Bishkek Tells Uzbekistan To Free Kyrgyz Nationals - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2009
June 18, 2009
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan has officially asked Uzbek authorities to release two Kyrgyz citizens detained by Uzbek border guards for allegedly crossing the border illegally, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
Kyrgyz Border Guard Service press secretary Dosnazar Abdulazizov told RFE/RL that Kyrgyz authorities are holding talks with Uzbek officials about the release of Zakir Akbarov and Ubaydulla Mitalipov, who are ethnic Uzbeks.
The two were detained by Uzbek border guards in May and charged with crossing the border illegally.
Uzbek authorities insist they must be tried in Uzbekistan, while Bishkek wants their cases tried in Kyrgyzstan.
Pour dénoncer l'aide d'urgence, ils occupent un centre de requérants :: Le Courrier :: Quotidien suisse indépendant
Paru le Lundi 15 Juin 2009
MICHAËL RODRIGUEZ
Vaud VEVEY - Des militants du droit d'asile ont occupé un centre de requérants vendredi soir, avant d'être délogés par la police. Ils réclament l'abolition de l'aide d'urgence.
Les militants du droit d'asile haussent le ton contre le régime de l'aide d'urgence. Vendredi soir, sept membres du collectif «Droit de rester» ont occupé le centre de requérants de Vevey, alors qu'une trentaine de personnes manifestaient devant le bâtiment. Tous réclament la fin du rationnement des prestations sociales frappant les recalés de l'asile. «Aide d'urgence = torture», pouvait-on lire sur une banderole et sur les tracts des manifestants. Une autre action devrait avoir lieu cette semaine.
Paisible évacuation
Les visiteurs surprise avaient l'intention de prendre leurs quartiers deux ou trois jours dans le centre. Finalement, ils n'y seront restés qu'une poignée d'heures. Appelés par la direction du centre, cinq ou six agents de Police Riviera ont sommé les occupants de quitter les lieux. Il était alors un peu plus de 22 h, heure à laquelle le centre ferme ses portes aux visiteurs. Après avoir parlementé un moment avec la police, les militants ont accepté de sortir du bâtiment vers 23 h. L'Etablissement vaudois d'accueil des migrants (EVAM) ne portera pas plainte contre les occupants. «Nous n'allons pas mettre de l'huile sur le feu», explique sa porte-parole, Emmanuelle Marendaz Colle. Si elle juge «très bien que des citoyens suisses prennent la défense des migrants», la porte-parole de l'EVAM est en revanche irritée par les nombreuses «erreurs» contenues dans les tracts du collectif. Elle réfute notamment les critiques formulées sur l'accès aux soins médicaux et la nourriture dans les centres d'aide d'urgence.
Pétition lancée
Le collectif «Droit de rester», membre de la Coordination asile Vaud, a lancé dans la foulée une pétition en faveur des requérants déboutés et des personnes frappées de non-entrée en matière (NEM), qui sont au nombre de 600 environ dans le canton. Le texte demande l'abolition du régime précaire imposé à ces migrants, l'octroi de permis de séjour et la suppression de l'interdiction de travailler. Sur ce dernier point, le Conseil d'Etat vient de montrer qu'il est déterminé à ne rien faire (lire ci-contre).
La pétition a déjà circulé samedi à Vevey, où 200 signatures ont été récoltées en une journée, affirme le collectif. Accompagnés d'une quinzaine de requérants, les militants se sont installés dans un parc de la ville. «Nous avions demandé de pouvoir y camper pendant deux ou trois jours, relate Graziella de Coulon, membre de la Coordination asile. Mais le municipal de police (le socialiste Lionel Girardin, ndlr) ne nous a pas donné l'autorisation.» Le collectif envisage de mener d'autres actions dans le courant de la semaine. Au départ, il aurait souhaité occuper une église plutôt qu'un centre de requérants, mais les négociations avec les responsables protestants et catholiques ont avorté. Graziella de Coulon leur reproche d'avoir d'abord accepté, puis de s'être rétractés. «Nous avons donné une réponse positive, rétorque Pascale Gilgien, conseillère synodale de l'Eglise évangélique réformée. Mais nous voulions qu'un groupe de travail commun soit créé, afin de savoir où et comment se ferait cette occupation. Or la Coordination asile n'a pas donné suite à notre demande.» I
Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union » Private Prisons for Immigrants Lack Accountability, Oversight
(Originally posted on AJC.com)
On March 11, a 39-year-old man held in detention at the Stewart Detention Center, a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in southwest Georgia, died at a hospital in Columbus.
To this day, the immediate cause of Roberto Martinez Medina’s death remains unclear (a press release pronounced the cause of death as “apparent natural causes”).
Last month, Leonard Odom, 37, died at the Wheeler County Correctional Facility in south-central Georgia.
