Migrants : la France va ouvrir un camp humanitaire à Grande-Synthe

Le Monde
Quand le soleil s’efface, le froid humide venu de la Manche envahit la ville côtière de Grande-Synthe (Nord), en périphérie de Dunkerque. Dans le camp de migrants, à deux pas du centre, il prend ses aises. Les 2 500 ou 3 000 réfugiés du lieu, majoritairement kurdes, savent que cet ennemi se glissera avant eux sous les couvertures de leur maison de toile. 

Aux portes de Dunkerque, à 30 kilomètres de la jungle de Calais,
ils s'entassent dans la boue et le froid, l’humidité et le vent.

Mais le geste fataliste d’Ali rappelle qu’il en a vu d’autres depuis qu’il a quitté son Kurdistan natal. D’ailleurs, l’Irakien se plaint à peine. Il est là en transit, impatient de rejoindre la Grande-Bretagne. Et s’il n’y est pas fin janvier, en dépit de son « passage garanti », des 40 000 euros payés pour lui, ses enfants et son épouse, il rejoindra ce nouveau camp dont on parle déjà tant. « Il y aura des douches, de l’eau et des tentes chauffées », répète, incrédule, cet ex-traducteur du Royal Air Force College en Irak.

Un vrai camp de réfugiés devrait en effet être ouvert en janvier par la municipalité de Grande-Synthe et Médecins sans frontières (MSF). Un camp aux normes du Haut Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) pouvant accueillir plus de 2 500 migrants, une première en France.

Mais cela paraît bien loin à Ali qui espère juste, ce soir-là, une livraison de bois. Le feu est un des fondamentaux de la route de l’exil. Chaque soir « ce camp de la honte », comme l’a baptisé le maire (EELV) de la ville, Damien Carême, a pour obsession le bois de chauffage. Quelques scies sorties de nulle part attaquent les arbres. Parfois, une camionnette providentielle débarque, bourrée de sacs de combustible. C’est la bousculade garantie. Pire que pour la nourriture. Les enfants crient. Les femmes tendent désespérément les bras. La nuit se gagne là.

A Grande-Synthe, près de 3 000 migrants, essentiellement kurdes,
vivent les pieds dans l'eau non loin du centre-ville.

«Une décharge à ciel ouvert»

Devant les petites tentes, des feux s’allument un à un. On se chauffe les mains, les pieds. On pose une bouilloire ou une poêle noircie. Grande-Synthe est un camp misérable. Un espace boisé, destiné à construire un écoquartier, où s’entassent plus d’un millier d’abris de tissu ; où jouent plus d’une centaine d’enfants, les pieds dans l’eau, faute de bottes. « Ce n’est pas un camp, mais une décharge à ciel ouvert, observe Delphine Visentin, la responsable de MSF. Nous tentons d’en améliorer le fonctionnement mais cela reste une zone de transit inorganisée. »

Les « French Doctors » ont pourtant mis en place un point pour les distributions des associations ; un espace santé cogéré avec Médecins du monde. Hormis cela et les douches qu’il faut reprendre aux passeurs – qui les faisaient payer –, c’est un champ de boue où sont plantées des tentes basses, sans la bâche qui à Calais sert de seconde peau. Sans les baraques en bois, plus chaudes. Ici les gendarmes ne laissent pas passer de matériaux de construction, ni même, certains jours, les sacs de couchage.

« Grande-Synthe, c’est Calais en pire », résume Jean-François Corty, de Médecins du monde, choqué par la présence de bébés, de femmes enceintes dans la gadoue. Le maire, président du Réseau des élus hospitaliers du Nord-Pas-de-Calais, a pourtant fait ce qu’il pouvait, installé des sanitaires, les bennes à déchets. Il est aujourd’hui dépassé. Et inquiet. « On n’est pas à l’abri d’une hypothermie », prévient la responsable MSF ; « ni d’un suicide », ajoute Hafsa Sabr, une jeune bénévole présente tous les jours depuis l’été ; déjà témoins du geste désespéré d’une maman seule avec plusieurs enfants, et d’un adolescent.

En dépit de ses quelques milliers de migrants, Grande-Synthe est une oubliée. La médiatique Calais a capté toute l’attention, avec sa maire qui en appelle régulièrement à l’armée, quand, à Grande-Synthe, l’élu gérait. « Ici, on accueille des migrants depuis 2006, observe M. Carême, jusqu’à cet été, ils étaient 80. Mais depuis leur nombre a été multiplié par 30 et c’est devenu une ville dans la ville. » Une cité d’ingénieurs, d’enseignants, d’artisans, « encampés » au milieu des 22 000 habitants dont 33 % vivent sous le seuil de pauvreté.

La balle est dans le camp du préfet

Le ministère de l’intérieur a longtemps fait la sourde oreille aux appels de Damien Carême. Le 30 septembre 2015, Bernard Cazeneuve lui avait promis son aide. « Trois mois plus tard, je n’ai rien vu ; à part des forces de l’ordre », regrette M. Carême. Excédé, il a convoqué une conférence de presse avec Médecins sans frontières pour le 23 décembre. La décision qu’il fallait pour obtenir un rendez-vous avec le ministre de l’intérieur, puisqu’il a été reçu le même jour par M. Cazeneuve.

Damien Carême est un maire de gauche. Hier PS, aujourd’hui EELV. Avec MSF, il a conçu un vrai camp qui, pour 1,5 million d’euros – remboursés par l’Etat –, logera tous ses migrants. Les plans sont faits, les entreprises dans les starting-blocks, les équipes de MSF sur le pont. La balle est dans le camp du préfet, qui doit donner son accord pour le lieu choisi par la municipalité.

