#bateaux_de_croisière

#Home_Office planning to house asylum seekers on disused cruise ships
►https://seenthis.net/messages/997047

#bateaux #bateaux_de_croisière #bateau_de_croisière #flotels #maladie #légionellose #maladie_du_légionnaire #évacuation

UK signs contract with US startup to identify migrants in small-boat crossings
►https://seenthis.net/messages/1000870

#hostile_architecture #architecture_hostile #dignité #espace #Portland #hostilité #hostilité_performative #infrastructure #extraterritorialité #extra-territorialité #prix #coût #histoire #esclavage #Bibby_Marine #Bibby_Line_Group (#BLG) #John_Bibby

Liverpool owner of asylum barge Bibby Stockholm awarded £20m to build new vessel

The funding from the #Zero_Emission_Vessel_Infrastructure (#ZEVI) competition will be put towards the construction of the world’s first zero-emission #electric_Service_Operation_Vessel (#eSOV).

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/1016686

#green-washing

12.12.2023 : #Royaume-Uni : un migrant décède à bord de la #barge « #Bibby_Stockholm »
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/1032076

mai 2024:
London protesters block transfer of asylum seekers to #Bibby_Stockholm
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/1052190

Juillet 2024: Asylum seekers on #Bibby_Stockholm barge stage sit-down protest

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Juillet 2024:
#Bibby_Stockholm barge to close as asylum accommodation, says Home Office
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/1063386

Air force bases set to be used to house migrants as ministers hunt for cheaper alternatives to hotels

The Government are reportedly also considering a former cruise ship from Indonesia, which would be moored in south-west England, as a possible site

Migrants will be housed at two air force bases in a bid to cut down on the use of hotels and deter people from crossing the Channel on small boats, the immigration minister is expected to announce on Wednesday.

#RAF_Scampton in Lincolnshire, the former home of the Dambusters and Red Arrows, and #RAF_Wethersfield in Essex are expected to be among the accommodation sites for asylum seekers confirmed by Robert Jenrick, despite local opposition.

The announcement is being made with the aim of ending the use of hotels for migrants – a pledge the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has made. More than 51,000 people are being housed in 395 hotels, according to the BBC, at an estimated cost of £5.6m a day. Holiday parks and student halls are not expected to be included on the initial list of new sites.

The Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, has found himself at odds with his own government over plans to house asylum seekers at RAF Wethersfield, which is in his constituency.

Braintree District Council is taking legal action against the Home Office in an attempt to secure an injunction against plans to house 1,500 migrants at RAF #Wethersfield.

Veteran Tory MP Sir Edward Leigh has meanwhile raised concerns that using RAF Scampton to house asylum seekers could put at risk a £300 million investment plan for the site.

A plan to turn a former RAF base in Linton-on-Ouse, in the constituency of Mr Sunak’s close ally Kevin Hollinrake, into a processing centre for asylum seekers, was meanwhile ditched under Liz Truss.

During the Tory leadership contest last summer, the Prime Minister pledged to use “cruise ships” as part of efforts to “end the farce of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being spent every day on housing illegal migrants in hotels”.

Downing Street did not respond to a question on whether that meant the prospect of using cruise ships has now been shelved.

The Guardian reports that the Government was considering a former cruise ship from Indonesia, which would be moored in south-west England, as a possible site.

According to The Sun, an announcement on nautical accommodation will be made in the coming days.

There are reports ministers are said to be considering obtaining accommodation barges – typically used for offshore construction projects with only basic facilities – which could house hundreds of migrants who are currently in hotels.

The plan is at an “early stage”, The Times reported, with ministers not yet decided on where the barge or barges will be stationed, though they are expected to be stationed at port, rather than at sea.

A source told The Times the Government was aware of “significant practical issues” with these vessels, and it was not clear how safety would be dealt with, though a source told the newspaper: “It’s a row we’re prepared to have.”

The Government is said to be keen on the idea as a way to discourage people from crossing the Channel and is pointing to countries like France housing refugees in floating vessels.

Meanwhile, right-wing Tory rebel Jonathan Gullis said it would be “perfectly acceptable” to house asylum seekers in tents while they await for deportation, amid concerns about the cost of hotels.

During a debate on the Illegal Migration Bill, ministers were also urged to give “serious assurances” they will not return to the “barbaric days” of detaining children in immigration centres.

Conservative former minister Tim Loughton led calls for the Government to confirm it would not place migrant children in indefinite detention if they come to the UK by unauthorised means.

Centrist Tories were joined by MPs from across the political spectrum who are worried that a coalition government-era policy not to detain children could be overturned.

The announcement comes after months of pressure from Tory MPs over the use of hotels for asylum seekers, at a cost of £5.6m a day.

But it will also be a test of the Government’s ability to override local opposition to build new asylum sites.

Plans for alternative sites have however triggered a backlash from some Tory MPs over now-abandoned plans to house asylum seekers in Pontins holiday parks in Southport and Camber Sands.

▻https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-plan-house-asylum-seekers-cruise-ships-shelved-for-now-2239548
#bases_aériennes #Scampton

Au Royaume-Uni, des #barges pour parquer les réfugiés qui traversent la Manche

Le gouvernement britannique multiplie les annonces censées dissuader les migrants de traverser. La dernière innovation prévoit d’installer les demandeurs d’asile sur d’anciennes embarcations, dans les ports, le temps de leur procédure. Le premier ministre se targue d’avoir déjà fait baisser le nombre de passages depuis la France.

LeLe feuilleton au Royaume-Uni se poursuit. Les exilé·es, qui en sont les actrices et acteurs principaux, ne sont pour autant jamais consulté·es. On parle d’elles et d’eux comme des « indésirables » qu’il faudrait éloigner, tantôt en usant de machines capables de générer des vagues en mer, tantôt en les parquant sur des ferrys hors d’usage en mer.

Il y a eu ensuite l’accord non officiel signé entre le Royaume-Uni et le Rwanda, visant à acter le projet de sous-traitance des demandes d’asile à un pays tiers. Un accord décrié et vivement critiqué par les membres de la société civile, mais aussi des chercheurs et chercheuses, qui soulignaient combien cette externalisation venait saboter le droit d’asile.

Faute de pouvoir encore les envoyer au Rwanda – l’accord a fait l’objet d’un recours devant la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme (CEDH), puis devant la justice britannique fin 2022 –, le gouvernement a décidé plus récemment d’installer une barge au sud-ouest du pays pour y parquer les demandeurs et demandeuses d’asile qui parviendraient à rejoindre le Royaume-Uni de manière irrégulière.

L’objectif ? Dissuader les personnes exilées de tenter la traversée de la Manche, alors que le nombre de traversées n’a jamais été aussi élevé en 2022, et qu’un terrible naufrage survenu le 24 novembre 2021 ayant coûté la vie à au moins 27 migrant·es est venu souligner les défaillances du secours en mer.

Satisfait des résultats de son « plan », le premier ministre britannique, Rishi Sunak, a annoncé l’installation de deux nouvelles barges pour l’accueil de demandeurs et demandeuses d’asile, d’une capacité de 500 personnes chacune, d’ici cet été. Le gouvernement entend ainsi réduire de moitié la facture correspondant à l’hébergement des migrant·es dans les hôtels du pays, qui s’élèverait à 6 millions de livres (soit environ 7 millions d’euros) par jour.
Un « plan » qui fonctionnerait déjà

La toute première barge, baptisée Bibby Stockholm, a fait l’objet d’une rénovation à Falmouth et sera installée au port de Portland, une petite île située au sud-ouest de Londres. Elle devrait accueillir 500 personnes pour un total de 200 chambres, et sera surveillée en permanence dans l’objectif de préserver la population locale, avancent les autorités.

La barge aurait coûté, selon le journal The Times, près de 20 000 livres (soit 23 000 euros), et le dispositif coûterait « nettement moins cher que les hôtels », a affirmé Rishi Sunak. La ministre de l’intérieur britannique, Suella Braverman, avait déjà affirmé le souhait de freiner l’hébergement des demandeurs et demandeuses d’asile dans les hôtels, compte tenu du coût que cela engendrait « pour le contribuable ».

Le 5 juin, le premier ministre a tenu un discours particulièrement dur à leur endroit, renvoyant dos à dos les difficultés économiques rencontrées par les Britanniques dans un contexte d’inflation et le coût de l’accueil des migrant·es.

« Notre plan commence à fonctionner. Avant que l’on ne le mette en place en décembre, le nombre de personnes ayant traversé illégalement la Manche avait quadruplé en deux ans. Mais en cinq mois, les traversées ont baissé de 20 % par rapport à l’an dernier », a-t-il rassuré. Ce serait la première fois, insiste Rishi Sunak, qu’une baisse des arrivées serait observée sur la période de janvier à mai.

« Je ne me reposerai pas tant que les bateaux ne sont pas stoppés », a-t-il poursuivi, indiquant utiliser « tous les outils à disposition » ; à commencer par la diplomatie, puisque le partenariat avec la France aurait permis d’empêcher 33 000 traversées en 2022, soit une hausse de 40 % des interceptions.

L’accord signé avec l’Albanie en décembre dernier, pour réduire les migrations depuis « un pays sûr, européen », aurait lui aussi porté ses fruits. Alors que les Albanais·es représentaient un tiers des arrivées en small boats (lire nos reportages ici et là), Rishi Sunak se vante d’avoir ainsi fait baisser ce chiffre de près de 90 %, et d’avoir expulsé 1 800 ressortissant·es albanais·es en l’espace de six mois.

« C’est bien la preuve que notre stratégie de détermination peut fonctionner. Quand les gens savent qu’en venant ici illégalement, ils ne pourront pas rester, ils ne viennent plus. »

Pour « sortir » les demandeurs et demandeuses d’asile du schéma classique d’hébergement dans les hôtels, le gouvernement compte par ailleurs se servir de lieux « alternatifs », comme des bases militaires situées à Wethersfield et à Scampton, où des centaines de personnes devraient être transférées d’ici à cet été, et 3 000 d’ici à l’automne. Celles et ceux restant dans les hôtels pourront être amenés à partager une même chambre avec plusieurs personnes, « lorsque c’est approprié ».
L’externalisation toujours d’actualité

« Et je dis à ces migrants qui protestent : ceci est plus que juste. Si vous venez ici illégalement, en quête d’une protection après avoir fui la mort, la torture ou la persécution, alors vous devriez pouvoir partager une chambre d’hôtel, payée par le contribuable, dans le centre de Londres. »

À l’avenir, le gouvernement britannique mise aussi sur la réforme de la loi sur l’immigration et espère, une fois tous les recours en justice « terminés », pouvoir mettre en pratique la nouvelle loi sur la migration, qui permettrait de placer en détention toute personne arrivée illégalement sur le territoire, avant de l’expulser, soit vers son pays d’origine, soit vers un pays tiers comme le Rwanda, avec lequel un accord a été signé en ce sens.

« Nous voulons que les choses soient claires, a martelé Rishi Sunak lors de son discours empli de fermeté. Je sais que ce sont des mesures difficiles. Et je ne m’en excuserai pas. »

Dans un rapport rendu public le 11 juin, le comité mixte des droits de l’homme du Parlement britannique a exhorté le gouvernement à « ne pas enfreindre ses obligations légales envers les réfugiés, les enfants et les victimes de l’esclavage moderne », et à « jouer son rôle dans le système international de protection des réfugiés ». Invitée à répondre aux questions des membres de ce comité, la ministre de l’intérieur n’a pas donné suite.

Le rapport final, qui contient une liste de recommandations telles que le respect effectif du droit d’asile ou du droit européen (comme les mesures de la CEDH), le non-recours à la détention des migrant·es et la protection des mineur·es non accompagné·es et autres publics vulnérables, appelle le gouvernement à répondre dans les deux mois.

Celui-ci n’y répondra sans doute pas, considérant que la lutte contre la « migration illégale » est une priorité urgente pour laquelle tous les moyens sont permis.
La société civile ne cesse de dire son inquiétude

« Nous sommes profondément inquiets de voir que le gouvernement prévoit d’héberger un nombre grandissant de demandeurs d’asile dans des lieux totalement inadaptés à leurs besoins », avait dénoncé dans un tweet le Refugee Council, une organisation venant en aide aux personnes migrantes et réfugiées en Angleterre, réagissant à l’annonce de l’installation de la première barge.

Sans compter la portée symbolique associée au fait de loger des personnes ayant traversé la Manche – et potentiellement d’autres eaux – à bord d’une embarcation qui, bien qu’elle soit à quai, ne peut que raviver le souvenir d’un parcours migratoire souvent dangereux et des vies que la mer emporte régulièrement, quand elle ne renforce pas le sentiment d’insécurité lié à une potentielle expulsion.

Le Royaume-Uni a finalement réinventé le concept de « zone d’attente », mais pour les demandeurs et demandeuses d’asile. Reste à savoir dans quelle mesure leur liberté de circulation sera respectée ou non.

Si le gouvernement britannique assure que la portée dissuasive de son discours et de ses mesures « fonctionne », il serait bon de se pencher sur les résultats concrets d’une telle politique, qui pousse les personnes exilées à davantage de précarité : celles qui n’osent effectivement plus tenter la traversée n’ont que la perspective des camps et de la rue pour horizon, à l’heure où l’État maintient une politique « zéro point de fixation » pour éviter que la jungle de Calais ne se reforme et où l’accueil des migrant·es est toujours plus décousu.

Celles qui tentent toutefois de rejoindre le Royaume-Uni en small boat prennent de plus en plus de risques, partant désormais de communes plus éloignées des côtes anglaises pour éviter les contrôles et patrouilles des forces de l’ordre, dont les effectifs sont particulièrement présents aux abords des plages servant de points de départ.