Both facilities are operated by Corrections Corp. of America, which has a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to operate the Stewart center and one with the Georgia Department of Corrections to operate the one in Wheeler County.
The DOC has not released additional information about the death of Odom, due to an ongoing investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
What sets apart the deaths of these two men held at CCA-operated facilities is the difference in official responses.
In the case of the death at the immigration detention facility, there have been no further explanations regarding what may have prompted the death — much less an official investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which was created as a part of Homeland Security in 2003 to consolidate immigration enforcement.
Medina’s tragic death marks the latest in the mounting number of immigrant deaths in the custody of CCA, the largest corporation in the business of for-profit detention.
From October 2003 through Feb. 7, 2009, 18 people died in immigration detention custody in facilities operated by CCA alone, according to information from The New York Times.
Yet ICE has failed repeatedly to hold CCA accountable. Instead, the federal agency continues to reward CCA with additional contracts, most recently for operation of the North Georgia Detention Center in Hall County.
The CCA’s track record should come as no surprise to those who read the report issued in April by Georgia Detention Watch, a coalition of several organizations and individuals advocating an end to unjust and inhumane immigration detention and local enforcement practices.
The report was based on interviews with 16 detainees during a humanitarian visitation coordinated by Georgia Detention Watch in December 2008. The report uses ICE’s own Performance Based National Detention Standards to evaluate conditions at Stewart.
Even compared to ICE’s own nonbinding standards, conditions at the CCA-operated facility can best be described as grossly inadequate.
Members of Georgia Detention Watch and partner organizations have requested on several occasions to meet with ICE to discuss the findings of the report, but have gotten no response.
Georgia Detention Watch is not alone in demanding answers and accountability for immigrant deaths in U.S. detention.
The United Nations Expert on Extrajudicial Killings, Philip Alston, who toured the United States on a fact-finding mission in June 2008 on a mandate to investigate killings in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law, recently released a report demanding greater transparency and swift and public investigations for deaths in immigration detention.
Today marks three months since the death of Medina. ICE has yet to provide any answers regarding why this man died in detention.
Neither have Georgia Detention Watch members been provided with an opportunity to meet with ICE representatives to discuss the mounting concerns regarding the treatment of immigrants at the CCA-run Stewart.
With the prospect for yet another CCA-run immigrant detention facility in Hall County, these concerns become especially urgent.
If ICE’s oversight of the CCA operation of Stewart is any guide, we can expect yet another facility funded by taxpayers held to no standards at all.
I will join others in front of the ICE office in downtown Atlanta today to honor the memory of Medina and other immigrants who have died in CCA custody.
Georgia Detention Watch members will wear black T-shirts reading: “Why Did Roberto Martinez Medina Die in Detention?” Our message is clear: The era for impunity is over. ICE must hold CCA to account.
Debate on Oakington immigration removal centre | Parliament News
8 June 2009
Labour MP, Diane Abbott, opens House of Commons adjournment debate on Oakington immigration removal centre in Cambridgeshire.
* Commons Hansard: Oakington immigration removal centre
* About Parliament: Adjournment debates
An adjournment debate is simply a way in the Commons of having a general debate without requiring the House to vote.
There is a half-hour adjournment debate at the end of each day’s sitting. Members apply for an adjournment debate to the Speakers Office. Subject matters of adjournment debates are varied; examples include debates on defence issues, pensions and combating benefit fraud. The Speaker chooses Thursday’s subject; for other days, MPs are selected by ballot.
The MP who tabled the relevant adjournment debate is called to speak and a Minister will reply. The MP has no right of response, but can intervene in the Minister’s speech if he or she is willing to allow it (called ‘giving way’).
Le Monde.fr : Imprimez un élément
LEMONDE.FR | 05.06.09 | 13h47 • Mis à jour le 05.06.09 | 17h41
Le préfecture de police de Paris essaie-t-elle de se débarrasser des demandeurs d'asile ? Jeudi 4 juin, plusieurs associations d'aide aux étrangers l'ont accusée de ne pas délivrer de récépissé à des centaines de demandeurs d'asile au motif qu'ils ne possèdent pas de domicile fixe. Une pratique illégale, déjà condamnée "à dix reprises" en avril et mai par le tribunal administratif de Paris, soulignent Amnesty, la Cimade ou encore le Secours catholique. La justice demandait alors à la préfecture de "cesser de porter une atteinte manifestement illégale au droit d'asile".
En principe, les demandeurs d'asile qui souhaitent obtenir une autorisation provisoire de séjour doivent justifier d'une domiciliation. Des associations sont agréées pour leur servir de "boîte aux lettres" pour la première demande et les premiers renouvellements. Pour les renouvellements suivants, la préfecture demande ensuite une adresse fixe. Sans ce sésame, les personnes se retrouvent "privées de leurs droits économiques et sociaux" estiment les associations, comme par exemple une allocation de 320 euros, "leur seule ressource".