Bien qu’alambiqué, le communiqué commun de MM. Cazeneuve et Carême promet que cela va venir. Il prend l’engagement « de renforcer les expertises en cours pour mettre en œuvre une solution très rapide qui apportera une réponse humanitaire aux besoins élémentaires des migrants, et notamment des populations vulnérables présentes sur le site, qui doivent pouvoir bénéficierd’une mise à l’abri ». Le déménagement y est aussi acté puisque « les caractéristiques marécageuses du camp actuel ne peuvent offrir de solution satisfaisante en ce sens ». Reste qu’il s’est déjà écoulé une semaine sans réponse de la préfecture et que les acteurs tiennent à un déménagement en janvier.

S’il est bien conçu pour « loger tout le monde », c’est-à-dire 2 500 à 3 000 personnes, comme le veulent la Ville et les associations, ce camp sera une première en France. « Pensé par nos logisticiens, il respectera les standards humanitaires internationaux. Les sanitaires y seront en nombre suffisant et les migrants y dormiront sous des tentes chauffées l’hiver », rappelle Mme Visentin. Les associations seront installées juste à côté, dans des bâtiments en dur. Tout ce que le gouvernement s’est refusé à mettre en place à Calais en créant un camp de jour. Ces avancées ne signifient pourtant pas que le bras de fer entre les associations et le gouvernement est terminé. Tout se négociera, du nombre de places au degré de surveillance policière.

En attendant, la vie continue dans la boue. Souma et Akram, les enfants d’Ali, ont tous deux le nez qui coule. Lundi, la consultation de MSF n’a pas désempli, apportant soins du corps et pansements à l’âme. Hafsa Sabr a, comme souvent, installé une femme fragile pour quelques jours dans l’hôtel voisin. Demain, elle courra les magasins en quête d’un hélicoptère téléguidé. Car Grande-Synthe aussi fêtera le passage en 2016 et quelques-uns des oubliés de Noël auront leur seconde chance.

Par Maryline Baumard

Une association de migrants dénonce la répression à Ceuta et Melilla

RFi Afrique
Plus de 300 migrants africains ont tenté de gagner l'Espagne par l'enclave de Ceuta à l'aube ce vendredi 25 décembre au matin, à la nage ou en escaladant la clôture frontalière au Maroc. Bilan : deux migrants sont morts et 120 ont été interceptés par les autorités.

Cette arrivée massive de migrants ne surprend pas le coordinateur du Conseil des migrants subsahariens du Maroc. Selon Camara Laye, ces migrants vivent dans des conditions très difficiles au Maroc. Et les conditions d'accueil à leur arrivée en Espagne ne sont pas meilleures.

« On ne peut même pas parler d’accueil, fustige Camara Laye. L’accueil, c’est quand il y a quelque chose de digne. Il n’y a plus de place dans les centres donc les conditions sanitaires ne sont pas appropriées. Tout individu aspire à de meilleures conditions de vie. Ceux qui sont là-bas c’est parce que la situation est difficile. »

Répression
Après des campagnes de répression féroce au cours des derniers mois dans l'enclave espagnole de Melilla, les migrants choisissent maintenant le nord du Maroc pour tenter d'entrer sur le sol européen, analyse le coordinateur du Conseil des migrants subsahariens du Maroc.

« Dans les villes du nord, à Tanger par exemple, il y a eu un ratissage vendredi : on prend les gens, on les refoule immédiatement vers le sud. Parce que l’objectif des forces de l’ordre marocaines, c’est d’éloigner le plus possible les migrants des frontières, explique-t-il. Pour nous, franchement, ce n’est pas la solution. C’est le reflet de la politique de l’Union européenne. C’est l’Union européenne qui met la pression sur le Maroc pour éloigner les migrants. Or, ce n’est pas la solution. »

Clôtures renforcées
Selon Camara Laye, l'ajout de clôtures surmontées de barbelés et le renforcement de la surveillance à Melilla ne règlent pas le problème. Ces mesures forcent simplement les migrants à changer de route vers Ceuta.

« Depuis le mois de février 2015, il y a eu un ratissage à Melilla. Principalement à Gourougou, où étaient réfugiés des centaines de migrants. Cette ville est actuellement occupée par les forces de l’ordre marocaines. Donc toutes les tentatives vers Melilla sont vouées à l’échec, souligne-t-il. Les grillages ont été renforcés. Le passage est quasiment impossible. C’est pourquoi les migrants se sont tournés maintenant vers Cassiago, dans la forêt où ils vont se jeter à l’eau comme on l’a vu [ce vendredi 25 décembre ndlr]. A chaque fois, on les prend, on les refoule, on les bastonne, ils sont blessés. »

Chaque année, des milliers de migrants risquent leur vie pour atteindre les enclaves de Ceuta et Melilla, les seules frontières terrestres de l'Union européenne avec l'Afrique. L'Espagne avait consolidé les clôtures frontalières des deux enclaves l'an dernier pour faire face à un afflux de migrants.

UN Human Rights Expert Francois Crepeau: EU Should do More to Help Migrants

AP
A U.N. human rights expert says fences, tear gas, threats and deprivation of food, water and shelter won't keep refugees and migrants away.

Francois Crepeau, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, says EU members should focus on controlling but not sealing borders, fighting anti-migrant sentiment and ensuring that migrants and asylum-seekers can move around, get jobs and integrate.
In a statement Tuesday, Crepeau said: "Let's not pretend that what the EU and its member states are doing is working. Migration is here to stay,"

Many European countries have been struggling to cope with a recent wave of migration.

Crepeau said EU officials should do more to counteract people-smugglers and create a massive resettlement program for refugees fleeing violence and persecution from places like Eritrea and Syria.

Meet the American Millionaire Rescuing Migrants at Sea (MOAS)

The Take Awai
More than 2,000 migrants have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe so far this year. Many of these people are seeking asylum from war-torn countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

Christopher and Regina Catrambone. 