L’association Utopia 56, très présente sur le littoral pour venir en aide aux exilé·es, n’a d’ailleurs pas tardé à réagir aux annonces de Rishi Sunak. « Pourtant, ces quatre derniers jours, 1 519 personnes ont traversé la Manche et nos équipes ont reçu douze appels d’embarcations en détresse. Rishi Sunak, Gérald Darmanin, malgré les effets d’annonce, vos politiques violentes ne mènent à rien, sinon à pousser les personnes à risquer leur vie », a tweeté l’organisation le 14 juin.

▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/160623/au-royaume-uni-des-barges-pour-parquer-les-refugies-qui-traversent-la-manc
#Bibby_Stockholm

Government quietly awards travel firm £1.6bn contract for asylum barges and accommodation

Fury over astonishing sum to operate barges and run services to house asylum seekers in Britain

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An Australian travel firm previously slammed for its handling of Covid quarantine hotels has been quietly handed a £1.6bn contract covering the UK’s new asylum accommodation ships, The Independent can reveal.

#Corporate_Travel_Management (#CTM) was put in charge of the lucrative two-year arrangement in February, weeks before the government revealed it would use a barge as its first offshore accommodation for asylum seekers.

The contract was awarded directly to CTM without competition, and a lawyer with knowledge of the system said the government had pushed a wider deal originally drawn up for official travel “beyond what it was intended to be used for”.

Ministers have repeatedly refused to detail the projected cost of Rishi Sunak’s controversial asylum vessels, while insisting they will be cheaper than using hotels that are currently costing £6m a day.

This week, Suella Braverman told parliament’s Home Affairs Committee she could not predict the cost of the new Illegal Migration Bill, because there are “many unknown factors”.

Three vessels so far have been announced, with a barge named the “Bibby Stockholm” due to arrive in Portland, Dorset later this month and a further two ships set for undisclosed locations.

Richard Drax, the Conservative MP for South Dorset, said the public “should know how much is being paid” on the barge set-up and said the spending he was aware of so far was “alarmingly high”.

“The point is this is taxpayers’ money,” he told The Independent. “This contract might actually be separate to what the ports are being paid.

“Then on top of that, the police want money, the health authority wants money, of course the council wants money, and yet the government continues to insist that this is cheaper than hotels. The overall figure will be alarmingly high.”

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said the Home Office has “serious questions to answer”.

“The Tories are spending more and more taxpayers’ money on their total failure to fix the asylum backlog they have created,” she added.

“This is an incredibly expensive contract with no clarity on whether proper procedures have been followed, and the barges come on top of costly hotels, not instead of them, because of the government failure to take asylum decisions or get any grip.”

The CTM contract, published under the title “provision of bridging accommodation and travel services”, states that it has an estimated value of £1,593,535,200 over two years and could be extended beyond 2025.

The Home Office refused to answer The Independent’s questions on what portion of the contract covers barges, and parts of official documents headed “pricing details” have been redacted in full because of “commercial interests”.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “This murky contract leaves taxpayers in the dark. The migrant crisis may require an urgent response, but bungled procurement has cost a fortune in recent years.

“Ministers must ensure transparency and value for money when tendering services.”

Answering a parliamentary question on the Bibby Stockholm in May, immigration minister Robert Jenrick said it would be managed “by a specialist and experienced provider, which has a strong track record of providing this kind of accommodation”. He added that the provider had “managed two vessels [housing Ukrainian refugees] in Scottish ports for the past year”.

On its website, CTM describes itself as “a global provider of innovative and cost-effective travel solutions spanning corporate, events, leisure, loyalty and wholesale travel”.

The firm says it was established in Brisbane in 1994 and has since grown from a “two-person start-up into one of the world’s most successful travel management companies”, operating across Australasia, Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It has two UK offices in London and Manchester.

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The firm’s most recent financial report hailed record profits, having taken A$292m (£160m) in revenue over the last six months of 2022.

A notice to its shareholders celebrated the new contract’s “significant impact” on financial growth, adding: “This work involves highly complex services and logistic support… CTM has both the experience and specialised knowledge to support this work.”

The government placed the new barges under a pre-existing agreement with CTM for “travel and venue solutions”, which previously covered official bookings for conferences, flights, train tickets, hotels and vehicle hire for ministers and civil servants.

A source familiar with the drawing up of the overarching framework accused the government of “pushing the scope beyond what it was intended to be used for”.

“If products and services are outside scope there’s a procurement failure and the contract has been awarded without following the rules,” they told The Independent. “It doesn’t look like the right vehicle for this kind of contract and it looks like they’ve done it to minimise visibility.”

The remit of CTM’s government work was widened during the pandemic and its general manager for northern England, Michael Healy, was made an OBE in the 2021 New Year honours list over the repatriation of British nationals stranded abroad during the Covid pandemic.

A report by parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee found that the operation was “too slow and placed too much reliance on commercial providers”, but CTM was then handed a contract for operating quarantine hotels and mandatory testing.

In a series of angry Google reviews that dragged the company’s rating down to 1.4 stars, one person called CTM “incompetent”, while another wrote: “Shame on the Tory government UK, on whoever decided to give them this contract.”

Several MPs raised their constituents’ poor experiences in parliament, with one presenting a formal petition demanding compensation and saying the way the contract was awarded “avoided due process or competition”.

CTM was later involved in operations to transport Afghans and Ukrainians to the UK, and operated two cruise ships used to temporarily house Ukrainian refugees in Scotland.

That contract, which was also awarded without competition under the same framework as the new barges, covered two ships and hotels, and had an estimated value of £100m.

CTM declined to comment and did not answer The Independent’s request for details of what the contract covered.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The pressure on the asylum system has continued to grow and requires us to look at a range of accommodation options, which offer better value for money for taxpayers than hotels. It is right that we explore all available options.

“CTM was awarded the contract to deliver accommodation for the Home Office after an extensive procurement process and has a strong track record of providing this kind of accommodation.

“We are pleased that they will be providing management for Bibby Stockholm, the two additional vessels announced by the prime minister, as well as bridging accommodation and travel services.”

▻https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/barge-australia-asylum-contract-travel-b2354578.html

I #flotels, l’ultima controversa soluzione abitativa per ospitare i richiedenti asilo in Gran Bretagna

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Le “prigioni galleggianti”: il nuovo piano del Regno Unito per la prima accoglienza

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L’intervista a Tigs Louis-Puttick, fondatrice dell’ONG Reclaim The Sea, arrestata nei giorni scorsi durante una protesta

Fanno discutere in UK, e non solo, le “prigioni galleggianti” volute fortemente dal primo ministro britannico Rishi Sunak e il ministro dell’Interno Suella Braverman. Una misura per risparmiare sul costo della prima accoglienza che ora prevede la sistemazione in albergo dei richiedenti asilo.

“Bibby Stockholm” è il nome della chiatta marittima che per i prossimi 18 mesi sarà utilizzata dal governo britannico per “ospitare” fino a 506 richiedenti asilo uomini, tra i 18 e i 56 anni, in attesa che si concluda l’iter della domanda di accoglienza nel Paese.

Abbiamo parlato del nuovo piano del governo britannico e della campagna “No floating prisons” in questa intervista a Tigs Louis-Puttick, fondatrice dell’ONG Reclaim The Sea. L’attivista il 18 luglio scorso è stata arrestata «per essermi fermata in strada davanti al Ministero degli Interni con un cartello che diceva ‘Refugees Welcome’ e ‘No all’Immigration Bill, No Floating Prisons‘», ha dichiarato Tigs Louis-Puttick 1.

Nello stesso giorno la “Bibby Stockholm” attraccava nel porto di Portland.

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Il nuovo piano del governo britannico prevede la prima accoglienza di 500 persone richiedenti asilo in una gigantesca chiatta-alloggio ancorata in un porto nel Canale della Manica, violando la libertà di movimento e il diritto alla privacy.

Il 5 aprile 2023 l’Ufficio degli Interni britannico (Home Office) ha annunciato l’avvio di un piano per “accogliere” le persone migranti su una gigantesca chiatta-alloggio (la Bibby Stockhom), che giacerà all’interno del porto dell’isola di Portland, nel Canale della Manica. Secondo quanto dichiarato, la decisione è stata presa per “(…) ridurre l’insostenibile pressione sul sistema d’asilo britannico e ridurre l’onere economico che pesa sui contribuenti, causato dall’aumento significativo degli attraversamenti del Canale della Manica” 2. Da quanto emerge dalle dichiarazioni ufficiali dell’Home Office, la Bibby Stockholm diventerà operativa da luglio per un periodo iniziale di 18 mesi, e ospiterà fino a 500 richiedenti asilo uomini, tra i 18 e i 65 anni. La chiatta giacerà in un’area cosiddetta “protetta” del porto, da dove sarà possibile uscire e accedere al centro abitato solamente tramite un servizio autobus dedicato. A bordo, sarà presente un servizio di lavanderia, un catering per i pasti e degli spazi comuni. Sebbene sarà permesso scendere e accedere terra ferma, al momento, per gli ospiti, non è prevista l’erogazione di alcun servizio relativo all’accoglienza al di fuori del porto 3.

È più che evidente come, l’Home Office miri alla limitazione della libertà di movimento delle persone migranti, riducendola ai minimi termini. Secondo quanto stimato da The Independent lo spazio che ogni persona avrà a disposizione sulla chiatta sarà di appena 15 metri quadri, “la misura di un posto auto”.

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Richard Drax, esponente del partito Conservatore britannico, l’ha definita una “quasi-prigione”, dove le persone saranno lasciate “sedute a girarsi i pollici”. Secondo James Wilson, direttore dell’organizzazione Detention Action (che fornisce supporto all’interno dei centri di detenzione per l’immigrazione illegale), non è che “(…) una chiatta angusta e simile ad una prigione” 4. E, a ragion del vero, è lo stesso Home Office, in diverse dichiarazioni ufficiali, a dichiarare esplicitamente la propria intenzione di “minimizzare l’impatto sulle comunità locali”, come dichiarato nel comunicato stampa del 5 aprile 2023, e ribadito, a più riprese nella Scheda Informativa disponibile sul proprio sito ufficiale.

Di fronte all’ennesimo scenario di un sistema d’accoglienza sempre più restrittivo e non curante dei diritti delle persone richiedenti asilo, c’è chi non è rimasto indifferente e, anzi, ha dato il via ad una vera e propria lotta per i diritti delle persone migranti. In un’intervista per Melting Pot, parla Tigs Louis-Puttick, fondatrice dell’ONG Reclaim The Sea, che, fornendo lezioni di nuoto e surf alle persone migranti, ha l’obiettivo di accrescere la loro qualità di vita, e aiutarle trasformare il mare da un evento traumatico a uno spazio di libertà e guarigione. A maggio, Reclaimthesea ha redatto una lettera aperta a Suella Braverman, Segretaria di Stato per gli Affari Interni, domandando l’abbandono del progetto, firmata da 706 individui e 91 organizzazioni e collettivi, tra cui Medici Senza Frontiere UK e Sea-Watch. Lo scorso 21 maggio, insieme all’ONG Europe Must Act, Reclaimthesea ha guidato una protesta di fronte all’Home Office, e dato il via alla campagna “No floating prisons” (No alle prigioni galleggianti), che comprende una serie attività ed eventi di protesta e sensibilizzazione.

▻https://twitter.com/Reclaim_The_Sea/status/1657692409671630849

«Abbiamo deciso di chiamare la campagna di protesta No floating prisons per l’approccio generale che ne rispecchia il carattere di questi luoghi. L’attuale processo di ristrutturazione della chiatta prevede l’aumento dei posti da 220 a 500, il che vorrà dire stipare le persone in pochissimo spazio, violando la loro privacy e il diritto allo spazio personale. Il piano è che, direttamente al loro arrivo, le persone saranno sistemate sulla chiatta, che pare non sarà nemmeno attraccata alla terraferma. Inoltre, Portland è un porto chiuso, recintato, non si può entrare ed uscire liberamente. Le autorità potrebbero arbitrariamente decidere di negare il permesso a lasciare il porto e, siccome è un porto privato, non abbiamo controllo sulle decisioni delle autorità, ne possiamo essere certi che daranno informazioni».

Sui rischi delle prigioni galleggianti, Tigs dice: «La quasi totalità delle persone migranti presenti nel Regno Unito, hanno dovuto affrontare un attraversamento in mare, che sia dalla Libia all’Italia, dalla Turchia alla Grecia o il Canale della Manica. Molti di loro, hanno vissuto qualche tipo di trauma legato al mare. Per ciò, l’idea di farli stare ancora in una barca equivale letteralmente a relegarli nel reale, fisico luogo del trauma. Inoltre, solo il 25% degli uomini e il 18% delle donne provenienti dall’Africa Orientale (area di provenienza di molti dei richiedenti asilo nel Regno Unito) sa nuotare. Dunque, se per qualsiasi motivo qualcuno dovesse cadere in acqua dalla barca o dal molo, rischierebbe seriamente la morte, anche per via delle temperature gelide. Infine, molti hanno vissuto momenti di prigionia nei loro paesi d’origine o nei paesi transito. Arrivano qui e ciò che li aspetta è praticamente un’altra prigione».