A la préfecture, on explique que ces cas sont marginaux par rapport au nombre de cas examinés chaque année. "En 2008 nous avons délivré 14 900 récépissés dans le cadre du droit d'asile à Paris, soit un quart du nombre total sur toute la France." Pour l'ACAT (Action des chrétiens pour l'abolition de la torture), au contraire, il s'agit d'une pratique régulière de la part de la préfecture. "Notre souhait, ce n'est pas de faire du contentieux avec la préfecture. Mais nous constatons qu'il faut passer par des décisions de justice pour que le préfet de police respecte les droits des demandeurs d'asile", avance Florence Boreil, responsable des programmes.
PLUSIEURS CENTAINES DE REFUS EN 2009
Les pratiques de la préfecture sont révélatrices, pour Marianne Lagruen, avocate spécialiste du droit d'asile, d'une "politique générale à l'égard des étrangers" et des demandeurs d'asile. Les associations dénoncent un procédé qui permet de multiplier les expulsions pour remplir les objectifs chiffrés du ministère de l'immigration et de l'identité nationale, au détriment du droit d'asile. Ce que dément la préfecture.
En 2006, elle avait déjà été condamnée à plusieurs reprises par le tribunal administratif pour les mêmes faits. Pour Marianne Lagrue, la pratique a commencé avec le vote de la loi sur l'immigration en 2006, qui a modifié les exigences concernant le domicile. "La préfecture a interprété le domicile comme l'endroit où l'on habite, et a arrêté de se contenter d'une attestation de domiciliation temporaire délivrée par une association. Le tribunal administratif a une interprétation différente: une adresse temporaire est suffisante", explique l'avocate.
Ainsi le 11 mai 2009, le tribunal administratif a rendu un jugement concernant le cas de M. Ramesh X, ressortissant sri-lankais, hébergé provisoirement par un ami. Le refus de lui délivrer un récépissé a été jugé comme "une atteinte grave et manifestement illégale à la liberté fondamentale que constitue le droit d'asile". La justice a enjoint au préfet de police de renouveler le récépissé de M. Ramesh X. Selon l'ACAT, environ six cents personnes se seraient vu refuser leur récépissé de demande d'asile depuis le début de l'année.
Hélène Franchineau
ThreatsWatch.Org: RapidRecon: Screening the Prison Systems for Illegal Aliens
In what is the first program of its kind, the Texas prison system is now capturing the digital fingerprints of the approximately 1,500 new inmates each week. These digital prints are then sent to the Department of Homeland Security. The program is intended to identify and then deport criminal aliens who have "committed serious crimes such as major drug offenses, murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping while living illegally inside the United States."
This program is not intended to search for and deport those among the more than 11 million illegal immigrants that are otherwise law abiding. Instead, and encouragingly, this program targets the tens of thousands of criminals who already populate our prison systems.
Imprisoned criminal aliens who entered the country illegally or have disobeyed a deportation order can be processed for deportation during their prison terms to get them out of the country faster once their sentence is complete. As many as 450,000 criminal aliens are imprisoned in federal, state and local facilities across the nation.
This is clearly a good step. In the past, states and municipalities, and even federal agencies like ICE, would not deport illegal immigrants unless they had committed another crime. It is expected that California will soon follow Texas and implement a similar program. But in what could be seen as an interesting policy contradiction, The City of Oakland plans to issue photo-ID cards to illegals to enable them to ease their "access to services, improve their civic participation and encourage them to report crimes."
The two sides of Oakland's decision to issue these cards pits Ira Mehlman spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform who says, "The problem is you have cities who are aiding and abetting people who are violating federal immigration laws. It sends a message that what they are doing is OK." against Jesse Newmark, a staff attorney with Centro Legal de la Raza who said that "he was pleased with the council's most recent action, adding that the ID card is tangible confirmation of Oakland's sanctuary status."
allAfrica.com: Nigeria: 1,500 Illegal Edo Immigrants Languish in Libyan Prisons
Simon Ebegbulem
4 June 2009
Benin — OVER one thousand five hundred indigenes of Edo State who were on their way to Europe through Libya without genuine documents have been languishing in detention in Libya in the past three months.
Six of the women among them, were said to have been impregnated by the Libyan security operatives.
One of the victims, who identified himself as Charles Erawuyi, lamented to Vanguard on telephone yesterday that they were arrested while trying to enter Europe through Libya . He explained that over three thousand of them, including citizens of Kenya and Mali, were arrested but their governments have intervened to secure their release while only Nigerians remained in jail.
He said that among the Nigerians, one thousand five hundred of them are from Edo State and that six of the women amongst them have been impregnated by the Libyan security operatives who used the ladies to satisfy their sex urge.