(www.moas.eu)

On Monday, the European Commission announced it would distribute $2.6 billion in aid over six years for countries like Greece and Italy, which have been struggling to cope with the surge in numbers of migrants and refugees.

But one American millionaire is also taking action. Christopher Catrambone, a businessman from Lake Charles, Louisiana, has set up the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS).

His boat, called the Phoenix, has been rescuing hundreds of boat people crossing the Mediterranean. He and his Italian wife, Regina, have so far invested about $8 million of their own money to buy the ship and hire a crew.

Christopher and Regina are the subjects of a new VICE News special called "The Smartest Man in the Sea." Simon Ostrovsky, the VICE News Correspondent who put this project together, weighs in.

A MOAS rescue mission

A MOAS rescue mission

Great Britain - Demonising Migrants Won't Solve Calais - We Need a Major Escalation of Diplomatic Efforts From the Government

The Huffington Post UK
The crisis over Calais is getting worse not better. Yet far from setting out a serious plan to tackle the problem, the Prime Minister is inflaming the politics with incendiary and divisive language instead.

Faced with such troubling images from the border, the temptation for any country can be to turn inwards, to become more fearful and hostile towards all those from across the seas. And that indeed is the anxiety that David Cameron's "swarm" language seems designed to escalate.

Yet the Government has a responsibility to do the opposite. The problems at Calais and Kent are just one part of a serious and growing international crisis over migration and refugees. Rather than turning inwards, Britain needs to look across its borders for solutions. Only serious Europe wide and international intervention - and major, constructive, diplomatic engagement from the British Government is going to get to grips with this problem. Both David Cameron and Theresa May need to urgently change their approach.

No one can be in any doubt about the seriousness of the problem. Nine people have died since June trying to enter Britain from Calais - no doubt many having paid money to criminals profiting from their deaths. People - the vast majority of whom will have travelled thousands of miles - are not a "swarm,". They are sons, daughters, fathers, mothers - many desperate enough to risk their lives.

The pressure on hauliers is huge - worrying about the security of their load, the safety of their journey, as well as the disruption. Tourists and travellers are affected. So too are the people of Kent - including the police - managing with Operation Stack.

When order breaks down - as it has in Calais - a difficult situation can become desperate.

But this is also part of a far wider crisis from the Mediterranean and beyond. In Southern Europe refugee charities are calling for more support in managing the many thousands of people that have arrived in Italy and Greece. NGOs warn that more than half are refugees from Syria. Other people have travelled from parts of Africa through Libya - where the breakdown of government and order means there is little to stop the traffickers and criminal gangs. Too few people have asylum claims or immigration status assessed when they first arrive in Europe, and in the Schengen zone (without borders) it is proving easy for the trafficking gangs to take people across the continent.

Three things are now needed now.

First more needs to be done immediately in practical terms on safety and security at the border and to tackle the problems in Kent. Eurotunnel have been warning for months that separate lorry waiting areas and increased security were needed to reduce the extremely dangerous attempts to hide in or on lorries that are putting lives at risk. Yet Ministers have been far too slow to put this in place, and the new fencing promised still isn't complete. Nor are there enough security staff, not enough checks to prevent these risky and illegal journeys in the first place. Indeed the government stopped fingerprint checks of people attempting illegal passage during the last parliament.Too many of those picked up at the border are simply returned to the streets of Calais to try again the following night. The Home Secretary still needs to do more to make sure the security measures she promised are fully in place.

Kent police and the people of Kent also deserve far more support from the government. The Home Secretary should be meeting with the Chief Constable today to offer more resources and meeting with the local authorities to ensure they have what they need. The Government should ensure the people of Kent don't lose everyday policing because of the resource intensive Op Stack.

Second, and most important in solving the crisis, we need France to do far more to prevent the build up of the crisis in Calais in the first place. The French authorities need to properly assess people claiming asylum and prevent people travelling illegally.

It isn't right to abandon people to a dangerous life trying to evade capture in the tracks and roads of Calais. France must fulfil its responsibility to assess asylum claims, to assess those who may be vulnerable and to make sure proper immigration procedures are followed. Otherwise they are leaving people further victim to people traffickers or the despair faced by vulnerable refugees.

And the British Government should be exercising maximum diplomatic pressure on the French Government to do this. Instead the Home Secretary was unable to give me any details of what France was doing to assess people when I pressed her on this in Parliament. And it appears the Prime Minister has not even discussed the crisis with President Hollande this week. We need a major escalation of the diplomatic effort. Under the last government David Blunkett persuaded France to close Sangatte through determined and intensive diplomacy. We need a similar diplomatic intervention now. David Cameron needs to make sure his focus on pre-referendum negotiations with other European countries are not distracting from solving this serious border problem.

And finally, much more needs to be done across Europe and internationally to tackle the wider people smuggling and refugee crisis across the continent. That includes more EU resources to help Southern European countries assess asylum claims and the immigration status of those arriving on their shores, an EU wide plan to prevent vulnerable people and smugglers moving across the continent and especially through the Schengen area, co-ordinated action to help Syrian refugees, and to prevent people travelling in the first place.

Of course, British diplomatic engagement to get other countries to act will only be successful if we are also seen to be doing our bit to tackle the wider international problems, and if our wider engagement is constructive. Too often David Cameron and Theresa May have done the opposite.

The British assets taking part in search and rescue in the Mediterranean have been downgraded. Theresa May has been opposed to cross-European action more generally - shamefully arguing against search and rescue last summer, and dragging her feet on agreeing to EU crime and justice cooperation that is so crucial to dealing with the dangerous criminal gangs facilitating illegal travel into and through Europe - including putting more police resources in shared European crime-fighting teams.