La preoccupazione delle prigioni galleggianti è anche legata all’accordo tra Regno Unito e Rwanda, che prevede la ricollocazione permanente dei richiedenti asilo arrivati irregolarmente nel Regno Unito al Rwanda, affinché la loro domanda d’asilo venga esaminata lì 5. «E’ sostanzialmente una sala d’attesa per chi sarà portato in Rwanda, che non è un paese sicuro, poiché ci sono già tantissimi rifugiati e poche risorse. Come si può pensare di portare qualcuno, che per esempio viene dall’Afghanistan, in Rwanda? Cosa faranno lì? Tutto ciò è solo un’esternalizzazione in stile coloniale delle responsabilità del Regno Unito verso il diritto all’ asilo. Ci preoccupa davvero il fatto che queste persone, possano essere spinte al suicidio, perché capiranno che stanno aspettando solo di essere deportate».

Infine, secondo Tigs «ciò che sta facendo il Regno Unito fa parte di una tendenza più ampia che sta nascendo in Europa, copiata da Grecia e Italia, quando tenevano le persone in quarantena su una nave durante la pandemia. Nel 2021 ho preso parte ad una missione di soccorso con Sea Watch, siamo arrivati al porto di Trapani con 200 persone a bordo, dopo 12 giorni di navigazione, e un’enorme nave ci stava aspettando, per trasferire le persone dalla nostra imbarcazione. Le persone non volevano andare. Volevano scendere a terra. Avevano paura di cosa avrebbero trovato, di restare in acqua, di sentirsi male».

In conclusione, sebbene sia la prima volta che il Regno Unito decida di adottare un sistema del genere, tenere le persone migranti il più possibile segregate rispetto alla popolazione locale, riducendo il loro spazio vitale al minimo, operare a risparmio sull’accoglienza ed esternalizzare le frontiere non rappresenta alcuna novità. Al contrario, è solo l’ennesimo triste passo verso una tendenza consolidata, dei democraticissimi stati europei, di lavarsi le mani dal dovere di salvare vite umane, accogliere, e rispettare il diritto all’asilo.

E’ possibile seguire la campagna e donare per sostenere la campagna contro le prigioni galleggianti e avviare un’azione legale contro lo stato britannico a questo link: ▻https://tr.ee/74EHZPD4rz .

▻https://www.meltingpot.org/2023/07/le-prigioni-galleggianti-il-nuovo-piano-del-regno-unito-per-la-prima-acc

‘Cabins slightly larger than a prison cell’: life aboard the UK’s barge for asylum seekers

Home Office tour of asylum seeker Bibby Stockholm barge emphasises no-frills features including TVs that don’t work

Each two-person cabin in the Bibby Stockholm barge, which is set to start accommodating asylum seekers imminently, has a small flat-screen television screwed to the wall opposite the bunk beds. Residents will not, however, be able to watch them because they have not been wired to anything.

The timeline for the arrival of the first group of 50 asylum seekers has slipped from next week to “the coming weeks”, with the Home Office aiming to increase the number of occupants (or “service users”, as barge staff term them) to 500 by the autumn.

Organising tours for journalists on Friday of the 222-cabin barge moored in Portland Port, Dorset, presented government officials with a PR conundrum.

To underline that reliance on expensive hotel accommodation was being reduced, conditions needed to be shown to be less luxurious than hotels but not so austere that the barge could be classified as a floating prison.

Officials have refused to provide any detail about the figures behind their assertion that the barge accommodation will be considerably cheaper than hotel rooms.

When the facility finally opens, arrivals will make their way on to the barge via a gangplank, and through airport-style security. In line with the Home Office’s prevailing dislike of friendly murals and pictures, asylum seekers will be greeted by plain, undecorated walls, though a simple laminated A4 sheet stating “welcome” has been stuck on the wall of the reception room.

Windowless corridors, narrow enough to trail your fingers along both walls as you walk through them, circle the perimeter of the barge, with about 50 rooms on the long edges. Empty of inhabitants, the very confined space feels clean and cool, with an atmosphere vaguely reminiscent of a faded cross-Channel ferry.

Single-person cabins have been refitted with bunk beds to double the potential capacity of the vessel. Each cabin is slightly larger in size than a prison cell, a bit smaller than the most basic university accommodation, and is fitted with a shower and toilet, a cupboard, mirror, desk and (staff are keen to point this out as a positive feature) a window.

There was a subtle difference in approach taken by the Home Office employees giving tours to journalists and the representatives of the firm subcontracted to manage the barge.

Government officials were keen to emphasise the barge’s low-cost appeal, but staff working for the Miami-based Landry & Kling, which has been subcontracted by the Australian firm Corporate Travel Management (CTM) to run the vessel on behalf of the Home Office, wanted to highlight the “dignified” treatment that would be provided: a 24-hour snack bar, planned visits to local allotments, proposed walks and cycle trips for residents.

Joyce Landry, the firm’s cofounder, valiantly described the Bibby Stockholm in an interview earlier this week with the Herald as “actually quite lovely”.

In the centre of the barge there are two smallish outdoor areas where nets are soon to be installed to allow people to play volleyball or netball and possibly a very contracted form of football. There is a small gym with two running machines, and an education room with just eight seats.

“The thing that puts this vessel above many others is that every room has a window. You won’t feel claustrophobic. The windows open, unlike in some hotels. There’s enough public space to have a sense of freedom and openness,” said a Landry & Kling staff member.

The windows offer views of high metal fencing and naval works units. Whether or not residents, single men aged 18-65, who will be held here for up to nine months, will agree that there is a sense of freedom and openness is a moot point. Security staff are being trained to manage conflict on board.

In the street by the port’s entrance local protesters have been displaying their anger about the barge all week, with some furious at the arrival of large numbers of asylum seekers so close to the small tourist town, and others protesting that asylum seekers should not be held on barges at all.

Landry has spent the past three nights sleeping on the barge to experience conditions. A windy night prompted staff to request extra tethering to fix the barge to the shore.

Landry & Kling staff said the Home Office had requested that the TVs (previously used by construction workers recently accommodated on the barge) should not be wired up.

The Home Office staff said they wanted “to promote socialisation” by forcing people out of their rooms to watch television together in the two communal TV rooms.

But the presence of non-functioning TVs may also signal a determination by the Home Office to show that its latest solution for housing asylum seekers is merely “basic and functional” and will offer no frills to residents.

Before it housed oil and construction workers, the Bibby Stockholm was used in the 2000s by the Netherlands to house asylum seekers. An Amnesty report from 2008 documented the psychological trauma experienced by residents.

The rare Home Office tour of facilities was designed to showcase progress away from housing 51,000 asylum seekers in hotels at a cost of £6m a day to a cheaper alternative.

However, plans have only been laid out for alternative accommodation for 3,000 people who they now hope will be moved to new, ex-military facilities and the barge by the autumn.

▻https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/21/life-aboard-bibby-stockholm-asylum-seeker-barge-home-office-tour

‘No timeframe’ on delayed opening of Bibby Stockholm asylum barge

Transport minister says barge in Portland going through final checks amid row over safety concerns

A UK government minister has said he “cannot put a timeframe” on when the Home Office will open a controversial giant barge meant to house asylum seekers, which has been further delayed for checks.

The initial plan had been to move people on to the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorset, from this week, with numbers due to rise over the coming months until the vessel held about 500 men.

Asked on Sky News when the barge would be available, the transport minister Richard Holden said: “It’s going through its final checks at the moment. It’s right that … whatever accommodation we provide is safe and secure as well. I can’t put a timeframe on it.”

Asked if safety concerns were delaying the opening, he said: “It’s going through final checks at the moment. With anything you would want them to be properly checked out.”

The Guardian reported on Monday that the first asylum seekers were due to be moved onboard the vessel on Wednesday but that seems to have been delayed further with the minister now unwilling to put a timeframe on the move.

Asked if it would be delayed as long as the Rwanda policy had taken to implement, Holden added: “I can’t comment on the ongoing process of checks and things that have to take place but it is my understanding (it is) in its final checks.”

Fears had been expressed that the barge could become a “floating Grenfell” and endanger the lives of vulnerable people who have fled hardship and war as it has not received the relevant safety signoff.

About 40 claimants staying in other Home Office accommodation had received transfer letters saying they would be moved to the 222-cabin vessel in Dorset, Whitehall sources said.

More than 50 national organisations and campaigners, including the Refugee Council, Asylum Matters and Refugee Action, have called the government’s plan “cruel and inhumane”. They said the vessel was “entirely inappropriate” and would house traumatised migrants in “detention-like conditions”.

People are meanwhile expected to be moved this week on to another site that has become a focus for protest, the disused RAF base in Wethersfield, Essex.

Local people who attended an event convened by the Home Office in the village complained on Monday night of coming away even more frustrated because of what they said was a lack of answers.

“It was actually embarrassing. They didn’t pass a microphone around and it seemed to be really badly organised so people just ended up shouting to be heard,” said Michelle Chapman, of the Fields Association, a residents group involved in a campaign against the centre.

“It ended up being quite heated and people just came away feeling frustrated. If there was one answer it was a pledge that they would not bring in any more than 50 people in one go, but there is still confusion here and genuine anxiety.”

The meeting, held in the village hall, was addressed by senior police officers as well as Home Office officials. Local council officials were also present at the meeting, where Chapman said there was standing room only.

A Home Office spokesperson said that delivering accommodation on surplus military sites and vessels would provide cheaper and more suitable accommodation for those arriving in the UK in small boats.

They added: “The first asylum seekers have now been accommodated at Wethersfield and we are working with stakeholders on a carefully structured plan to increase the number staying there in a phased approach.”

▻https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/01/no-timeframe-on-delayed-opening-of-bibby-stockholm-asylum-barge

Transfer of asylum seekers to ‘floating coffin’ Bibby Stockholm postponed

Nicola David of campaign group One Life to Live documents the reasons why Bibby Stockholm is being recognised as a potential death trap

With the first asylum seekers due to step aboard Bibby Stockholm this week, the controversy surrounding the Home Office’s decision to contain people on the barge has further escalated. Serious safety questions are being raised about the barge’s setting, a berth at the Langham Industries-run Portland Port. As a direct consequence, the initial transfer of 40 vulnerable adults to Bibby Stockholm has been postponed. I calculate that delays to date have already cost the taxpayer over £3mn.

This is the first time that asylum seekers are to be contained on a barge in the UK, and the scheme is already mired in misery. There were significant delays in dry dock, where rotten sections of the hull needed replacing. And my report found that keeping people on the barge won’t cost less than in hotels, which is the crux of the Home Office’s strategy.

Now, I have found that the 47-year-old vessel has not yet passed fire safety checks, and there are grave concerns over serious and unresolved (and potentially unresolvable) safety and fire risks. There also appears to be confusion over which safety regulations will apply, given that the site straddles the sea and land and the engine-less vessel is effectively a hotel.

Clear evidence is emerging that the decision to transfer vulnerable adults onto Bibby Stockholm was premature at best – and potentially negligent at worst. And politically, if safety concerns require the Home Office to significantly reduce the number of people on board, the cost per head would be a humiliating blow to the prime minister and home secretary, who are counting on large-scale containment sites such as this to put an end to the daily asylum seeker hotel bill.
Bibby Stockholm: a disaster waiting to happen

Bibby Stockholm was designed to hold 222 people in single cabins, but was recently reconfigured to hold 506 asylum seekers in multiple-occupancy rooms along with 40 resident staff. A further 20 staff will live off the barge; with some of these on duty, around 550 people could be on board at any time.

This is 248% of the intended capacity – and more than the previous maximum of 472 asylum seekers held when the same vessel was used as an immigration detention centre in Rotterdam in 2005. I am also left wondering whether the barge’s insurers can have extended its cover to this permit this level of overcrowding, and whether they would refuse public liability claims for injury, death or damage from asylum seekers, staff or the port.

Asylum seekers sharing small cabins will have “less living space than an average parking bay”, according to the Independent. The mayor of Portland, Carralyn Parkes, measured the cabins and found that those for two people averaged “about 10ft by 12ft”. This could lead to serious problems with exiting rooms, using corridors, and accessing fire exits – and it is not clear whether there are sufficient fire exits for the new, higher population.

The width of the corridors on board is not publicly known, but following a tour of the barge the Guardian reported that they are “narrow enough to trail your fingers along both walls as you walk”. Given the excess numbers of people, this could result in deadly delays, bottlenecks, and trampling of fallen people.

Bibby Stockholm has three floors and all of the corridors are configured in the same way. There are no external windows in the corridors, and in an emergency – particularly if smoke and/or dim lighting affect visibility – it is easy to imagine that people might become disoriented or be unable to locate the bow, stern, port or starboard sides. This could cause delays and increase panic.

Factors that would impede escape

Asylum seekers may have prior injuries relating to war, conflict or persecution, or may sustain injuries as direct result of an incident on the barge. In 2005, when a fire broke out at a Dutch detention centre in which 11 people died and 15 were injured, one man “suffered injuries to his neck, shoulders and chest when he fell from his bed … in panic after realising that the detention centre was on fire”. Either type of injury could impede escape in a major incident. Additionally, those suffering from the mental trauma of war, conflict or persecution may be less able to process evacuation and safety instructions.

Local councillors who visited the barge on 27 July reported that there were also no lifejackets on the vessel. The windows on board can be opened, but it is understood that this is restricted and would not allow a person to escape in an emergency. Barge operator Landry & Kling also told journalists that there would be no fire drills on Bibby Stockholm.

Any emergency would be further compounded by the presence of asylum seekers whose first language is not English, or who speak no English, and may struggle to understand verbal evacuation and safety instructions, especially in a state of panic.
Access for emergency vehicles

I am very concerned about the capacity of the small quayside compound, which could not possibly hold 550 people in an evacuation. To prevent asylum seekers leaving the site or walking around on the port, this compound is surrounded by a fence at least 15 feet high and is accessible only via two sets of locked gates. In a crush, people simply couldn’t get out. There is significant potential for a Hillsborough-like crush situation.