But the state government through the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Foreign Matters-Diaspora, Mr Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma, and a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Samson Osagie, described the plight of the victims as wicked and inhuman, saying the state government would do all it could to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to secure their release.
According to Ehiozuwa, " the Comrade governor is very concerned about the situation because we found out that majority of them are from Edo State.
We have already made contact with the Federal Government to see what we can do to secure their urgent release. It is also sad to know that some of the girls have been impregnated.
That is very bad and it is unacceptable. We will not only seek for their release, we will also ensure that those who are involved in such inhuman treatment are punished.
"But we want to advise our people to stop rushing outside the country without genuine papers. The Comrade governor has put every thing in place to make the state more comfortable for the people. They should stay and apply for jobs because jobs are being created".
We want to say that it is not rosy out there, instead of going without genuine papers, we will advise that they look for what to do in the country.
"The Comrade Governor is seriously concerned about the plight of our people out there and he is reaching out to the Federal agencies to see what we can do. We cannot afford to allow our people perish out there" he stated.
On his part, Mr Osagie hinted that "I and some members of the House of Representatives will be going to Libya in the third week of this month to see what we can do to secure their release. The situation is very sad, though I learnt that the girls have been deported back already. We will go and secure the release of the men because no matter how we see it they are Nigerians".
Le Monde.fr : Imprimez un élément
LEMONDE.FR | 03.06.09 | 18h58 • Mis à jour le 03.06.09 | 18h58
Le Conseil d'Etat a rejeté, mercredi 3 juin, la demande d'annulation du décret du 22 août 2008 réformant la mission d'assistance aux étrangers placés en centre de rétention.
Ce jugement ne remet pas en cause la suspension des contrats partageant désormais entre six "prestataires" cette mission d'assistance, décidée en référé le 30 mai par le Tribunal administratif de Paris. Celui-ci doit encore se prononcer au fond sur la validité de ces contrats signés le 10 mai par le ministre de l'immigration Eric Besson.
Le Conseil d'Etat écarte cependant une des craintes fortes exprimées par nombre d'associations de défense des droits des étrangers. En effet, le décret organisant la réforme prévoit de confier, par la voie d'un marché public, la mission d'assistance à une personne morale différente pour chacun centre de rétention.
Or, pour les ONG, cet éclatement risque d'entraîner une disparité de traitement selon les régions et de fortement affaiblir l'exercice des droits des étrangers en rétention, en empêchant une véritable coordination et mutualisation des fonctions supports entre les différents intervenants, plus que jamais nécessaire compte tenu de la complexité des procédures.
"La nécessité que les droits des étrangers placés en rétention soient garantis dans les mêmes conditions sur l'ensemble du territoire n'implique pas que les missions d'assistance à ces étrangers soient assurées par la ou les mêmes personnes morales sur l'ensemble du territoire nationale", estime le Conseil d'Etat qui avait été saisi par une dizaine d'association le 23 janvier.
Le ministre de l'immigration, Eric Besson, s'est félicité, dans un communiqué, de cette décision, soulignant que le Conseil d'Etat "a clairement jugé que l'exercice des droits des personnes retenues n'impliquait nullement de confier les missions d'assistance des étrangers à une seule et même personne morale, contrairement à l'analyse constante de la Cimade qui contestait la remise en cause de son monopole", estime le ministère de l'immigration, dans un communiqué.
RÉSERVE
Le Conseil formule cependant une importante réserve dans l'interprétation des dispositions prévues par le décret. Le conseil d'Etat insiste sur le fait que la convention passée avec chaque intervenant sélectionné "doit permettre l'exercice effectif de leurs droits par les étrangers", et dès lors que le rôle des intervenants ne saurait se limiter à une simple mission d'information mais comprend également l'aide à l'exercice de leur droit.
Partant de là, "l'Etat, relève le Conseil, ne peut conclure une convention qu'avec des personnes morales présentant des garanties d'indépendance et de compétences suffisantes, notamment sur le plan juridique et social, pour assurer le bon accomplissement de ces missions d'accueil, de soutien et d'information prévues par la loi".
Le Conseil d'Etat vient là conforter la position des associations ainsi que l'argumentation du tribunal administratif de Paris, lequel estimait, dans son ordonnance du 30 mai, que la mission des prestataires ne pouvait s'entendre que comme comportant une assistance
"Si le Conseil d'Etat n'annule pas le décret, il l'encadre et l'interprète", a déclaré à l'AFP Laurent Giovannoni, le secrétaire général de la Cimade. Le Conseil d'Etat, a-t-il ajouté, "définit ce que devra être la prochaine mission".