Nor is Britain doing its bit to help with Syrian refugees - now the worst humanitarian crisis of our generation. While other European countries have offered sanctuary to many vulnerable UN refugees from Syria, Britain has refused to sign up to the UN scheme and has accepted very few people under the UK parallel programme set up under pressure from us over a year ago. The Home Secretary should urgently work with local authorities across the country, to agree more places for Syrian refugees who are fleeing persecution. Our country has a long tradition of providing humanitarian support and sanctuary for those who need it.

The crisis in Calais isn't going away. And while it may feel like a local problem that will eventually slip out of the news, the truth is it is part of a wider international humanitarian challenge that Europe is failing to grasp. Ramping up the rhetoric towards the rest of the world, demonising people or turning Britain inwards - as David Cameron seems to want to do - won't solve the problem. Instead Britain needs to work with other countries to set out a serious, practical long term plan.

Yvette Cooper is the shadow home secretary and Labour MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford

Bangladesh - Migrants stranded on island rescued

MISNA
Myanmar's navy has discovered 102 Bangladeshi migrants stranded for nearly a month on the island of Saunggauk, off of Kawthaung, in the most southern region on the border with Thailand.

The Myawaddy newspaper reports that the migrants were loaded onto a boat by human traffickers en route for Malaysia with the promise of jobs, but were then all abandoned on the island in early June.

They were among the thousands, many Bangladeshi or Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar, who ended up in dangerously crowded boats run by people-traffickers, heading for other southeast Asian countries. The crisis shed light on the multimillion industry created in the past years on the desperation of tens of thousands fleeing from poverty in Bangladesh and discrimination in Myanmar.

Myanmar's navy on May 29 found 727 people crammed on a fishing boat in the Gulf of Martaban, along the Thanlwin river, in Mon State. Over 150 of these were then repatriated to Bangladesh, while others are still in refugee camps pending identification.

[PL/BO]

New York Times - Migrants in Rome Try to Recover After Ponte Mammolo Camp Is Destroyed

New York Times

The Ponte Mammolo camp in Rome was destroyed on Monday.
New migrants had swarmed to the camp, which had about 100
long-term residents.

Rome — The bulldozers pulled up after some of the residents had already left for work. They lumbered through the encampment, methodically mowing down corrugated tin walls, laminated sheet roofs and concrete blocks.

They razed the camp’s ramshackle lodgings, as well as its whitewashed prefabricated dwellings, indiscriminately crushing their contents: clothing, appliances, personal papers, money, medicine and the mementos of a hundred or so people who called the encampment home.

By the time the municipal bulldozers left a few hours later, the migrant encampment known as Ponte Mammolo had been reduced to rubble. Buried in the debris of this enclave in eastern Rome, where migrants of various nationalities and religions coexisted for nearly two decades, was a black and white placard declaring the camp a “Community of Peace.”

As tide after tide brings in boatloads of migrants seeking refuge, European countries are confronted with many questions. How will they feed and employ these people, as well as absorb the variety of cultures and abilities that have arrived, driven northward by the upheaval in Syria, the Horn of Africa and sub-Saharan countries?

Last year, more than 170,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean into Italy. This year, more than 33,000 have already crossed, a 15 percent increase over the same period last year, according to the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations.

The European Union this week agreed to a new system of quotas for each of its member nations, allocating asylum seekers according to factors like a country’s unemployment rate and gross domestic product. But basic issues like housing remain unresolved, as the migration flows show no signs of abating.

Ponte Mammolo was a solution created by earlier waves of non-Italians, many of whom came and never left. Most of the encampment’s permanent residents had been there so long that they had achieved legal immigration status.

But word had gone out that it was a place where the new migrants, Eritreans in the latest wave, could stop on their way north.

According to the Roman authorities, it was the flow of newcomers that forced them to move on the camp. The transients swelled the camp’s population, spilling out into a parking lot in front, creating an eyesore and, the authorities said, a potential health hazard.

“When you have such important migratory movements, it becomes a social and health problem,” said Francesca Danese, Rome’s municipal councilor in charge of social issues, including housing. “The situation was unsustainable. People can’t live in those conditions.”

All together, there were about 300 people at Ponte Mammolo on Monday. About 200 were transients, and when the bulldozers and the police arrived, many panicked and ran away. Once new arrivals are identified as immigrants, they are required by European Union laws to request asylum in the first country where they set foot, and because of the weak economy in Italy, most do not want to remain here.

Others, including some of Ponte Mammolo’s permanent residents, were taken to dormitories run by private associations.

Marco, an Ecuadorean construction worker with a residency permit, and his wife were among the permanent dwellers at the camp. He said he had received a frantic call at work from his wife saying she had been told she had 15 minutes to pack. She filled three garbage bags, making sure to include Marco’s work clothes. Whatever happened, he still had a job to go to.

In the space of a morning, “our life was turned inside out, I still can’t believe it,” said Marco, 43, who asked that his last name not be used because his employer did not know where he had been living. In his 14 years at Ponte Mammolo, he had transformed a small, existing building into a home with electricity, water, even Internet and cable television. “We’d just finished paying off our fridge and washing machine last month,” he said.

Some of those displaced found friends to stay with, others rented rooms. Still others refused to leave, camping out in the parking lot.

Dobro, a Montenegrin in his 60s and one of the encampment’s first residents, vowed that he would stay until he found his cat.

“I don’t mind sleeping in the parking lot. I am not leaving,” he said, his eyes welling with tears. All he had left were the clothes he was wearing, he said, gesturing at his grungy blue track suit.

Nongovernmental organizations that had volunteered at the camp concede that Ponte Mammolo was untenable, but say that there was a better way to deal with the problem. Many said the bulldozers exemplified the clumsy ways that Italy has dealt with a crisis that does not seem likely to end soon.

“The choice of evacuation was paradoxical because so many ended up on the streets,” said Fabiola Zanetti, of Prime Italia, which developed job training programs for some of the refugees. “It was urgent to eliminate this at-risk place, but not in this way.”