The only way for emergency vehicles to access the vessel would be via this compound. Locked gates could be a problem; even with access, how would first-responders and ambulances get through large numbers of panicked people crowding into the enclosed area?

https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Access_Bibby_Stockholm.jpg

Physical condition of Bibby Stockholm

Bibby Stockholm was built in 1976. According to a recent FT article:

“The hull was rotten … in places the steel hull had decayed to the point where it was dangerously thin, necessitating the replacement of entire sections … Bibby Stockholm was late out of Falmouth for good reasons, mostly age-related.”

The repair work done at Falmouth may have fixed the localised problems, and the barge may (as the FT found) have passed its Lloyd’s inspections, but the rot and repairs may have undermined the overall structural integrity of the hull.

This could leave the barge open to being adversely affected by extreme weather, including being knocked against the berth, or by the weight of the additional residents plus the commensurate additional furniture and stores.
Complexity around safety

The barge scheme straddles both water and land, rendering safety inspections and certification more complex and potentially confusing. At least five agencies are involved:

Lloyd’s Register of Shipping
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Dorset Council, which regulates the safety of the barge
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which regulates the surrounding quayside
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Health and safety concerns

In the week commencing 24 July, the HSE visited the berth at Portland Port. It found that “a lot” of work was still required to be done by both Bibby Marine and Landry & Kling, the US-based subcontractor for operations.

Landry & Kling co-founder Joyce Landry has claimed in an interview in The Herald that “fears about the conditions on board have been caused by a lack of accurate information,” and that Bibby Stockholm is “actually quite lovely”.

Mark Davies, head of communications and campaigns at the Refugee Council, expressed concern, saying:

“Like most people in the UK, we believe people seeking asylum – the vast majority of whom are refugees fleeing unimaginable horrors – should be treated with decency, respect and humanity. These are values people in Britain hold dear.”

A 27 July report in the Guardian, highlighting some of these safety concerns, includes a statement from Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service which indicates that they are not yet satisfied with arrangements at the barge. They said they had “conducted visits to review fire safety arrangements on the Bibby Stockholm” and were continuing to liaise with other authorities “to ensure that appropriate fire safety measures under relevant legislation are in place”.
Questions for the home secretary

On 18 July it was reported that Chris Loder, MP for West Dorset, has said:

“For months, I have been asking for sight of the safety risk assessments that should have been done to allow the Bibby Stockholm to be used in Portland Harbour … But visibility or assurances that adequate safety risk assessments have been completed have not been received.”

Loder has written to the home secretary Suella Braverman and transport minister Baroness Vere to ask that they either stop the scheme or provide the necessary safety risk assessments confirming that the vessel can cope with double the weight that it was designed to bear.

In May 2023, a caller named Mark told David Lammy MP on LBC Radio: “What they are effectively doing here is they are creating a potential Grenfell on water, a floating coffin … If there is a fire, people will die. In this case, people won’t die from the smoke or the flames, they will die from the stampede.”
A failure both of competence and humanity

The Home Office announced its intention to create a series of asylum seeker containment sites last year, but failed at the first hurdle with the cancelled plans for Linton-on-Ouse. The RAF Scampton and RAF Wethersfield sites now have permission to push ahead with a judicial review. Regardless, Scampton has been delayed until October, since the Home Office has failed for five months to survey the accommodation buildings and to engage tradespeople.

At Wethersfield (the only large-scale site to have received any asylum seekers so far) there are cases of tuberculosis, scurvy and scabies. Legal action on human rights grounds is certain to follow at all sites, involving misery for individuals and a burden for the public purse.

The Home Office appears to be embarrassingly unable to set up and manage these sites, or to show any humanity towards deeply vulnerable people. It certainly cannot deliver value for money. It is time for the Home Office to hire more asylum caseworkers to process the shameful backlog, and to put an end to large-scale containment – before we start to see them shifting into concentration-like detention centres.

▻https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/home-affairs/transfer-of-asylum-seekers-to-floating-coffin-bibby-stockholm-po
#sécurité

Bibby Stockholm: First asylum seekers to board UK’s controversial barge despite safety warnings

Fire Bridges Union (FBU) have brand Bibby Stockholm a ’potential deathtrap,’ while leaked health document warns of a potential diphtheria outbreak.

The first 50 asylum seekers will board the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge “imminently," the British government told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme.

The announcement comes just days after the Fire Bridges Union (FBU) raised concerns about overcrowding and fire exit access in a letter to the Home Secretary.

The Bibby Stockholm, a 222-cabin barge moored off Portland port in Dorset, is anticipated to accommodate double its original capacity, with bunkbeds squeezed into single cabins.

Narrow corridors, a lack of life jackets, and locked gates could create a “Hillsborough-type crush” and make it a “potential deathtrap,” the FBU warned.

The evacuation point, a compound on the quayside, has been described by Dorset councillors as “completely inappropriate".

“Firefighting operations on vessels such as the Bibby Stockholm provide significant challenges and require specialist training and safe systems of work. The diminished safety provisions only exacerbate our operational concerns,” Ben Selby, the assistant general Secretary of the FBU wrote.

A leaked internal health document has also warned of the potential for “a significant outbreak” of diphtheria aboard the boat.

It also highlighted the risk of the spread of a number of other infectious diseases including TB, Legionnaires’ disease, norovirus, salmonella, and scabies.

The first group of asylum seekers was initially intended to arrive last Tuesday, but the date was pushed to this week amid health and safety concerns.

The Home Office had already been forced to delay the first arrivals onto the vessel in order to carry out last-minute fire safety checks, after an intervention by health and safety officials.

On Sunday, Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock said the opposition Labour Party would have “no choice” but to continue housing asylum seekers on barges if it forms the next government.

The news comes amid a raft of new anti-migration measures including a huge increase in fines for landlords and employers who house or employ undocumented migrants, and the revival of plans to fly asylum seekers to Ascension Island.
Floating prisons

The move to house asylum seekers on the barge in “detention-like conditions” has been condemned by over 50 national organisations and campaigners for being “cruel and inhumane".

“(This) floating prison is very quickly going to turn into an overcrowded camp like Manston,” a member of Action Against Detention and Deportations (ADD) told MEE, referring to the short-term facility in Kent that was dangerously overcrowded.

“There’s also a concern about how this might affect deportation,” they said.

“We know that the Home Office cuts a lot of different admin procedures where they can, any route they can go through to detain people easily, they will do so… having that number of people in unsafe conditions… is a big concern.”

It is the first time a large floating structure has been used as long-term housing for asylum seekers in the UK. In 2008, Algerian national Rachid Abdelsalam died from heart failure aboard the Bibby Stockholm when it was deployed in the Netherlands.

Reportedly, guards were warned of his deteriorating condition and treated his heart irregularities with cough syrup.

In 2022, also in the Netherlands, a major typhoid outbreak aboard an ageing cruise liner infected 52 asylum seekers and saw 20 staff members hospitalised after raw sewage contaminated the drinking water.
No basic protections

In the same letter, the FBU also expressed concerns about the government’s plans to exempt asylum seeker accommodation from requirements for a Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) license.

In May this year, the Guardian reported the government plans to exempt asylum seeker accommodation from basic protections that govern HMOs in order to empty hotels of thousands of asylum seekers and transfer them to the private rented sector.

The proposed changes would lift restrictions on electrical safety and minimum room sizes, and exempt landlords renting to multiple asylum seekers from requiring an HMO license for two years.

“To strip away the very basic protections currently in place is appalling, allowing rogue landlords to house vulnerable men, women, and children in dangerous accommodation," a Refugee Council spokesperson told MEE.

Care4Calais CEO Steve Smith told MEE that the plans treated asylum seekers as “second-class citizens.”

“HMO licences exist for a reason,” Smith said.

“Without them, people’s lives would be placed in the hands of unscrupulous landlords who are driven by money rather than providing safe and secure housing for tenants.”

▻https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bibby-stockholm-uk-asylum-seekers-board-controversial-barge

First occupants of Bibby Stockholm barge taken onboard

First asylum seekers to be housed on floating accommodation in Portland, Dorset, have arrived

The first group of asylum seekers due to be housed on the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, have been taken onboard.

Buses were seen arriving at Portland on Monday morning as activists gathered at the entrance with “welcome” signs. About 50 asylum seekers are expected on Monday.

The UK government wants to use barges and former military bases to accommodate some asylum seekers after the cost of housing them in hotels soared to £1.9bn pounds last year.

Their arrival came amid confusion over the government’s immigration policies at the start of Rishi Sunak’s “small boats week”, during which the government is planning a series of eye-catching announcements.

A Home Office minister indicated that up to 500 asylum seekers could be onboard by the end of the week. But No 10 appeared to suggest that the minister had misspoken. The same minister indicated that the Home Office was examining proposals to send asylum seekers to a UK territory in the south Atlantic. However, Whitehall sources said the proposal was not being pursued.

The Bibby Stockholm was docked off the Dorset coast nearly three weeks ago and had been empty since due to health and safety concerns.

The minister for safeguarding, Sarah Dines, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that while only a small number of asylum seekers were expected to be housed on the barge at first, it could increase rapidly to its capacity of about 500.

Pressed on whether all of them could be onboard by the end of the week, Dines said: “Yes, quite possibly it will be 500. We are hoping.”

She said the increase in the number of people on the ship would be gradual, despite concerns from the Fire Brigades Union that the vessel “is a deathtrap”.

Later, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “Numbers will increase over time as you would expect for any new asylum facility. My understanding is that the Bibby Stockholm has an upward capacity of 500. We are looking to [reach] that number over time – I don’t think we are aiming to do it by the weekend.”

Dines also claimed that ministers were “looking at everything” when asked about headlines in national newspapers claiming the government was looking again at sending asylum seekers to Ascension Island.

Whitehall sources have indicated the plans are not being pursued. The prime minister’s official spokesperson would not comment on “speculation”.

Ministers have repeatedly said the barge will be better value for British taxpayers and more manageable for local communities – a claim challenged by refugee charities. There has been local opposition to the plan because of concerns about the asylum seekers’ welfare, as well as the potential impact on local services.

The refugee charity Care4Calais said it had stopped 20 people from being forced to board the barge so far, with referrals coming in from hotels by the hour.

“None of the asylum seekers we are supporting have gone to the Bibby Stockholm today as legal representatives have had their transfers cancelled,” Steve Smith, the charity’s CEO, said.

“Among our clients are people who are disabled, who have survived torture and modern slavery and who have had traumatic experiences at sea. To house any human being in a ‘quasi floating prison’ like the Bibby Stockholm is inhumane. To try and do so to this group of people is unbelievably cruel.”

More than 15,000 asylum seekers have arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the Channel, official figures show.

On Friday and Saturday 339 people made the journey after an eight-day hiatus amid poor weather conditions at sea, taking the provisional total for 2023 to date to 15,071.

Amnesty International UK condemned using the barge to house asylum seekers. Steve Valdez-Symonds, the charity’s refugee and migrant rights director, said: “It seems there’s nothing this government won’t do to make people seeking asylum feel unwelcome and unsafe in this country.

“Reminiscent of the prison hulks from the Victorian era, the Bibby Stockholm is an utterly shameful way to house people who’ve fled terror, conflict and persecution. Housing people on a floating barge is likely to be re-traumatising and there should be major concerns about confining each person to living quarters the typical size of a car parking space.”

The government hopes the use of the barge and former military bases to house asylum seekers will reduce the cost of hotel bills.

▻https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/07/first-occupants-of-bibby-stockholm-barge-taken-onboard?CMP=share_btn_tw

Bibby Stockholm: Asylum seekers describe life on barge

Some of the first group of men to board the Bibby Stockholm have described their first 24 hours on the barge.

One asylum seeker told the BBC it was like a prison and felt there wasn’t enough room to accommodate up to 500 people onboard, as the government plans.

The Home Office says the barge will provide better value for the taxpayer as pressure on the asylum system from small boats arrivals continues to grow.

Moored in Portland Port, Dorset, it is the first barge secured under the government’s plans to reduce the cost of asylum accommodation.

Monday saw the first 15 asylum seekers board the Bibby Stockholm after a series of delays over safety concerns. It will house men aged 18 to 65 while they await the outcome of their asylum applications.

An Afghan asylum seeker, whom the BBC is not identifying, said: "The sound of locks and security checks gives me the feeling of entering Alcatraz prison.

“My roommate panicked in the middle of the night and felt like he was drowning. There are people among us who have been given heavy drugs for depression by the doctor here.”

He said he had been given a small room, and the dining hall had capacity for fewer than 150 people.

“Like a prison, it [the barge] has entrance and exit gates, and at some specific hours, we have to take a bus, and after driving a long distance, we go to a place where we can walk. We feel very bad,” the man added.

There is 24/7 security in place on board the Bibby Stockholm and asylum seekers are issued with ID swipe cards and have to pass through airport-style security scans to get on and off.

Asylum seekers are expected to take a shuttle bus to the port exit for security reasons. There is no curfew, but if they aren’t back there will be a “welfare call”.

The Home Office has said it would support their welfare by providing basic healthcare, organised activities and recreation.

The first group of men arrived on Monday. The Care4Calais charity said it was providing legal support to a further 20 asylum seekers who refused to move to Portland and are challenging the decision.

On Tuesday, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Griffiths, said that moving to the barge was “not a choice” and if people choose not to comply “they will be taken outside of the asylum support system”.

“Many of us entered Britain nine to 11 months ago, by airplane. Some of us applied for asylum at the airport. We did not come by boat,” the Afghan man said.