Laetitia Van Eeckhout
The Independent: Bullying found at immigration centreJune 2, 2009
By Robert Verkaik, Home Affairs Editor
Allegations that asylum seekers are being bullied by immigration staff are not being properly investigated, a report into Britain's flagship immigration removal centre has found.
The use of reasonable force to control detainees at Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, near Heathrow Airport, had increased and was not always well managed, Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons also found in a report published today. In the three months before the inspection, there had been 179 complaints ranging from bullying to poor food.
Dame Anne said: "...we found little improvement at Colnbrook since our last visit... there was evidence of the centre taking inappropriate steps to manage some of the challenges; there were examples of separation being misused and the vulnerable persons unit was not fit for purpose."
The centre, run by Serco, holds male detainees in the most secure facility in the detention estate. Dame Anne said: "A significant number of complaints, including allegations of staff bullying, were not adequately investigated and replies lacked detail."
Dave Woods, head of criminality and detention at the UK Border Agency, said: "In the six months since HMCIP visited, safety, security and purposeful activity for detainees have improved significantly."
Detained Asylum-Seekers Find It Harder to Win Release - NYTimes.comJune 2, 2009
By JENNY MANRIQUE
As a human rights advocate in West Africa, Jean-Pierre was jailed four times, repeatedly tortured and forced to pay a $15,000 ransom to his captors in exchange for his freedom. He faked his own death and even staged a funeral to escape his native Guinea, and in 2007 sought asylum in the United States.
But instead of refuge, he found a new form of captivity: He was handcuffed at Kennedy International Airport and locked up for five months in an immigration jail in Elizabeth, N.J.
“I had a genuine reason for coming here and ask for protection, but I was detained,” said Jean-Pierre, 29, who insisted that his last name be withheld to preserve his privacy in his current work on AIDS prevention. “They handcuffed me like a criminal and gave me a uniform. That was devastating and stressful. It was like reliving my jail in Guinea.”
For more than a decade, arriving asylum-seekers have faced the possibility that they will be detained while immigration authorities oppose their admission, under stricter laws passed in 1996. But a new study by the international advocacy group Human Rights First, shows that it has become harder for them to win release while their cases are considered.
Since 2003, when the Department of Homeland Security took over immigration enforcement, the number of beds in prisonlike detention centers has risen by at least 62 percent, the study found. At the same time, the percentage of asylum seekers released on bond or parole dropped by 42 percent for those the authorities found to have a “credible fear” of persecution. In 2007, more than 3,000 asylum seekers were detained soon after arrival in the United States.
In jail, they often face inadequate medical and mental health care, and a lack of legal representation that can keep them locked up for years, according to the researchers, who visited detention centers in New York, New Jersey and other states.
On Tuesday, the group planned a briefing in New York for Congressional staff members and others, calling for remedies that include improved conditions and alternatives to detention.
“The U.S. detention system needs to be reviewed from top to bottom,” said Eleanor Acer, the director of the group’s refugee protection program.
In response, Dora Schriro, recently appointed as the immigration agency’s special adviser, wrote the group a letter saying she had already begun a thorough review of detention policies and practices. The report, she wrote, “identifies areas for improvement we can address immediately.”
Jean-Pierre said that during his months in the Elizabeth Detention Center, which is run for the federal government by the Corrections Corporation of America, he thought of suicide whenever he heard that another detainee had been deported. He had nightmares in which a soldier tried to kill him.
“In jail, doctors just gave me sleep medication, but I did not want to sleep, to have more nightmares,” he recalled.
But Jean-Pierre was one of the lucky ones. He was released in April 2008 and was granted asylum three weeks later. Now he is active in a Christian congregation in Manhattan and is trying to bring his wife over from Africa.
Other asylum seekers have grown sicker. This report and others have traced the damage that detention can work on the physical and mental health of refugees, many of whom have endured torture and trauma in their native countries.
A 2003 study of 70 detained asylum seekers by Physicians for Human Rights and the Bellevue/N.Y.U. Program for Survivors of Torture found that 86 percent suffered significant depression, and half suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Allen Keller, the program’s director, said people in detention could easily be retraumatized. “The longer the detention the higher the psychological distress.”
The report cited the case of a Brazilian woman who had come to the United States to escape domestic violence, but could not cope with the stress of eight months in jail. She withdrew her application and returned to her home country, even though she faced grave danger there.
“At one hearing, when she heard that the case was to be continued again — meaning she would be detained longer — she had a panic attack,” her pro-bono lawyer, Kelleen Corrigan, recalled. “An external psychological evaluation stated that she needed ongoing therapeutic treatment, but despite my repeated requests to ICE, the client was never seen by a mental-health specialist while detained.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not answer questions about mental health services in detention. It said it could discuss specific cases if the individuals agreed to disclose their medical records, but the asylum seekers’ lawyers advised against that.