Some aid workers suggested that complaints from neighbors had led the city to act. The timing, some noted, followed gains by anti-immigrant political parties in local elections this month.

Others said that the Roman Catholic Church’s jubilee, which will start in December, drawing millions of pilgrims to Rome, had put pressure on officials to clean things up. The parking lot in front of Ponte Mammolo was built for tourist buses.

Ponte Mammolo is only one of several makeshift encampments in Rome. Migrants with precarious job prospects, even those with residence permits or refugee status, receive no tangible support from the city. Rents in Rome can easily absorb the lion’s share of an average salary — and can far exceed what is left after the newcomers send money to families in far-flung homelands.

Though they may have been there temporarily in principle, for many migrants at Ponte Mammolo the impromptu lodgings became home. Among the dwellings were prefabricated structures assembled by a handful of Ukrainian residents, with brightly colored flowers on their stoops.

“I managed to pack my religious images and a few clothes,” but left behind the furnishings of a prefabricated home, said Olha Larcik, 67, who was raised in Ukraine and lived in the camp for four years, the best she could afford on disability payments and her pension.

Red-eyed “from three days of tears,” she wondered what would become of her. Transported to a dormitory on the outskirts of the city, she had no idea what would come next. “I have one euro in my pocket,” she said.

Before the bulldozers arrived, said Ms. Danese, the city councilor, the longtime residents of the camp were contacted by social workers. Many residents, however, denied that they had been contacted.

More important, Ms. Danese said, is for Rome “to do real integration” with the camp residents, as well as establish “a humanitarian corridor” for the migrants on their way north. But, she said, at a time of cutbacks the city did not have the money to cover such large numbers.

Daniela Pompei of the Community of St. Egidio, an organization that regularly brought food and drinks to the residents since 1998, said the refugees would keep coming, as long as there were wars. “Big cities are just going to have to deal with it, it’s their responsibility,” she said.

Marco said the city had been negotiating with residents and humanitarian agencies to find a solution to the illegal encampment for two years, but left them unprepared for the sudden evacuation.

In February, Pope Francis made an impromptu visit to Ponte Mammolo.

“He told us to be serene, that we had his blessing,” Marco said, “but it all fell apart.”

South Africa: Foreigners Targeted in Massive Police Raid

Al Jazeera
South African police have arrested 50 ‘undocumented foreigners’ in a massive stop and search operation in two areas in Johannesburg on Monday, authorities have told Al Jazeera.

“About 50 people were arrested for being without valid documents in the country,” Gauteng police Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said.

The South African Police Services were joined by members of the South African Defence Force (SANDF), and immigration officials during the raids in Mayfair and Hillbrow.

“It was a stop and search operation…It was a normal, crime prevention operation,” Dlamini said. Earlier in the morning, local media reported the presence of up to 100 officials, including police officers in the vicinity.

Rising anti-immigrant sentiment

The fate of the arrested immigrants now depends on whether they can prove themselves to have been in the country legally.

“Immigration officers are processing those who are arrested, and will ascertain who exactly is illegal, or not and from there, they will be taken to the Lindela repatriation centre, in order to be deported,” Dlamini said.

Monday’s raids come one week after President Jacob Zuma deployed members of the South African National Defence Force to quell violence in areas of the country that have suffered from experienced anti-immigrant turmoil.

At least eight foreigners are said to have been killed in the last four weeks, as violence spread from the seaside city of Durban to Johannesburg.

The SANDF refused to be drawn into commenting about the operation.

“The police determines which areas need to be dealt with. As you know, we are just a support system for the police,” Siphiwe Dlamini, SANDF spokesperson was quoted to have said in local media.

The raids on Monday came after rumours that foreigners in the city have been arming themselves in preparation for any further violence.

However police spokesperson Dlamini said no illegal weapons were found during the raids in Hillbrow and Mayfair.

Immigrants in Mayfair reacted with panic and confusion at the sight of police and army shoring off streets in the suburb to conduct its stop and search operation.

Unsettled

One foreign national, Ahmed Fifa,who took refuge in Mayfair after being displaced from the Ramaphosa informal settlement east of Johannesburg 10 days ago, said the arrival of the police and army had left the community feeling unsettled.

“People became afraid because they have problems from the police before,” he said.

Researchers too said they were concerned by the inclusion of the army on such raids.

“Soldiers on the streets suggests that government is using very heavy force,” Gareth Newham, the Head of the Governance, Crime and Justice Division at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria said.

“This is not a sight you want to see in a democracy.”

In Mayfair, however, some foreign nationals said the presence of the army had actually deterred the police from the type of abuses usually associated with operations in these areas.

“The way they dealt with this operation was different,” said Abdullah Hasan Ahmed, a 37-year-old resident of Mayfair.

He says that police who usually raid foreigners in Mayfair demand to see documentation from foreigners without understanding the type of documents refugees hold in South Africa.

“There are a lot of people here who don’t have identification documents because they have not been given these documents despite living here for years, they are not helped and then police come asking for documents and they don’t even know what documents to look for.”

Completely legal

The legality of Monday’s raids have been questioned by some commentators but experts say the police acted within the remit of the law. ISS researcher Newham said it was not unusual for South African security forces to be targeting foreign nationals.

“Studies have shown that at least one third of police time is spent targeting foreign nationals, to find whether they are here legally or not,” Newham said.

“This security operation has shown that the objective is not to build relations with other African nationals but rather it was meant to show South Africans that the force of the state, including the military, to identify undocumented nationals.”

Some immigrants, however, welcomed the raid to disprove stereotypes of criminality among foreign nationals living in South Africa.

Abdirizak Ali Osman, the National Secretary of the Somali Community Board of South Africa, said the raid was an opportunity to prove foreigners do abide by South African law.

“We feel the police must come and search each and everyone because there is a lot of misconceptions about crime and drugs in this area, so the police and the army must come here and see how the people are living here, and how they are abiding by the law,” he said.