"It has been two weeks since we received a letter in which they threatened that if we do not agree to go, our aid and NHS will be cut off.

“There are people among us who take medicine. We accepted. We waited for two weeks and didn’t even have time to bring clean clothes.”

Another man who boarded the vessel on Monday told the BBC he had arrived in the UK on an aircraft, had a wife still in Iran and had been in Britain for six months.

The man - whom the BBC is not identifying - said he had eaten a “good” breakfast which included “eggs, cheese, jam and butter”.

The government says it is spending £6m per day housing more than 50,000 migrants in hotels.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “This marks a further step forward in the government’s work to bring forward alternative accommodation options as part of its pledge to reduce the use of expensive hotels and move to a more orderly, sustainable system which is more manageable for local communities.”

“This is a tried-and-tested approach that mirrors that taken by our European neighbours, the Scottish government and offers better value for the British taxpayer,” they added.

The Home Office says that by the autumn, they aim to house about 3,000 asylum seekers in places that aren’t hotels - such as the barge, and former military sites Wethersfield, in Essex, and Scampton, in Lincolnshire.

▻https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-66444120

Moment Bibby Stockholm barge migrants are EVACUATED amid fears of Legionnaires’ disease - just DAYS after asylum seekers moved aboard in Dorset

- All 39 asylum seekers onboard Bibby Stockholm barge were evacuated today
- It comes after first 15 men boarded vessel in Portland, Dorset, just four days ago

This the moment asylum seekers were driven away from the Bibby Stockholm after deadly legionella bacteria was found in the migrant barge’s water system.

All 39 migrants onboard the controversial vessel were evacuated today - just four days after the first 15 men stepped onto it in Portland, Dorset - and are being moved to the same hotel, according to The Independent.

A 40-seater coach, which had been shuttling migrants to and from Weymouth, was seen leaving today. Inside were two men sat in the middle who turned their faces away from onlookers at the port.

Other footage of the Bibby Stockholm showed people arriving and leaving this afternoon - with ten people seen walking up a ramp and entering while others left.

Routine tests of the barge’s water supply were reportedly carried out on July 25 but the results only came back when asylum seekers began boarding the barge on Monday, according to Sky News. The results showed levels of legionella bacteria ’which require further investigation’.

Home Office sources say they were not made aware of the results until Wednesday, with further tests being carried out on Thursday.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) advised the Government on Thursday evening to remove all six people that arrived on the Bibby Stockholm that day, but the Home Office decided to evacuate all 39 as a precaution.

The harmful bacteria can cause a serious lung infection called Legionnaires’ disease, which can happen when breathing in tiny droplets of water containing the bacteria.

Although nobody onboard had shown symptoms of the disease, officials insisted that all migrants be disembarked while further assessments are carried out.

A letter from the Home Office that was leaked to the Guardian has reportedly informed asylum seekers that they will be tested for Legionnaires diseases if they do begin to show symptoms.

The migrants will be taken to hotels which are said to be far from Weymouth, where few rooms are available during the height of the school summer holidays.

One Syrian migrant onboard the barge told MailOnline this afternoon that he had not been given any information and had not been told to leave. He said: ’The place is very empty but no one has said anything to us. We will have to wait and see, but it is worrying.’

But the migrants were later told they would be evacuated. It comes after health officials ordered six new arrivals to be removed yesterday.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick is said to be holding meetings to discuss the barge, which the Government hoped would house up to 500 migrants. Local councillors have vowed not to see the boat back in use.

With a capacity of up to 506, the Government is still hoping that use of the Bibby Stockholm, together with former military bases, will help reduce the £6million a day it is spending on hotel bills for asylum seekers.

But opponents have claimed the barge is unsafe and a ’floating prison’, while lawyers of some migrants due to board this week have successfully argued to allow them to stay in hotels.

It was only four days ago that the first 15 men were taken onboard the vessel.

Support workers, who have spoken to some on board, claimed the asylum seekers were not being kept informed about what was happening.

Heather Jones, of the Portland Friendship Group which is supporting the migrants, said: ’I have had texts and phone conversations from some of them and they are still on board, they haven’t been evacuated yet.

’Nobody has told them anything. They have had to ask me what the problem is. One of them was really concerned because he had just drunk a glass of water and he was asking me if he was going to be OK.

’I told him it is probably a precautionary measure but they shouldn’t be hearing it from me.

’They don’t know where they are being taken to. Hopefully it will be back to the hotels where they have come from.’

There was a small group of campaigners from Stand Up To Racism at the port entrance holding placards saying ’Legionella death trap’ and ’human rights’.

Lynne Hubbard, from the group, said: ’The Home Office have admitted they carried on admitting asylum seekers on the barge even though they found out about legionella on Monday.

’They would have been drinking the water and showering in it. That shows pretty clearly what the Government thinks of asylum seekers and how much they value their lives. They are heartless.

’An asylum seeker in there we are in contact with told us to get in touch with his family in case he dies of Legionella. That’s how frightened they are.’

A local Portland councillor slammed the health crisis as a ’farce’ this afternoon.

Paul Kimbdr, an independent councillor, said he thought the outbreak would mean the end of the barge being used to house asylum seekers.

’I just can’t see it being back in use. It’s all been a bit of a farce really,’ he told MailOnline.

A Home Office spokesman told MailOnline today: ’The health and welfare of individuals on the vessel is our utmost priority.

’Environmental samples from the water system on the Bibby Stockholm have shown levels of legionella bacteria which require further investigation.

’Following these results, the Home Office has been working closely with UKHSA (the UK Health Security Agency) and following its advice in line with long established public health processes, and ensuring all protocol from Dorset Council’s Environmental Health team and Dorset NHS is adhered to.

’As a precautionary measure, all 39 asylum seekers who arrived on the vessel this week are being disembarked while further assessments are undertaken.

’No individuals on board have presented with symptoms of Legionnaires’, and asylum seekers are being provided with appropriate advice and support.

’The samples taken relate only to the water system on the vessel itself and therefore carry no direct risk indication for the wider community of Portland nor do they relate to fresh water entering the vessel. Legionnaires’ disease does not spread from person to person.’

Mr Jenrick has previously described the barge as ’perfectly decent accommodation’, but asylum seekers who have spent four nights onboard have contrasting views.

While one Afghan compared it to the former US maximum security prison Alcatraz, others have said it was ’cramped but comfortable’ with lots of facilities.

MailOnline understands that the legionella bacteria is believed to have come from the pipes on the vessel – with tests of the water at point of entry coming back with no indication of legionella.

Six asylum seekers arrived on the barge yesterday, and the UK Health Security Agency last night advised the Home Office to remove this group.

Home Office sources have insisted that the removal of everyone was a ’further temporary precaution’ aimed to ’reduce the health risk as much as possible’.

The Home Office is now awaiting the results of follow-up tests which have been carried out on the water system by Dorset Council environmental health officers.

The UK Health Security Agency will then provide additional advice.

Sources added that it was not unusual to identify legionella bacteria in warm water systems, which is why they are often subject to regular testing in buildings.

A Dorset Council spokesman said: ’Dorset Council’s environmental health team and Public Health Dorset are advising the Home Office and its contractors, alongside the UK Health Security Agency and NHS Dorset, following notification of positive samples of Legionella bacteria in the water system on the Bibby Stockholm barge.

’No individuals have presented symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease, and there is no health risk to the wider community of Portland.’

It is understood that the Home Office is managing the search for alternative accommodation for the asylum seekers.

Dr Laurence Buckman, former chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP Committee, told GB News today: ’If you’re unlucky and your immunity isn’t really tip-top, there is a risk that you will get legionella pneumonia and die from it.

’It’s potentially treatable but of course you have to diagnose it first. It lives in water supplies. It lives in sink traps, so a U-bend of a sink will be a problem, and it lives in air conditioning units.

’That’s why we have what are called ’scrubbers’ in air conditioning units to wipe out the legionella before the air gets blown onto other people, and why hospitals that get legionella in their sinks have a really big problem. At worst, they have to take the sinks out and replace them and the pipework that goes with them.’

Steve Smith, chief executive of the charity Care4Calais, said: ’We have always known our concerns over the health and safety of the barge are justified, and this latest mismanagement proves our point.

’The Bibby Stockholm is a visual illustration of this Government’s hostile environment against refugees, but it has also fast become a symbol for the shambolic incompetence which has broken Britain’s asylum system.

’The Government should now realise warehousing refugees in this manner is completely untenable, and should focus on the real job at hand - processing the asylum claims swiftly, so refugees may become contributing members of our communities as they so strongly wish.’

Meanwhile Fire Brigades Union general secretary Ben Selby said the outbreak suggested it was ’only a matter of time before either lives are lost or there is serious harm to a detainee.’

He said: ’The Fire Brigades Union warned the Home Secretary that forcibly holding migrants on this barge was a huge health and safety risk.

’This outbreak of Legionella suggests that it’s only a matter of time before either lives are lost or there is serious harm to a detainee.’

And Alex Bailey, a spokesman for the No To The Barge campaign group, told MailOnline: ’This has become Fawlty Towers at sea.

’This was inevitable because of the poor advance planning and preparation, the rush and people in power with little knowledge and pushing the experts to break the rules.

’This is just another example of the incompetent way our Government has approached this scheme from start to finish. Robert Jenrick promised the country Bibbly Stockholm was safe. That is not the case.’

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: ’Across the country, most people want strong border security and a properly managed and controlled asylum system so the UK does its bit alongside other countries to help those who have fled persecution and conflict, while those who have no right to be here are swiftly returned.

’Under this Government, we have neither as gangs are undermining our border security and the asylum system is in chaos.’

And Kolbassia Haoussou, director of survivor empowerment at Freedom from Torture, said: ’The presence of life-threatening bacteria onboard the Bibby Stockholm is just another shocking revelation that we’ve seen unfold over the past few weeks. This Government’s punitive policies and deliberate neglect of the asylum system is not just cruel, it’s dangerous.’

Yesterday the Home Office denied the barge was a ’floating prison’ and insisted that those onboard would be ’free to come and go as they want’.

Gardening in nearby allotments and hiking tours of the area are among the activities which could be offered to those onboard.

Security measures include 18 guards trained to military standard who work around the clock.

In total, about 60 staff including cooks and cleaners will be on board the barge run by Landry and Kling, a sub-contractor of Corporate Travel Management (CTM) which also managed vessels in Scotland housing Ukrainians.

Spaghetti with meatballs, roast turkey, Irish stew and beef pie are on the sample menu to be served in the canteen by Dubai-headquartered offshore firm Connect Catering Services, alongside breakfast and a selection of snacks available 24 hours a day.

The gym, equipped with treadmills and weights, is still awaiting delivery of rowing machines and exercise bikes. Volleyball, basketball, netball and football can all be played in one of two outside courtyards.

Most of the 222 bedrooms have twin bunk beds, with cupboard space, a desk, en-suite bathroom, heating and windows which open. But there are also 20 larger rooms which would sleep four people, and two rooms housing six people.

The bedrooms all have televisions which the operator was told to disconnect but were too costly to remove so can be used only as monitors.

Instead, residents will be encouraged to socialise or watch programmes and films in one of four communal TV rooms, and can also learn English in a classroom and worship in a dedicated space. A small number of laptops are also available and there is Wi-Fi throughout the barge.

▻https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12397201/All-migrants-housed-Bibby-Stockholm-barge-removed.html
#maladie #légionellose #maladie_du_légionnaire #évacuation

Asylum seekers say Bibby Stockholm conditions caused suicide attempt

Thirty-nine people who were briefly onboard write to Suella Braverman describing their fear and despair

Thirty-nine asylum seekers who were briefly accommodated on the Home Office’s controversial Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset have said conditions onboard were so bad that one was driven to attempt suicide.

A three-page letter sent to the home secretary, Suella Braverman, also sets out the asylum seekers’ fear and despair at being trapped on the barge and appeals to her to help them in their search for safety and freedom in the UK.

They describe the barge as “an unsafe, frightening and isolated place” but said that as law-abiding people they were fearful of not obeying Home Office instructions. The asylum seekers described the barge as “a place of exile” and said the conditions were “small rooms and a terrifying residence”.

Some of the asylum seekers have told the Guardian they are too traumatised to return to the barge in Portland.

According to the letter some people fell ill on the barge.

The letter says: “Also in a tragic incident one of the asylum seekers attempted suicide but we acted promptly and prevented this unfortunate event. Considering the ongoing difficulties it’s not unexpected that we might face a repeat of such situations in the future.

“Some friends said they even wished they had courage to commit suicide. Our personal belief is that many of these individuals might resort to this foolishness to escape problems in the future.”

They said they were the last people to be informed about the legionella bacteria found on the barge and announced by the Home Office on 11 August.

They said their brief stay on the barge had led to a deterioration in their mental health. “Currently we are staying in an old and abandoned hotel. The sense of isolation and loneliness has taken over us and psychological and emotional pressures have increased significantly.”

The letter to Braverman concludes with a plea to consider their situation as a priority. “We are individuals who are tired of the challenges that have arisen and no longer have the strength to face them.”

An Iranian asylum seeker among the 39 has vowed never to return there. He said many of the other men who spent a few days onboard felt the same way.

“If I had had to stay even one more day on the barge I would have had suicidal thoughts. When I got on to the barge the smell and the stench of seawater was overwhelming,” he said.

“I developed stomach pains and felt dizzy but I was too scared to refuse to get on. Being on the barge made us feel like criminals and second-class citizens.”

He added that nobody from the Home Office properly explained the legionella situation to them. “I had to search on Google to find out what it is. Everyone who was on the barge are now all together in one hotel. A few people are coughing and everybody is afraid. When I was having a shower on the barge the water was burning my eyes.