Though detention in America holds few of the horrors many asylum seekers experienced in their home countries, it has its own torments; detainees can be placed in solitary confinement, and are often prevented from communicating with relatives by lack of access to phones or by the high costs of jail phone service.
“I left behind a pregnant wife, and I did not know about her for months,” explained Kelsang, 23, a Tibetan who spent almost a year in the Elizabeth Detention Center before he was granted asylum in May 2008. He said he had seen his 2-year-old son only in photos.
“I barely slept, no more than two hours, and I was always nervous and afraid for my family back in Tibet,” said Kelsang, who asked that his last name not be published because he feared the family would be harmed.
A Buddhist who supported the Dalai Lama, Kelsang said that during 13 months in Chinese custody he had been “tortured and beaten with an electric prod and a club.” The New Jersey jail, he said, was not as bad. “At least I could practice my religion.”
ASGI27.05.2009
Il Testo unico sull'immigrazione. Le novelle dell'A.S. n. 733-B
Dossier 129 (779.46 KB)
Il Testo unico sull'immigrazione. Le novelle dell'A.S. n. 733-B.
Dossier di documentazione del Servizio studi del Senato della Repubblica.
Fonte: www.senato.it
Libya asks for more European help to stop illegal immigration | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 26.05.2009
The EU promised Libya, which has long land and sea borders, 20 million euros ($25 million) in February. Yet the Libyan government says this is not enough to help it stop the flow of migrants. Libya's interior ministry urged the EU on Tuesday to provide additional "technical aid, training and equipment."
More than 67,000 people crossed the Mediterranean Sea, headed for Europe, in 2008, with half of them landing in Italy and Malta, according to the United Nations' refugee agency. The number of illegal immigrants reaching Italy grew by 75 percent in 2008 compared to the previous year. During the same time period, it grew by 65 percent in Greece.
Illegal immigration is also becoming a domestic issue in Libya. Many Libyans blame the increasing numbers of African migrants for a variety of social ills. But the migration issue is a sensitive one for Libya, since leader Moammar Gadhafi, the chair of the African Union, has endorsed a vision of a single African state, which would allow free movement of people and goods within the continent. Libyan and EU flagsBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The EU and Libya have said they'll work together on immigration
Europe looks to neighbors for help
Gadhafi has also tried to establish a better relationship with the European Union by agreeing to stop banned weapons programs in 2003. The two sides are currently negotiating a pact to expand cooperation on a wide range of issues.
"We must do everything in our power to stop boat crossings, to guarantee coastal checks and help countries like Libya put in place agreements it can keep," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said last week.
The European Commission is currently preparing new plans to combat illegal immigration, which are to be announced by mid-June. Barroso pointed out that the EU cannot stop illegal immigration on its own and needs to work with governments outside the bloc.
th/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Susan Houlton
Suspected Asylum seekers moved to Christmas Island | The AustralianMay 24, 2009
Article from: Australian Associated Press
A BOATLOAD of 77 suspected asylum seekers has been intercepted near Ashmore Reef off Australia's northwest coast.
The vessel is believed to be carrying 73 passengers and four crew, Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said in a statement today.
The group will be transferred to Christmas Island where they will undergo health and security checks.
Mr Debus said the Royal Australian Navy discovered the vessel about six nautical miles north of Ashmore Reef.
“The Australian government is committed to strong border security arrangements and is determined to deal effectively and appropriately with people smugglers,” he said.
It is the 13th boat carrying suspected asylum seekers to be intercepted in Australian waters this year.
AAP
allAfrica.com: South Africa: Illegal Musina Detention Centre Ordered to Close
Alex Bell
20 May 2009
An illegal detention centre in the South African border town Musina is set to be permanently shut down, after a strongly worded judgment by the North Gauteng High Court in South Africa was handed down this week.
In February 2009, South Africa's Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) launched an urgent High Court application seeking the closure of the facility, citing the extreme unsanitary conditions of detention and the unlawful detention of refugees and young children. Most of the detainees were Zimbabweans seeking refuge in South Africa from the political and economic crises across the border. Children, many of whom made the journey to South Africa unaccompanied, were often arrested by police, military and immigration officials and detained and deported alongside adults, regardless of the devastating conditions from which they had fled.
The detention facility has been operational for more than two years, with an estimated 15 000 foreigners being detained and deported every month. The exiles were held in unsanitary, overcrowded conditions with no access to toilets, no medical facilities and inadequate food. LHR lawyers have described witnessing detainees being beaten with a green rubber hose, which they descibed as 'a punitive measure or a mechanism of crowd control.' LHR's Gina Snyman explained on Wednesday that these conditions were in 'stark violation of the minimum standards under international law, as well as the Immigration Regulations detailed by Home Affairs.'