Police say the stop and search operations will continue in the rest of the city in the coming days.

“These operations are continuing and you will see them in other areas,” Dlamini said.

by Azad Essa and Khadija Patel

UNHCR says about 500 migrants died at sea in 2014

ANSAmed
Rome, Approximately 500 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea since the beginning of 2014, according to estimates by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR). 

Despite extensive efforts by the Italian authorities and assistance from private vessels, the agency reports, hundreds of migrants and refugees continue to lose their lives on Europe' borders. 

The UNHCR underscored that the latest tragedies show that refugees have little choice but to risk their lives by crossing the Mediterranean Sea in order to flee wars and persecution. 

The agency reiterated that governments should provide legal alternatives to the dangerous sea crossings, such as resettlement, admittance on the basis of humanitarian reasons and facilitated family reunification, ensuring that those in desperate need of refuge can seek and find protection and asylum.

US alarm at growing number of illegal child migrants - 60,000 children will enter the US illegally this year.

BBC News
President Barack Obama has described the growing influx of unaccompanied children migrating to the United States as an "urgent humanitarian situation".

Latest estimates say as many as 60,000 children, mostly from Central America and Mexico, will enter the US illegally this year.

The White House has asked Congress for an extra $1.4bn (£836m) to cope with the situation.

It said the US would temporarily house the children at two military bases.

More than 90% of children caught trying to cross the Mexico-US border without parents come from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Many are escaping domestic abuse or the violent gangs that prey on them.

Others are driven by poverty in their home countries.

In the US, many of the children hope to reunite with a parent or other relatives.

The director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Cecilia Munoz, said the number of children travelling alone had been increasing since 2009.

She said the number of girls and of children under 13 had been on the rise, too.

"All these things are contributing to the sense of urgency," she said.

The US government says the number of unaccompanied child migrants could grow to nearly 130,000 next year.

Between 2008 and 2011 the number of children in the custody of theOffice of Refugee Resettlement fluctuated between 6,000 and 7,500 per year.

But 13,625 unaccompanied children were apprehended by border agents in 2012 and almost double that number - 24,668 - in 2013.

Many are unaware of the dangers they face when travelling to the US, including sexual assaults, forced labour and hunger.

Maroc : la Caritas dénonce des déplacements forcés de migrants

Secours Catholique

« Les actions d’accompagnement mises en œuvre par nos associations sont inadaptées à ce que nous considérons comme une crise humanitaire, survenue en pleine capitale », dénoncent les ONG marocaines.

Depuis le début du mois de décembre 2013, nos organisations ont constaté l’arrivée quotidienne de dizaines, puis de centaines de migrants (dont des mineurs) déposés dans divers lieux de l’agglomération de Rabat (notamment la gare de Kamra) par des bus réquisitionnés par les forces de l’ordre en provenance des régions environnant les enclaves espagnoles de Sebta et Melilla.

Si certaines de ces personnes reconnaissent avoir été interpellées lors d’une tentative de franchissement de la frontière avec Sebta et Melilla, nombre d’entre elles témoignent avoir été arrêtées dans la rue, sur leur lieu de résidence en forêt ou en territoire espagnol. Nous n’avons pas obtenu jusqu’ici d’explication officielle sur les motivations de ces pratiques de “déplacement forcé” en dehors de toute procédure judiciaire individuelle.
Le centre d’accueil migrants de Caritas obligé de fermer

Parmi ces personnes, laissées sans-abri sur Rabat, nous portons assistance à un nombre croissant de blessés présentant des fractures et divers traumatismes qu’ils attribuent en grande partie à des violences exercées par les Forces auxiliaires marocaines ou la Guardia civil lors de l’arrestation.

Les actions d’accompagnement mises en œuvre par nos associations sont inadaptées à ce que nous considérons comme une crise humanitaire, survenue en pleine capitale. Illustrant l’ampleur du phénomène, le centre d’accueil migrants de Caritas qui a accompagné plus de 16 000 migrants à Rabat depuis 2005 a fermé ses portes durablement depuis le 24 mars 2014, ne pouvant faire face à une sur-fréquentation inégalée (une centaine d’arrivées/jour) et des situations médicales (blessés graves et nombreux) dont la prise en charge dépasse ses capacités.

Tout en rappelant les recommandations fondamentales issues du rapport du Conseil national des droits de l’homme sur la situation des migrants et réfugiés au Maroc en référence auquel Sa Majesté le Roi Mohammed VI a posé les bases d’une nouvelle politique migratoire, respectueuse des droits de l’homme [1], nous demandons :

Aux autorités marocaines en charge de la sécurisation des frontières que des instructions soient données dans les plus brefs délais aux forces de l’ordre en sorte de mettre un terme aux violences lors des interpellations, de garantir le respect des procédures individuelles et d’interrompre ces “déplacements forcés” à l’intérieur du pays.

Aux autorités espagnoles, de mettre un terme aux expulsions illégales vers le Maroc des migrants entrés dans les enclaves, de veiller à ce que la coopération avec le Royaume du Maroc en matière de gestion des frontières s’inscrive dans le plus strict respect des deux législations nationales et du droit international, et de rappeler à ses services de police l’interdiction d’usage de la violence envers les migrants.

Au Conseil national des droits de l’homme au Maroc et à l’Organisation des Nations unies de missionner des observateurs internationaux, de part et d’autre des frontières de Ceuta et Melilla, afin de relever les violences et violations graves de droit dont les migrants sont l’objet et de les porter à la connaissance des autorités concernées.

Et dans l’immédiat, pour pallier l’arrêt contraint des activités du Centre d’accueil migrants de Caritas, nous demandons aux autorités sanitaires à l’échelle régionale (de Rabat et des autres villes de destination des bus conduisant des migrants arrêtés dans le Nord), tout en étant conscient des moyens limités des structures publiques, de mettre en place un dispositif d’orientation et de prise en charge afin que les soins nécessaires soient dispensés aux personnes blessées et aux institutions en charge de la protection de l’Enfance, qu’une assistance adaptée soit prévue en particulier pour les mineurs non accompagnés.