“Being on that barge will always be a horrific memory in my brain. It’s a completely unfit place. We’re all feeling very upset but are even more upset that the Home Office want to return us to this horror show.

“I want to ask a question of the people who made the decision to put us on the barge. ‘Would you put a member of your family there even for one day?’ We came to the UK to escape persecution but are facing more persecution here.”

In response to the letter the Home Office said: “We are following all protocol and advice from Dorset council’s environmental health team, UK Health Security Agency and Dorset NHS, who we continue to work closely with.

“Further tests are being conducted and we intend to re-embark asylum seekers only when there is confirmation that the water system meets relevant safety standards. The safety of those onboard remains the priority.”
Bibby Stockholm timeline

Monday 7 August: The first group of asylum seekers, all men, are taken to the barge by the Home Office. Some lawyers successfully challenged their clients being put onboard. New arrivals said they were shocked by the high walls of the barge, which felt like a ‘floating prison’ and the overwhelming stench of seawater onboard.

Tuesday 8 August : The reality of life onboard the barge starts to be understood by the men. “My feeling about this ship is negative,” said one. “Right now my strongest feeling is of being humiliated and captured. The government takes revenge on every useful brain and heart. What I mean by revenge is that the British government intends to cover up its political and economic failures by using asylum seekers as an excuse.”

Thursday 10 August: By this time all the agencies involved with the barge were aware that tests had confirmed legionella onboard the barge on Monday. Dorset council said its officials informed barge contractors the same day they received the test results and that a meeting was held on Tuesday with officials including one from the Home Office. The men continued to shower and use water taps onboard, oblivious to any potential risks to their health.

Friday 11 August: At 1.54pm the men started seeing messages on social media “that there is a disease problem on the barge and we will need to evacuate”. At about 2pm a text was received that the asylum seekers believed to be from staff onboard the barge telling them not to use the showers for two hours as the shower heads needed to be replaced. At 5pm, a copied text was received from the Home Office describing the bacteria found on the barge and informing the men that they would be leaving the barge at 7pm by bus.

Saturday 12 August: Relocation to a “disused” hotel. The men begin to process the despair their experience on the barge had left them with. Some said previously they had put their trust in the Home Office to provide them with safety after fleeing danger in their home countries but their time on the barge has destroyed that. “All our hopes are gone. We think now the Home Office is not there to help us. It abandons us to uncertain destiny. The barge has sabotaged hope, trust. Morale among us is at zero.”

▻https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/25/asylum-seekers-bibby-stockholm-conditions-suicide-attempt

Home Office Faces Legal Challenge Against ‘Appalling’ Use of Bibby Stockholm Barge to House Refugees

“Human beings do not belong in barges or camps. The correct way to house people is to house them in communities.”

A Labour mayor has launched a legal challenge to Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s use of the Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate around 500 male asylum-seekers at Portland Port in Dorset, without obtaining planning permission.

Carralyn Parkes is a Portland Town Councillor and Mayor of Portland, bit is acting in a personal capacity as a local resident. Dorset Council and Portland Port Limited have backed the claim as “interested parties”, meaning that they will have the opportunity to make submissions, file evidence and participate in the case.

It comes after a deadly legionella strain was found onboard the Bibby Stockholm. It was detected on the first day people boarded on 7 August, with officials evacuating all 39 people onboard that day, the Guardian reported.

Parkes is asking the Court to declare that the Home Office’s use of the barge as asylum accommodation is capable of constituting ‘development’ under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and therefore that it may amount to a breach of planning control and possible enforcement action by Dorset Council.

Her claim argues that the Home Office is attempting the ‘technical wheeze’ of using a boat as asylum accommodation in order to circumvent normal planning rules, which would apply if the barge was instead installed on land.

As a result, local residents’ ability to raise objections to the barge and its use in Portland, via their local authority, is “severely hampered”, her legal team says. It also places the barge outside the reach of “important” legal protections such as limits on overcrowding.

Carralyn Parkes told Byline Times: “In the 21st century, it’s appalling to think that we’ve even considered housing the most vulnerable people in the world on a barge. The accommodation is wholly unsuitable.

“If the government had put this through a planning procedure, I’m convinced it would have been denied, as the port is a closed area.”

She added that infrastructure in Portland is “stretched to breaking point” while the barge was originally produced for 220 people. “Now they’re talking about 500 people. It’s completely overcrowded and there’s no fire safety certificate,” Parkes said.

“It’s just terrible to think that our country would do something like this to vulnerable people, and to ride roughshod over communities…Human beings do not belong in barges or camps. The correct way to house people is to house them in communities.”

“Portland is not averse to housing asylum seekers. It’s the actual conditions of housing asylum seekers on the barge that is appalling.”

Asked if she thought the legal challenge stood a strong chance, she said: “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it’s a chance of being successful. I’m a private individual taking this on board. It’s a huge and daunting task to take on the whole mechanism of the state, the Home Secretary and the Home Office.”

While she is launching the legal challenge as a private individual rather than a Labour mayor, she added she had support from Labour colleagues locally.

Parkes also argues that the Home Office has not complied with its environmental impact assessment duties. An appraisal branded “inadequate” by campaigners was only conducted after asylum seekers had been moved onto the barge, and several months after the Home Office had declared its intention of using the barge for that purpose.

The claim also argues that the Home Office has not complied with its Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010, which includes prohibition on discrimination on the basis of race, and a duty to foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic (such as race), and those who do not.

Parkes and her team argue that the Equality Impact Assessment, conducted only days before the barge came into use, is “woefully inadequate” as it fails to consider the impact of the barge’s operation in radicalising far-right extremism, or the equality impact of segregating rather than integrating asylum seekers into communities.

A spokesperson for Deighton Pierce Glynn Solicitors said: “Our client is taking a brave stand against the Home Office’s attempts to circumvent important planning rules and protections to use the Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate vulnerable asylum seekers.

“She is asking the Court to rule that proper procedures should be followed and that local people and authorities should be given the opportunity to have their say.”

Carralyn Parkes is represented by Deighton Pierce Glynn Solicitors. She is continuing to crowdfund to cover her legal costs and to cover the risk that costs are awarded against her. So far Parkes has raised more than £20,000.

The next step is for the defendant, the Home Office, and the Interested Parties (Dorset Council and Portland Port Limited) to respond. If they wish to do so, the deadline is 4 October. After that the Court will make a decision on whether Parkes has permission for her judicial review.

▻https://bylinetimes.com/2023/09/12/home-office-faces-legal-challenge-against-appalling-use-of-bibby-stockh

Bibby Stockholm gets ‘satisfactory’ test results for legionella

Results revealed in FoI data follow other tests that found unsatisfactory levels of the bacteria on barge

The Bibby Stockholm barge has had “satisfactory” test results for legionella, after tests initially found the presence of the potentially deadly bacteria, the Guardian has learned.

The Home Office, which hopes to hold hundreds of people seeking asylum on the barge in Portland, received the most recent legionella results on 4 September and government sources said they were not planning to make the results public. The Guardian obtained the results in freedom of information data from Dorset council.

In these most recent results, all the water samples tested for legionella were deemed “satisfactory”, although some of the bacteria were identified in two of the samples. In three previous sets of tests, at least some of the samples tested were found to be “unsatisfactory” for legionella.

The worst results related to samples from 9 August, two days after asylum seekers were briefly put on the barge. They were removed after just four and a half days. In these results, eight of the 11 samples taken were unsatisfactory and three were borderline. Some of the bacteria found was the deadliest strain, legionella pneumophila serogroup 1.

A second freedom of information request, to Cornwall council, revealed that the barge was not inspected for legionella while in Falmouth for checks and repairs before it was moved to Portland.

A third freedom of information request revealed that the Home Office has used water safety risk assessments for the Bibby Stockholm that are more than six years out of date. The Home Office said a more up-to-date risk assessment had subsequently been signed off.

Apart from the legionella bacteria found on the barge, concerns have been raised about planning, fire safety and plumbing breaches. Legal actions are under way relating to these issues.

A spokesperson for the Home Office barge contractor CTM confirmed that repairs to the plumbing were under way after an inspection by Wessex Water found failings.

In media interviews on Wednesday, the home secretary, Suella Braverman, said “various procedures” needed to be completed before people could return to the Bibby Stockholm but that government had done “really well” with its work on the barge.

Beyond Borders Totnes & District, an organisation that is supporting some of the men taken off the barge, said none wanted to return there. “They found the barge intolerable and claustrophobic. It is utterly prison-like,” a spokesperson said.

The Home Office said: “We are pleased to confirm that the latest tests have shown that there are no health risks from legionella on the Bibby Stockholm, with individuals set to return to the barge in due course.

“The welfare of asylum seekers is of paramount importance. It is right we went above and beyond UK Health Security Agency advice and disembarked asylum seekers as a precautionary measure whilst the issue was investigated.”

Home Office sources added that an agreed programme of work including a complete flush and chlorination of the water had been undertaken and that a water control plan was in place with regular water testing to continue.

▻https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/22/bibby-stockholm-gets-satisfactory-test-results-for-legionella

While tourists on ferries are sipping from their sundowners, people - including children - are chained & locked up below decks in dark places

Refugees from Afghanistan, Syria & Iraq risk their lives stowing away on ferries bound for the Italian ports in the hope of claiming asylum

Instead, when caught by authorities, they are locked up on ferries & sent back to Greece without any procedure, in breach of interntnl law

https://i.imgur.com/oXzCNpV.jpg

Last month, @LHreports & partners revealed the existence of “black sites” – clandestine places of detention – where refugees are denied the right to seek asylum & illegally imprisoned on EU land borders before being forced back
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/984470

Now, we have captured images of unofficial “prisons” that are used to detain asylum seekers on 3 passenger ships travelling Greece and Italy, sometimes handcuffed to metal shelves, as they are illegally deported

@saracreta interviewed a refugee from Afghanistan who managed to take a selfie while being handcuffed to metal shelves on the @SuperfastF(ast) II

The vessel runs between the Italian port of Bari & the Greek ports of Igoumenitsa & Patras - a journey that takes around 12 hours

https://i.imgur.com/YoKzigU.jpg

“I couldn’t lie down because of the handcuffs,” the man, named Abdulmanan, said

“Once they brought me something to eat & drink. They took off my handcuffs. After that, they chained me again.”

He said he was put there after being denied the right to apply for asylum in Italy

On the Superfast I ferry, refugees are locked up in a metal box with just a piece of cardboard & sheet

Some left messages on the walls, while others appear to have tried to escape by climbing the walls

The secret detention sites on the Superfast ferries are located next to where lorries are parked - an area that is considered unsafe for passengers to be during the journey

Yet asylum seekers are locked up there for the duration of the trip

https://i.imgur.com/I614re9.jpg

A small room with a broken toilet & ceiling on the 7th floor of the Asterion II has been made into a makeshift prison

Refugees have scribbled their names & dates of detention on the wall while tourists enjoyed hot meals just metres away

Italy has justified these “readmissions” under a bilateral agreement with Greece - an agreement that was never ratified by the Italian parliament

The return of asylum seekers under this agreement was ruled unlawful by @ECHR_CEDH in 2014

▻https://www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/en/content/ecthr-sharifi-and-others-v-italy-and-greece-application-no-1664309

Italy has since repeatedly claimed that this practice has stopped, & has pushed for official monitoring of its border processes at the port - which were put in place following the ECHR judgement - to be stopped on the basis that the violations are no longer occurring

https://i.imgur.com/KWy0xOJ.jpg

But @LHreports @AJEnglish @ARD_Presse
#Monitor @srfnews @DomaniGiornale @we_are_solomon can reveal that the practices are still ongoing

More than a dozen people from Afghanistan, Syria & Iraq told us they have been subject to this treatment in the last 12 months

Among them are children. We have verified 3 cases where under-18 have been returned via ferry from Italy to Greece in this way

One 16-yo Afghan named Baloosh said: “They sent me back to Greece by boat, illegally. They didn’t ask me at all about my asylum claim or anything else."

Personnel on board of the ferries, all owned by the Greek company Attica, confirmed to us that they are detaining asylum seekers & directed us to the locations where people are being detained

A number of crew members referred to the detention places as “prisons”

Hundreds of these illegal returns have taken place in the last 2 years

The Greek authorities confirmed that 157 people were returned from Italy to Greece in 2021, and 74 in 2022 - although experts believe that not all cases are documented

Italy can assess whether an asylum seeker can be returned to Greece under the Dublin Regulation, which enables returns of people who have already lodged a claim in another EU state

But this process usually takes at least 1 month, during which they cannot remove the individual

▻https://twitter.com/LHreports/status/1615743769604722689

Angekettet auf der Fähre

Wie Italien illegal Flüchtlinge abschiebt
Inhalt

Fährschiffe transportieren tausende Touristen zwischen Italien und Griechenland. Unter Deck passiert gleichzeitig Unmenschliches: Flüchtlinge werden angekettet und in Schächten oder defekten Toiletten eingesperrt.

SRF Investigativ: «Haben Sie ein Gefängnis auf dem Schiff?»

Fährschiff-Mitarbeiter: «Ja»

«Ist das hier, wo die Passagiere sind?»

«Nein, es ist in der Garage vier, dort ist das Gefängnis.»

Italien schiebt die Flüchtlinge illegal ab, das heisst ohne die nötigen Abklärungen. Pushback nennt sich das. Die italienischen Behörden verstossen dabei gegen Verfahrensregeln und es wird teilweise auch Gewalt angewandt.