The Court this week ruled that the detention centre and the conditions there were not only unlawful but also unconstitutional, and ordered the centre to be immediately closed. The Court also judged that the various government departments involved, namely the South African Police Service, the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Social Development, had abdicated their responsibilities under the South African Constitution and violated the rights of the detainees being held at the centre.
The court also called the treatment of children at the facility 'startling,' and judged that they had been unlawfully treated by the police and Home Affairs, as well as ignored by the Department of Social Development, which failed to act despite being made aware of the presence of children at the centre. The Court cited an earlier High Court judgment which requires that all children must be cared for under the Constitution, no matter their immigration status.
"It is outrageous the amount of time and resources which have been devoted to defending this clear violation of human rights and degrading treatment of detainees," said Snyman. "In light of this judgment, we call on the new Minister of Home Affairs to revisit the policy of detentions, and to review the conditions of detention in all immigration and police facilities."
Meanwhile, South African authorities are investigating a possible Zimbabwean run criminal syndicate that preys on fellow Zimbabweans arriving in the country. It comes after 11 Zimbabweans, who were abducted at the Beitbridge border post, were found in a cramped, unsanitary flat in Johannesburg last week. The group, including three children, were promised jobs and cheap transport to Johannesburg by the criminal gang. Instead, they were locked up for more than a week with no food or toilets, and were held for ransom by their abductors. Three Zimbabwean men have been arrested in connection with the incident and are facing kidnapping and assault charges.
Italy's Berlusconi compares refugee conditions to Nazi death camps | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 20.05.2009
Silvio Berlusconi says it is more humane to send migrant boats back to Libya than let them enter Italy because of the unbearable conditions African refugees have to endure, which he compares to those in Nazi death camps.
Italy's holding centers for immigrants are like "concentration camps,, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in an apparent justification of his country's new practice of deporting to Libya migrants picked up at sea in international waters. He added that it was more humane to send migrant boats back to Libya than to let them enter Italy.
Berlusconi was speaking at a joint news conference on Tuesday with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who said the priority should be to avoid humanitarian disasters at sea but stressed that the rights of asylum seekers should be respected.
Human rights groups, Catholic organisations and the Vatican have strongly criticised the deportations, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says the new Italian policy breaks international conventions on the rights of asylum seekers. The hundreds of people deported in recent weeks, the UNHCR says, included asylum seekers that Italy should accept.
But Berlusconi's conservative government says it will not be deterred from its deportation policy, arguing that it is part of an agreement with Tripoli to curb illegal immigration across the Mediterranean. In its crackdown against illegal immigrants, Rome plans to double the number of holding camps for migrants to 20 from 10 and has renamed them "Identification and Expulsion Centers." The lower house of parliament passed a bill that increases to six months the length of time immigrants can be held in these camps.
Aid groups have long criticized overcrowding and poor hygienic conditions at the camps for African refugees, especially on the tiny island of Lampedusa, where most of the immigrants from Africa are taken.
The European Union is meanwhile working on plans to assist Italy, Malta and other member states grappling with a surge of would-be immigrant arrivals. It hopes to present the proposals next month.
db/Spiegel/Reuters
Editor: Nick Amies
Berlusconi a Barroso "Centri immigrati come lager" - cronaca - Repubblica.itIl presidente della Commissione Ue all'Aquila parla al premier di migranti e terremoto
Per l'Europa "evitare di far partire barconi ma rispettare il diritto di asilo"
Dall'Europa 480 milioni di euro per il terremoto in Abruzzo: "Ottima l'idea di spostare il G8"
AQUILA - "Non vorrei dirlo, ma i centri di identificazione degli immigrati somigliano a dei campi di concentramento, tanto è vero che il Parlamento ha negato che la permanenza possa essere aumentata a sei mesi". Lo ha detto il premier Silvio Berlusconi, durante una conferenza stampa all'Aquila con il presidente della Commissione Ue. Barroso si è detto convinto che sia bene far funzionare direttamente nei Paesi di partenza dei barconi uffici dell'Onu che valutino la concessione di asilo politico ai migranti.
Barroso: "Evitare i battelli". Sappiamo che la situazione è molto seria e difficile in particolare per l'Italia e Malta - ha ammesso Barroso - per questo l'Unione europea è disposta a dare risposte forti. La priorità - ha detto ancora il presidente della Commissione Ue - è evitare le tragedie sul mare, dobbiamo fare in modo che i battelli non lascino le coste garantendo il controllo delle coste insieme agli Stati da cui si parte, senza comunque violare i diritti dell'asilo politico".
Contributi Ue all'Abruzzo. E parlando poi del terremoto in Abruzzo, il presidente della Commissione europea ha detto che "se sarà confermata la stima di 10 miliardi di euro di danni, l'Europa aiuterà l'Aquila con 480 milioni di euro. Disponibile anche a valutare la richiesta di ritagliare una zona franca nella regione colpita dal terremoto. Sono molto vicino alla gente d'Abruzzo e al loro dolore. Credo che sia stata un'ottima decisione spostare il G8 dalla Maddalena all'Aquila".
