pressure, Gentiloni underlined. The reception system could be put to a hard test, because in the current state, it is focused only in one country: Italy. “We ask for a concrete contribution from the Europeans,” he concluded.

Wednesday in Tallinn: the first testing ground

The reaction of the main European governments came very quickly. While German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised help and the European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker said it is important to support Italy and Greece, who he described as “heroic nations,” French President Emmanuel Macron put on the brakes: “80% of those who arrive in Italy are economic migrants, we should not confuse those,” he said.

Macron believes that only refugees should be protected, or those who escape from wars and political and religious persecution. The statements will be put to the test on Wednesday, during EU interior ministers meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, although the first reaction coming from the Estonian Presidency are not so encouraging.

Italian threat delivered in Brussels

Last week there was an important shift in the Italian government’s strategy. Rome shelved its subdued tones and raised its voice with Brussels: it threatened to refuse docking in its ports to non-Italian flagged ships that carry out migrant rescued off the Libyan coast. A few hours earlier, France had decided to bring 200 migrants who had crossed the Ventimiglia border back to Italy.

The issues

Beyond the discussions with the European Union, there are two elements that should be taken into consideration. The first concerns the Italian reception system. Despite the December agreement with the Association of Municipalities (ANCI) which fixed the ceiling of migrants to welcome at 200,000 (probably something that will have to be reviewed) and despite the €150 million earmarked for 2018, to distribute to mayors on the basis of the number of migrants welcomed, at the moment just 2,800 out of 8,000 municipalities have handled reception.

There is also a problem with the hotspots, the post-disembarkation centers wanted by the EU (Lampedusa, Pozzallo, Taranto and Trapani), where migrants, once they arrive in the ports, are assisted and go through the identification procedures. In its 2017 report on international migration published last week, the OECD underlined that at the end of 2016, only “29% of the people who arrived via sea went through the four Italian hotspots.”

Finally, there is a problem of relocating the migrants: between September 2015 and December 2016 – the OECD underlined – more than 25,000 people reached Italy by sea who had the conditions to be relocated in other European countries. Of these, 2,700 asylum seekers, equal to 6.7% of the objective to reach by September (39,600 people), have been relocated from Italy to other European countries. A very low number therefore

The shortsightedness (wanted?) by the EU Council

The second element to consider – more than the new funds of the Commission, that in any case help – is that it is the European Council which is influencing the race for a greater sharing of the reception of migrants on the part of the 28. In these recent months, the Council did not prove to be particularly sensitive. The numbers have been known for a while: according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 180,000 irregular migrants reached the Italian coasts in 2016 (above all from Nigeria, Eritrea and Guinea), an increase of 18% compared to the year before. Now that the summer and nice weather are here, the landings could grow even further.


Source: http://www.italy24.ilsole24ore.com/art/politics/2017-06-29/italy-engaged-commanding-attention-on-migrant-emergency-at-the-g20-in-hamburg--175939.php?uuid=AEfO5goB