Das zeigt eine Recherche, die SRF in Kooperation mit Lighthouse Reports, Al Jazeera,ARD Monitor und Domani durchgeführt hat. Das Rechercheteam hat mit gut einem Dutzend Pushback-Opfern gesprochen, mit Schiffsmitarbeitenden, Grenzpolizistinnen und Experten. Erstmals gibt es auch Bilder und Videos von geheimen Gefängnissen auf Passagierfähren im Adriatischen Meer.

Die Illustrationen in diesem Artikel sind anhand zahlreicher Schilderungen von Flüchtlingen nachgezeichnet.

▻https://www.srf.ch/news/pushbacks-eingesperrt-auf-der-touristenfaehre-im-mittelmeer

#navires #résistance #Marseille #bateaux_de_croisière #pollution #tourisme #croisières

Reçu d’une amie à qui j’ai envoyé le commentaire ci-dessus

Avevo visto la cartina in gennaio : une crisi annunciata.

Pensa te che Zurigo in febbraio ha chiuso i voli diretti con la Cina, Ginevra no (3 voli /settimana con Pechino). All’atterraggio ricevevano un foglio dell’ufsp con scritto: in CH non é obbligatorio portare la mascherina (gettatela uscendo dall’aereo). Poi nessun controllo (febbre, quarantena... niente ).

Morale ? Confronta il numero di casi à GVA e ZH !

La politica ginevrina Del non chiudere l’aeroporto a Ginevra é stata spiegata pubblicamente dal medico cantonale il 25 febbraio all’unige (conferenza disponibile su mediaserver dell’uni).

Remarque : la conferenza era sul mezzo giorno e gli esperti facevano « blagues » perché « je vous rappelle qu’au jour d’aujourd’hui il n’y a aucun cas en Suisse »..... un’ ora dopo la stampa annunciava il primo caso in Ticino. Tu vuoi farmi credere che il medico cantonale non lo sapevo ????

#Suisse #Zurich #aéroports #Genève

Coronavirus en Afrique : pourquoi la catastrophe annoncée n’a pas eu lieu ?

Les experts annoncent depuis des mois une déferlante de l’épidémie de coronavirus en Afrique, où la pauvreté et le manque d’infrastructures de santé font craindre le pire. Pourtant, alors que le premier cas remonte au 14 février sur le continent, la vague n’est toujours pas arrivée. Comment expliquer cette relative préservation ?

Depuis le premier cas de coronavirus sur le continent, le 14 février en Égypte, les experts nous prédisent un scénario effrayant. L’Afrique allait être rapidement submergée par la pandémie de Covid-19 avec à la clé un cataclysme sanitaire dans un continent pauvre au système de santé défaillant. L’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS) appelle presque chaque jour le continent « à se préparer au pire ». Deux mois plus tard, le tsunami n’a toujours pas eu lieu, alors que les pays européens et les États-Unis sont violemment frappés.
L’Afrique est le continent le moins touché par l’épidémie de coronavirus

Avec 1.216 décès et 26.058 cas recensés au 22 avril, l’Afrique est le continent le moins touché par l’épidémie de coronavirus. L’Algérie, est le pays qui déplore le plus grand nombre de décès (402) devant l’Égypte, le Maroc et l’Afrique du Sud. Par comparaison, la France et ses 66 millions d’habitants a dépassé la barre des 20.000 morts du Covid-19. Alors pourquoi l’Afrique avec ses 1,2 milliard d’habitants semble échapper à l’épidémie ?

Évidemment, le faible nombre de tests et le manque de données faussent en partie le bilan, le nombre de cas étant sans doute largement sous-estimé. Le chef du Centre africain de contrôle et de prévention des maladies, John Nkengasong, concède à l’AFP que, faute de tests, les statistiques ne sont pas parfaites. Mais il écarte l’idée que de nombreux cas passent sous les radars. « Les hôpitaux seraient envahis de malades, ce qui n’est pas le cas », confirme le médecin. D’autres facteurs peuvent en revanche apporter quelques pistes d’explication.

Une longueur d’avance

L’épidémie a gagné l’Afrique quelques semaines après l’Europe, permettant à ses dirigeants d’adopter des mesures préventives très en amont. « Avant même la détection des premiers cas de coronavirus sur le sol rwandais, nous avons pris très tôt des mesures d’hygiène qui ont été appliquées sur presque toute l’étendue du territoire », corrobore le docteur Sabin Nsanzimana, directeur général du Rwanda Biomedical Centre, à RFI. L’Afrique du Sud, la Tunisie, le Maroc et l’Algérie ont imposé un confinement et des couvre-feux avant que l’épidémie n’ait eu le temps de se propager.
Une faible densité de population

Avec 43 habitants par kilomètre carré, contre 181 en Europe de l’Ouest ou 154 en Asie du Sud-Est, l’Afrique demeure un continent faiblement peuplé dans la plupart des régions. Les habitants sont généralement concentrés dans les capitales, qui ont été très tôt confinées. En Côte d’Ivoire, le grand Abidjan est ainsi officiellement isolé du reste du pays depuis le 30 mars. Idem au Lagos, où les habitants des deux mégalopoles, Abuja et Lagos, ont interdiction de quitter la ville. Cette faible densité limite considérablement les contacts et donc la transmission du virus.

Moins de circulation des personnes

Contrairement à la plupart des pays occidentaux, de nombreuses régions africaines restent très isolées et vivent en quasi-autarcie. Le virus circule donc très peu dans la population. L’Afrique est également beaucoup moins touristique que l’Europe ou les États-Unis. Sur les 50 aéroports les plus fréquentés au monde, un seul est africain (celui de Johannesburg). L’Afrique ne compte pas non plus de diaspora importante comme la Chine ou l’Inde, qui doivent faire face au retour de nombreux étudiants revenant de l’étranger. Peu de grands mouvements de population ont d’ailleurs été constatés en Afrique subsaharienne.
Une pyramide des âges beaucoup plus jeune

Environ 60 % de la population africaine est âgée de moins de 25 ans. Or, le coronavirus frappe plus particulièrement les personnes âgées : en France, 75 % des personnes décédées du Covid-19 ont plus de 75 ans. L’Italie du Nord, région la plus touchée au monde, est aussi caractérisée par une très forte population âgée. « En Afrique, il n’y a plus de vieux à tuer sur le continent » résume sarcastiquement l’écrivain ivoirien Gauz, dans une tribune sur le site de Jeune Afrique. L’Afrique présente aussi un très faible taux d’obésité, qui est un facteur de risque majeur de mortalité au Covid-19.

Une immunité pré-existante ?

Une étude préliminaire du NHS (National Health Service) et de King’s College montre une corrélation négative entre les pays affectés par la malaria et ceux touchés par le Covid-19, qu’elle explique par un possible effet protecteur des traitements prophylactiques pour la malaria comme la chloroquine contre le coronavirus. Or, 93 % des cas de malaria sont enregistrés en Afrique, selon l’OMS. D’après une autre étude, c’est la vaccination systématique du BCG déployée en Afrique qui pourrait expliquer l’immunisation de la population. Les pays sans politique de vaccination universelle du BCG comme l’Italie et les États-Unis sont à l’inverse les plus touchés par le Covid-19, notent les auteurs. Des corrélations qui n’apportent toutefois aucune preuve de cause à effet.
Famine, criquets, effondrement de l’économie : ces autres menaces bien plus concrètes

Malgré ces atouts, l’Afrique risque pourtant de faire les frais de l’épidémie de Covid-19. Conséquence de la fermeture des frontières, des mesures de confinement et de la hausse des prix des denrées alimentaires, « le nombre de personnes menacées de famine en Afrique de l’Ouest pourrait quasi tripler en trois mois », a ainsi alerté l’ONG Oxfam le 21 avril. Une invasion de criquets fait également des ravages en ce moment en Afrique de l’Est. En Éthiopie, 200.000 hectares de terres agricoles ont été dévorées et un million de personnes ont désormais besoin d’une aide alimentaire d’urgence. La pandémie de coronavirus a également mis à l’arrêt la plupart des campagnes de vaccination contre la polio, la rougeole ou la diphtérie. En Afrique, le coronavirus est loin d’être la priorité des habitants.

▻https://www.futura-sciences.com/alternative/amp/actualite/79699/?__twitter_impression=true
#pyramide_des_âges #densité_de_population

Cruise Ships Set Sail Knowing the Deadly Risk to Passengers and Crew

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH300/socialjpg-c0c016-5a020.jpg

signalé par @kassem ici:
https://seenthis.net/messages/849793

#croisière #bateaux_de_croisière #travail #soufre #croisières

D’autres images/documents qui donnent à voir ces points de collisions ?
Vos idées, sont les bienvenues... pour un futur billet @visionscarto, @reka ?

La photo d’une tourisme en maillot sur une plage réconfortant un migrant naufragé.

Elle est déjà sur Visionscarto ►https://visionscarto.net/migrations-sauvetage-en-mer

https://visionscarto.net/local/cache-vignettes/L450xH297/14908446682_08b2-b1f14.png?1429260351

Oui, celle-ci est citée via le billet de @reka, où l’on peut citer aussi sa carte:

https://visionscarto.net/local/cache-vignettes/L2441xH1748/14097851866_b519-39d59.jpg?1504805258#.jpg

Mais, justement, je voulais voir si les seenthisien·nes en ont en tête d’autres...

#cartographie #visualisation

« Invisibiliser les migrants, pour visibiliser une région de tourisme »

C’est les mots prononcés par Sarah Bachellerie lors d’une session des Rencontres de géopolitique critique :

▻http://blog.modop.org/post/2019/03/Discussion-D%C3%A9sert-%E2%80%93-Mer-%E2%80%93-Montagne-%3A-la-construct

Elle se réfère à ce qu’elle a observé à Briançon.

https://i.imgur.com/KW2UcRO.jpg

#Briançonnais, des #migrants croisent des #skieurs dans une vidéo publiée par Internazionale :

https://i.imgur.com/K0AdjPi.png

Dans cette vidéo, un migrant dit (2’21) :
« C’est impressionnant de voir de près... marcher dans les montagnes... c’est quand même beau. On fait un peu comme les touristes... des #touristes_migrants ».
Son compagnon de route rebondit :
« Nous sommes des touristes et clandestins au même temps »

Brochure de Tous Migrants : "Dans nos #montagnes, le #jour et la #nuit :

https://i.imgur.com/z5x72GC.png

La série #Eden (Arte) commence par un clash entre touristes et migrants sur l’île de #Chios en #Grèce :

https://i.imgur.com/5YyVBTw.png

Voir aussi cette incroyable #photographie :

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH419/inmigrantes_3d2e-0ab4c.jpg

Des migrants accostent sur une plage espagnole sous le regard des touristes

Une patrouille aura tenté d’empêcher le bateau pneumatique de rejoindre le rivage. En vain.

https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5c92cb3736000023266d6ec8.jpeg?ops=scalefit_960_noupscale#.jpg

Le quotidien des migrants a rencontré celui des touristes sur cette plage espagnole
Le contraste entre les deux réalités est saisissant.

https://i.imgur.com/DmHvMRm.png

▻https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2017/08/10/le-quotidien-des-migrants-a-rencontre-celui-des-touristes-sur-ce_a_23

On Greek island, tourists come for the sun and stay to help refugees

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH400/PENSO_LESVOS992c-cf277.jpg

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH412/_85363864_te43e5-b55e1.jpg

2. The Canary Islands was still one of the main destinations for African migrants two years later. By this stage the boats were often leaving from Mauritania or even Senegal, instead of Morocco - a perilous journey across 1,000km of the Atlantic. Many people arrived starving and dehydrated. This photograph taken on #Tenerife's #La_Tejita beach shows tourists trying to help a young boy, and earned #Arturo_Rodriguez a World Press Photo award in 2007.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/783370
#photographie #îles_Canaries

Et sur comment les #réfugiés ont refait naître l’#économie_touristique, notamment en #Italie.

Dans les #Apennins :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/743591

En #Grèce :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/499165

Les #touristes qui viennent en aide aux migrants débarqués sur les #îles_grecques :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/396244
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/388662
#solidarité #Lesbos

Comment les touristes sont gênés pendant leurs vacances sur les îles grecques...
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/374957
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/379750

Ou comment ils ruinent l’#image de la ville de #Calais... qui peine ainsi à attirer des touristes...
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/367319

#Kos, 2015

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L599xH399/CLupXh6VAAELa664-d8f60.jpg

Les migrants, les nouveaux clients des commerces de #Lesbos... à la place des touristes...
Comment les commerçants de #Lesbos se sont adaptés à la crise des migrants
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/459482
#adaptation

Un centre touristique transformé en camps de réfugiés en Grèce...

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/519201

La Une du Figaro Magazine (mai 2019) :

https://i.imgur.com/n48wgqo.png https://i.imgur.com/RfMPHER.png https://i.imgur.com/iVXhcmD.png

Quand les touristes se confrontent, sur les avions, aux #renvois_forcés...
Des touristes font capoter le renvoi forcé d’un homme
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/517764#message687481
#expulsions #avion

lien vers la métaliste sur la résistance aux renvois forcés :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/725457

#Croatie : dans les #montagnes, la police traque les #réfugiés

Le samedi 15 juin, un groupe de randonneurs arrive au #refuge de Risnjak, dans le but d’y passer la nuit avant d’entamer le lendemain l’ascension du sommet. Mais à l’entrée du refuge, ils tombent sur une scène inattendue : un fusil automatique trône sur une table et deux membres des forces spéciales discutent avec la gérante du refuge. Ils sont là pour la « protéger des réfugiés », explique-t-elle. Cet hiver, certains seraient entrés par effraction dans le refuge et l’auraient « dévasté ». Pourtant, on ne voit nulle trace de dégradation, pas la moindre fenêtre cassée. Les malheureux étaient simplement à la recherche de chaleur et de nourriture.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/791038

Témoignage d’un bénévole de l’association Refugee Rescue (▻https://www.facebook.com/RefugeeRescueUK), reçu par email d’une collègue le 4 juillet 2019, amie du bénévole...