Organisations signataires
 - Amane
 - Association de Lutte Contre le Sida (ALCS)

 - Caritas Maroc
 - Association Lumière sur l’Émigration Clandestine au Maroc (Alecma)
 - Comité d’Entraide International (CEI) 

 - Conseil des Migrants Subsahariens au Maroc (CMSM)
 - Groupe d’Accompagnement et de Défense des Étrangers et Migrants (Gadem)
 - Fondation Orient Occident (FOO)
 - Oum el Banine
 - Terre des Hommes

Saudi police in Riyadh clash with migrant workers - Three Ethiopian citizens had been killed

BBC News

At least two people have been killed and scores wounded as Saudi police clashed with protesting foreign workers in a district of the capital, Riyadh.

A police statement said hundreds of people were arrested in the Manfuhah neighborhood.

Later on Sunday, thousands of mostly African workers gathered in the capital to prepare for repatriation.

Last week police rounded up thousands of migrant workers after an amnesty linked to new employment rules expired.

Yemenis return

One of the two people killed was a Saudi while the other was unidentified, police said. About 70 others were injured and there were some 560 arrests, officials added.

However, Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister Tedros Adhanom said he had information that three Ethiopian citizens had been killed, one last Tuesday and two in the latest clashes.

He said Addis Ababa had formally complained to Riyadh.

"This is unacceptable. We call on the Saudi government to investigate this issue seriously. We are also happy to take our citizens, who should be treated with dignity while they are there," he said.

Police said they intervened on Saturday after foreign workers in the Manfuhah district rioted, attacking Saudi and other foreign residents with rocks and knives.

Vigilante Saudi residents in Manfuhah reportedly joined the fighting and even detained some Ethiopians.

Manfuhah is home to many migrants, mostly from east Africa.

On Sunday, witnesses said police surrounded the district while units from the National Guard and special forces were sent in.

Hundreds of African migrants reportedly surrendered to police.

A long line of buses took the migrants to temporary housing along the airport road in Riyadh.

Last Monday, the authorities began rounding up thousands of illegal foreign workers following the expiry of a seven-month amnesty for them to formalise their status.

Nearly a million Bangladeshis, Indians, Filipinos, Nepalis, Pakistanis and Yemenis are estimated to have left the country in the past three months.

More than 30,000 Yemenis have reportedly crossed to their home country in the past 10 days alone.

Four million other migrants obtained work permits before last Sunday's deadline.

Saudi Arabia has the Arab world's largest economy, but authorities are trying to reduce the 12% unemployment rate among native Saudis.

An estimated nine million migrant workers are in Saudi Arabia - more than half the workforce - filling manual, clerical, and service jobs.

Afrique: Appel à une Session Extraordinaire du Conseil des droits le l'homme sur les droits des migrants en mer

Human Rights Watch

Washington, DC

COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE
Madame/ Monsieur l'Ambassadeur,Nous vous écrivons afin de demander à votre délégation d'envisager de manière urgente de demander la tenue d'une Session Extraordinaire du Conseil des droits de l'homme sur les droits des migrants en mer. L'évènement dévastateur de Lampedusa parle de lui-même, et appelle à une réponse sérieuse au niveau international.

De telles tragédies ne se limitent malheureusement pas à l'Europe: le 27 septembre, un bateau à destination de l'Australie a chaviré au large de l'Indonésie, faisant au moins 30 morts, dont des enfants.

Une Session Extraordinaire pourrait offrir au Conseil des droits de l'homme l'opportunité de demander à un groupe de Procédures spéciales de développer des lignes directrices sur la manière de renforcer la protection des migrants en mer et d'empêcher les violations de leurs droits.

Le droit international et son application aux migrants en mer contient plusieurs zones d'ombres qui gagneraient à être clarifiées par des experts des droits de l'homme de l'ONU.De telles lignes directrices permettraient de clarifier la responsabilité et les obligations des Etats vis-à-vis des migrants en mer, et pourraient permettre d'empêcher d'autres tragédies. Elles seraient en outre très utiles aux ONG comme HRW qui travaillent sur ces questions.

Nous utiliserions ces lignes directrices pour pousser les gouvernements et l'Union Européenne à se conformer à leurs obligations en vertu du droit international et à prendre toutes les mesures nécessaires afin de minimiser les pertes en vies humaines. Comme vous le savez, l'UE examine actuellement les méthodes qu'elle pourrait adopter afin de renforcer sa réponse à cette question.

Ces lignes directrices permettraient d'orienter ces discussions en indiquant quelles sont les normes de protection adéquates et quelles mesures de prévention sont nécessaires.

Nos recherches dans des situations particulières ont mis à jour l'existence de dissuasions des navires commerciaux de répondre à leur obligation juridique de prêter assistance aux personnes en péril en mer.

Hundreds of Migrants Rescued Off Italy

Voice of America
The Italian coast guard has rescued more than 700 people in the last two days from boats carrying migrants and refugees.

Italian Coast Guard officers, holiday-goers help migrants off
boat near Siracusa, Aug. 15, 2013

Italian officials say four vessels got into difficulty in waters near Sicily. People from Syria, Egypt, Eritrea, Nigeria and Ghana were rescued.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported Saturday that more than 207 people were taken to the island of Lampedusa after their rescue by the coast guard and navy. Among them were two women in the late stages of pregnancy.

Another boat with 212 people aboard was being towed to Lampedusa. Two other broken-down boats carrying 293 people were taken to Augusta on Sicily's eastern coast.

Violence in Syria and Egypt this year has spurred an increased number of refugees attempting to reach Italy.