(19 maggio 2009)
Le Monde.fr : Imprimez un élément
LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | 19.05.09 | 11h04
Human Rights Watch a accusé, mardi 19 mai, les autorités émiraties de ne pas empêcher les mauvais traitements des travailleurs étrangers, dans un rapport sur une île au large d'Abu Dhabi devant accueillir une antenne du Musée du Louvre qu'Abu Dhabi a rejeté comme "trompeur".
Dans un rapport sur les conditions de travail sur l'île Saadiyat (Bonheur, en arabe) au large d'Abu Dhabi, où sont prévues aussi des antennes du Musée Guggenheim et de la New York University, HRW déplore la persistance des mauvais traitements à l'encontre des ouvriers dans ce riche pays pétrolier du Golfe. "Bien que le gouvernement émirati ait entrepris d'améliorer les conditions de logement et d'assurer le versement à temps des salaires, les mauvais traitements infligés aux travailleurs restent fréquents", écrit l'organisation de défense des droits de l'homme dans un communiqué à l'occasion de la publication de son rapport. Elle estime nécessaire que les institutions internationales concernées par les projets à Saadiyat obtiennent "instamment des garanties formelles engageant les entreprises du bâtiment à protéger les droits fondamentaux des travailleurs" dans l'île.
"AFFIRMATIONS TROMPEUSES"
Intitulé L'Ile du Bonheur : l'exploitation des travailleurs migrants, le rapport évoque "des frais illégaux d'embauche, des promesses de salaire non tenues et un système de parrainage qui donne à l'employeur quasiment pleins pouvoirs sur ses employés", dont la confiscation de leurs passeports. La Compagnie d'Abu Dhabi pour la promotion du tourisme et des investissements (TDIC), un établissement public chargé du développement de Saadiyat, a rejeté le rapport de HRW. "Le rapport a non seulement négligé les mesures et les actions entreprises pour améliorer les conditions de travail (...), mais il contient aussi des affirmations trompeuses et des hypothèses erronées", affirme-t-elle dans un communiqué publié mardi. Elle rejette les griefs formulées par l'organisation, y compris la confiscation des passeports des ouvriers, une mesure "non autorisée" par la loi émiratie selon le communiqué.
Sarah Leah Whitson, directrice de HRW pour le Moyen-Orient et l'Afrique du Nord, appelle les institutions internationales à "montrer qu'elles ne tolèrent pas ou ne profitent pas de l'exploitation grossière des travailleurs migrants".
RAPPORT - REPORT - INFORME - RAPPORTO
Le Monde.fr : Imprimez un élément
LEMONDE.FR | 19.05.09 | 12h30 • Mis à jour le 19.05.09 | 15h21
La Cimade a annoncé, mardi 19 mai, son intention de déposer un recours devant le tribunal administratif de Paris contre les contrats passés par le gouvernement avec six associations pour l'assistance aux étrangers dans les centres de rétention administrative (CRA).
Dimanche 10 mai, le ministre de l'immigration, Eric Besson avait signé un texte attribuant à six associations cette assistance juridique, sans attendre l'issue d'un référé en annulation déposée par la Cimade, l'association qui jusqu'ici assurait seule cette assistance.
Le ministère avait réparti les CRA en huit lots attribués à six associations : la Cimade, l'Ordre de Malte, Forum Réfugiés, France Terre d'Asile, l'Assfam et le Collectif Respect, considéré comme proche de l'UMP. Mais la Cimade, qui intervenait historiquement dans les centres de rétention, dénonce une logique de marchandisation des droits des étrangers. Et estime que cette volonté de "démantèlement" reflète la volonté du ministère de l'immigration de faire taire les critiques des associations sur les conditions de rétention.
La Cimade s'est vu confier trois lots sur huit mais conteste l'ensemble du processus, y compris les régions qui lui ont été attribuées. Plusieurs associations (Gisti, Avocats pour la défense des droits des étrangers et Syndicat des avocats de France), solidaires de la Cimade contre les cinq lots attribués aux autres organisations, ont par ailleurs annoncé le dépôt d'un recours distinct.
Un premier appel d'offres avait déjà été annulé en 30 octobre par le tribunal administratif, qui souhaitait notamment une meilleure définition des compétences juridiques des candidats.
La Cimade et les associations qui soutiennent sa démarche (dont Amnesty International et le Secours Catholique) appellent à des rassemblements le 2 juin, date à laquelle doit s'appliquer la nouvelle répartition des intervenants dans les centres de rétention.
Laetitia Van Eeckhout
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