Thousands of people have tried to make the hazardous crossing from North Africa to Italy or Malta in open boats in recent years. Many have perished during the voyage.

Italy has urged other European Union countries to do more to share the burden of housing the migrants.

Grèce : la dure vie des migrants

Amnesty International

La situation des migrants en Grèce est aujourd’hui très difficile. Au quotidien, dans la rue, les migrants ont peur d’être victimes de violences xénophobes de la part de groupes extrémistes. Et lorsqu’ils sont aux mains des autorités, les migrants sont détenus dans des conditions extrêmement précaires pour des périodes prolongées.

Les autorités grecques doivent mettre fin à la pratique qui consiste à placer systématiquement en détention pendant de longues périodes les migrants et les demandeurs d’asile, et mener sans délai une enquête sur toutes les violences qui auraient été commises par des gardiens des centres de détention d’Amygdaleza et de Petrou Ralli avant la mutinerie.

Les autorités doivent également faire davantage pour mettre fin aux attaques racistes, et veiller à ce que les migrants ne soient pas doublement victimes en risquant d’être détenus ou expulsés lorsqu’ils dénoncent des crimes ou sollicitent des soins médicaux

Le recours systématique à la détentionDans un communiqué de presse publié par la Direction générale de la police d’Attika le 12 août, la police grecque a déclaré que les détenus s’en étaient pris aux gardiens et avaient mis le feu aux matelas et aux dortoirs. La mutinerie a été réprimée par la police antiémeute. Selon certaines affirmations, 10 policiers ont été blessés ; 41 migrants (originaires du Pakistan, d'Afghanistan, du Bangladesh et du Maroc) ont été arrêtés et devraient être inculpés de trouble à l’ordre public et de lésions corporelles graves. Le ministère de la Protection du citoyen a par ailleurs souligné que l’objectif était d’incarcérer tous les migrants en situation irrégulière jusqu’à ce qu’ils soient renvoyés dans leurs pays d’origine, sauf si les organismes compétents décident qu’ils peuvent bénéficier d’une protection internationale.

Amnesty International a été informée par des avocats que les migrants arrêtés au cours de l’émeute ont été battus par la police lors de leur transfert au centre de détention de Petrou Ralli, à Athènes. D’après d’autres informations, la police a empêché des détenus d’Amygdaleza de sortir de leurs conteneurs après la mutinerie, malgré la chaleur suffocante. Les gardiens ont coupé l’électricité dans deux des conteneurs faisant office de dortoirs lorsque des migrants ont mis en marche la climatisation. Certains d'entre eux qui ont refusé de retourner dans les conteneurs ont été frappés et insultés par les gardiens.

Lors des visites effectuées par Amnesty International au centre de détention d’Amygdaleza en avril et juillet 2013, des détenus ont exprimé leur désespoir face à leur détention prolongée et se sont plaints, entre autres, de la qualité de la nourriture, des conditions d’hygiène et des difficultés à s’entretenir avec leurs familles en raison d’un accès limité aux téléphones. Des policiers comme des détenus ont déploré les mauvaises conditions d’hygiène dans l’établissement, dues au manque de fonds nécessaires à l’embauche de personnel de nettoyage.
Au cours des derniers mois, l’organisation a également reçu des allégations de mauvais traitements de la part de certains détenus transférés d’Amygdaleza vers l’aéroport Eleftherios Venizelos pour être expulsés.

Les conditions de détention et l’absence de garanties procédurales applicables à la détention en Grèce ont été régulièrement critiquées par des organisations de défense des droits humains, le Comité européen pour la prévention de la torture et des peines ou traitements inhumains ou dégradants et l’Agence des droits fondamentaux de l'Union européenne. Par ailleurs, entre 2009 et fin 2012, la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme a estimé que la Grèce n’avait pas respecté ses obligations dans 11 affaires portant sur les conditions de détention de réfugiés et de migrants placés dans des centres de détention pour migrants ou des postes de garde-frontières.
Des attaques xénophobes et une absence de protection

Les deux jeunes hommes agressés se sont adressés à Amnesty International pour obtenir de l’aide, affirmant qu’ils avaient trop peur pour signaler les faits à la police ou solliciter des soins médicaux, de crainte d’être expulsés.

La législation qui ne permet pas à des migrants de porter plainte sans crainte d’être expulsés entretient un climat d’impunité pour les auteurs de ces actes xénophobes. Quelques heures avant l’agression qui a eu lieu le 13 août, le parti politique d’extrême-droite Aube dorée a organisé un meeting à Héraklion. Le discours anti-immigrants du parti gagne en popularité, tandis que parallèlement prolifèrent en Grèce les agressions xénophobes et racistes – parfois meurtrières.

Les deux hommes agressés ont raconté à Amnesty International qu’ils marchaient le long d’une rue dans la ville d’Héraklion, aux premières heures du 13 août, lorsqu’une vingtaine d’hommes vêtus de noir les ont encerclés à bord de voitures et de motos. Après avoir demandé d’où ils étaient, la foule a attaqué les deux hommes sans aucune provocation, leur assénant des coups de couteau avant de les jeter à terre et de leur donner des coups de pied.

Les victimes ont demandé une assistance à Amnesty International dans l’après-midi du 13 août, et l’organisation a pu les aider à obtenir une aide médicale. Les deux hommes ont bénéficié de soins médicaux et se remettent de l’agression. Cependant, leurs photos montrent de profondes balafres à l’avant-bras et au menton, ainsi que des contusions le long des flancs, là où ils ont été roués de coups de pied.

Fin 2012, des unités spéciales de la police ont été mises en place afin de remédier aux crimes racistes en Grèce, mais aucune disposition ne prévoit la protection des victimes en situation irrégulière, qui peuvent être arrêtées et expulsées du pays durant l’enquête menée sur de tels crimes.