Notre plus grosse intervention a eu lieu il y a deux jours. On est sortis en mer à 5h, comme tous les matins. A 6h30 on est prévenus par nos spotters qu’un bateau est en approche à 3NM. On trace pleine balle. À 2 NM de l’objectif on reçoit un appel d’un bateau frontex portugais en contact avec le bateau nous disant que les réfugiés ne veulent pas s’arrêter et qu’ils comptent sur nous pour les faire stopper. Quand on arrive on découvre un petit bateau avec 13 réfugiés (5 enfants) accroupis dedans fonçant vers le rivage (1 NM). Le pilote porte une capuche et refuse tout contact visuel avec nous. on peut lire la panique dans les yeux des gens. On sourit, leur parle en farsi pour leur dire de s’arrêter mais ils refusent. Les portugais perdent patience et coupent la route au bateau, qui esquive. Ils lancent un bout sur le bateau, les réfugiés le rejettent à l’eau et il se prend dans leur hélice, stoppant net le bateau. A partir de là tout part en sucette. Un gamin se lève, sort un tournevis et crève le bateau, qui commence à s’affesser à bâbord. Les portugais s’approchent et avant qu’ils puissent réagir plusieurs réfugiés sautent sur leur bateau, déstabilisant leur bateau à eux qui commence à se retourner sur les autres, tombés à l’eau. On s’approche suffisamment pour que je puisse attraper le bord tribord et en donnant tout ce que j’ai, retourner à la force du poignet le bateau. Les bagages tombent en cascade sur les personnes dans l’eau, accrochés désespérément les uns aux autres. Un garde portugais réussi à en attraper plusieurs pendant qu’on dégage leur bateau pour pouvoir nous approcher. Il reste un couple, la femme est maintenue en l’air par un policier qui la tient par son foulard pendant que son mari dans l’eau est agrippé à elle. Ils sont maintenus à bout de bras contre la coque par le garde portugais, à bout de force. On s’approche suffisamment pour que le garde puisse lâcher et le couple se retrouve à l’eau entre nos deux bateaux, proches de moins d’un mètre, avec un clapot travers de 1m. Je me penche par dessus bord, les yeux plongés dans ceux terrifiés de la femme. J’attrape l’homme pendant qu’un garde portugais attrape la femme. L’homme s’accroche désespérément à notre bateau mais lutte pour ne pas être séparé de sa femme. On se met à 3 pour le décrocher et le hisser à bord. Il s’évanouit immédiatement. Il respire, on le met en PLS. Je m’occupe de lui et il fini par reprendre connaissance. Il est totalement paniqué et cherche sa femme. Il vomit plusieurs fois. On le calme en lui montrant sa femme et son fils à bord du bateau Portugais,on l’hydrate et le couvre et on le réconforte jusqu’à ce qu’on arrive au port. On les débarque tous,les gardes côtes et la police arrivent, prennent des photos du gamin au tournevis et du pilote. Notre équipage a droit à un contrôle d’identité. Le maire du village arrive en hurlant parce qu’on a ramené les réfugiés à skala et que ça nuit au tourisme. La police embarque les réfugiés. La vie du village reprend son cours. On fait un point rapide entre nous pour débriefer cette situation qui aurait pû dégénérer salement. On partage notre ressenti sur cette détresse immense chez les réfugiés et la violence des situations qu’ils traversent, qui les amène à des extrémités aussi folle que crever leur propre bateau (en discutant avec l’ancien du groupe à l’arrivée on a découvert qu’ils avaient tous pour consigne de ne faire confiance à personne).

Vous trouverez ici une vidéo de l’intervention, filmée depuis mon casque :
▻https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2293692884031482&id=1206400986094016

J’ai ajouté à cette liste à cause de cette réaction du maire :

Le maire du village arrive en hurlant parce qu’on a ramené les réfugiés à skala et que ça nuit au tourisme.

Vu à #Exarchia, #Athènes, en juillet 2019 :
« Immigrants welcome. Tourists fuck off »

https://i.imgur.com/lx4S1p4.png

Quand les hôtel sont ré-utilisés pour accueillir ou squattés des migrants...

#Porto_Recanati, #Hotel_House :

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L259xH146/260px-Porto_74f4-87a0c.jpg

Le #City_Plaza à #Athènes :

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L512xH700/Migreurop_Ci8b71-a7326.jpg

#Hotel_Porin, à #Zagreb (#Croatie) :

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH416/HotelPorin_Z78e8-4fa5d.jpg

La polémique en Italie, migrants hébergés dans des hôtels de luxe... (well...) :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/792321

Et la décision de la #Ligurie de ne pas subventionner les hôtels qui hébergent des migrants :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/792326

–---------

Autres hôtels auxquels je pense

Hotel à #Obrenovac, en #Serbie :

https://i.imgur.com/4tTwyrl.png https://i.imgur.com/dmpVgI2.png https://i.imgur.com/vYTOF7s.png https://i.imgur.com/HfCfKLY.png

Suite à venir... voir aussi ci-dessous dans le fil de discussion

Un peu comme la photo du golf... Mais là c’est Paris.

https://i.imgur.com/ZS4JAv6.jpg

reçue via une doctorante, Annaelle Piva

Refugees meet Tourists on the Island of All Together

An award-winning short video about Europeans meeting with new Syrian refugees one-on-one in front of a camera is both light-hearted and serious — a humanist view of the crisis.

▻https://www.lensculture.com/articles/marieke-van-der-velden-refugees-meet-tourists-on-the-island-of-all-toge
#vidéo #court-métrage #film

« Ces migrants qui gâchent nos vacances » : l’indécence à son comble

▻https://www.levif.be/actualite/europe/ces-migrants-qui-gachent-nos-vacances-l-indecence-a-son-comble/article-opinion-1165895.html?cookie_check=1563194141

"Vendredi dernier (12 juillet), RTL-TVI a diffusé, au journal télévisé, une séquence intitulée « Une touriste belge découvre des cadavres sur une plage de Djerba » et présentée de la façon suivante : « Un début de vacances raté pour Charlotte. La Liégeoise venait d’arriver à Zarzis, en Tunisie, et elle a découvert un cadavre sur la plage ». Au cours du reportage, on comprend que ce sont des corps de migrants échoués sur la plage qui sont en cause : ils viennent gâcher les vacances d’une touriste belge, qui demande à changer d’hôtel.

#tourisme_de_masse

https://i.imgur.com/FcLDlEO.jpg

#croisière #Italie #Venise

signalé par @reka, que je remercie en passant...

Témoignage d’une nuit à la frontière franco-italienne : la solidarité face à la déshumanisation des exilé.e.s

Dès notre arrivée à #Montgenèvre, le #paradoxe de cette frontière nous saute aux yeux. Une #frontière à la fois invisible et floue ; étendue et poreuse. Invisible et floue car on ne sait jamais exactement où l’on se trouve par rapport à elle. Là, sommes-nous en France ? Et ici, en Italie ? Les glisseurs de la station slaloment avec la frontière, évoluant entre les arbres sans se soucier de savoir si celui-ci est un sapin italien et celui-là un pin français, s’ils foulent la poudreuse de #Clavière, premier village italien après la frontière, ou de Montgenèvre, dernier village français avant la frontière. Etendue et poreuse car les contrôles dits « frontières » peuvent s’étendre sur des dizaines de kilomètres et prennent différentes formes. Ces contrôles se matérialisent par le local de la police aux frontières (PAF), une présence massive des forces de l’ordre et des vrombissements de motoneiges. Ils donnent lieu à des violations quotidiennes des droits, à des humiliations, des violences verbales et physiques. Et cela, depuis près de trois ans.

(...)

Une frontière paradoxale donc, aux bords de laquelle l’insouciance des loisirs se mêle à une réalité innommable qui demeure impunie.

(...)

Le lendemain matin, quelques heures plus tard à peine, le soleil irradie de nouveau la station de ski de Montgenèvre. Les skieurs, sans conscience des événements de la nuit, slaloment de nouveau entre les arbres, balayant ainsi les dernières traces des scènes nocturnes laissées dans la neige. Tout cela a-t-il vraiment eu lieu ? Ces scènes étaient-elles réelles ? Oui. Elles sont même quotidiennes. Pourtant, elles sont insoutenables, presque impossible à raconter et ne peuvent être rationnalisées.

►https://www.humanite.fr/temoignage-dune-nuit-la-frontiere-franco-italienne-la-solidarite-face-la-de

The Gilets Noirs Are in the Building

Paris’s tourist economy relies on a hidden army of undocumented migrants. But these workers are no longer happy to remain in the shadows — and their protests for regular status are drawing inspiration from the gilets jaunes.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/794880

merci @noun d’avoir signalé le dessin...

Ce commentaire de l’auteur de l’article en lien avec l’utilisation par Frontex d’un zeppelin en Mer Egée pour surveiller les frontières...

PS I suppose, tourists will be cheered to have their vacation activities monitored by a plastic Big Brother. Not?

►https://seenthis.net/messages/795117

Le cauchemar de trois touristes sud-américaines en centre de rétention près de #Rouen

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH338/870x489_6867bfab-f841f.jpg

Et ça... que celleux qui ont fait des vacances en Italie connaissent...

Les #vendeurs_ambulants sur les plages. Quand j’allais en vacances en Italie avec ma famille (il fut un temps...), c’était surtout des Sénégalais... qu’en Italie on surnommait (surnomme ?) « #Vu_cumprà » (terme méprisant qui imite l’accent des vendeurs qui répètent comme une litanie « est-ce que tu veux acheter ? » —> « Vuoi comperare ? », en italien —> devenu « Vu cumprà ? »

Il y a même une page wiki #vucumprà :
▻https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vucumpr%C3%A0

J’ai pensé à cela en voyant passer cet article ce matin sur twitter...

Italy’s Politics Go to the Beach

For decades, immigrant peddlers have been part of the familiar fabric of the Italian summer vacation. It’s no longer so simple.

https://i.imgur.com/kbplIif.jpg

▻https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/01/world/europe/italy-migrants-beaches.html

Flexibiliser le travail et produire des vies illégales

« Les Etats font exprès de ne pas délivrer des papiers à tout le monde pour que d’autres puissent exploiter les sans-papiers dans des conditions difficiles, sur certains chantiers ou dans les sites touristiques de ski en montagne, ou dans les travaux de ménage. »

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/805113

Ce #fonds_d'investissement qui prospère... sur l’#hébergement de migrants aux frais de l’Etat

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/805086

"Plus d’un tiers des places #AT-SA et #HUDA au niveau national (36%) sont des chambres d’hôtel."

Fin 2018, le ministère de l’Intérieur a rappelé aux préfets l’objectif de réduction des nuitées hôtelières « qui ne permettent pas un accompagnement satisfaisant du demandeur d’asile », demandant donc de « favoriser leur transformation en d’autres modalités d’hébergement »

p.174 de ce rapport :
Le Rapport annuel 2019 sur l’asile en France et en Europe

▻https://www.forumrefugies.org/s-informer/publications/rapports/330-le-rapport-annuel-2019-sur-l-asile-en-france-et-en-europe
#France

Citation tirée du livre «Stranieri residenti. Una filosofia della migrazione» de Donatella Di Cesare (2017, p.110):

La chiusura della rotta balcanica ha avuto effetti immediati, che non sarebbe stato difficile immaginare. Chi era intrappolato a Est, ha cercato una via d’uscita; a chi era ancora fuori dai confini europei non restava che la via del mare. Molti siriani e curdi sono andati raccogliendosi sulle coste turche nella speranza di trovare un passaggio per le vicine isole greche, avvistabili da costa a costa. I trafficanti sono stati assidui e zelanti nel predisporre le traversate con barche piccole, capaci di dissimularsi con facilità. Per filmare gli sbarchi l’occhio delle telecamere si è spinto talvolta fin là, dove le vacanze dei turisti venivano disturbate dall’irruzione di naviganti provenienti dall’universo incomprensibile delle guerre orientali.

Et page 116:

Il turista e il profugo, persino l’uno accanto all’altro, sulla stessa spiaggia, sono le due figure emblematiche in cui il Mediterraneo è scisso. Il contrasto non potrebbe essere più stridente. (...) Imponenti navi da crociera scaricano ogni giorno turisti animati dal bisogno compulsivo del consumo, mentre gommoni pericolanti, «carrette del mare», perdono parte della loro zavorra negli abissi. Banalità e sciagura si rincorrono sulle onde, lasciando scie di rifiuti, relitti alla deriva, per un verso plastica e lattine, per l’altro scarti umani.

Il paragone con i turisti mostra tutta l’ambivalenza che la frontiera riserva. Figura speculare a quella del migrante, il turista, lontano dall’antica idea del viaggio ormai in rovina, si muove spinto sia dall’esigenza del consumo – consumo di luoghi, di paesaggi, di musei ecc. – sia dal bisogno del confort, collezionando mete in attesa del meritato ritorno. Gode di un’extraterritorialità, in senso inverso a quello del migrante. Soggiorna in un grande resort, o in un villaggio turistico, al fine di preservarsi da ogni rischio; l’altro non gli interessa, né intende mettere a repentaglio la propria identità. Viaggia, ma è come se non viaggiasse, perché non fa un passo oltre sé.14 Per il turista, che spende per viaggiare, e viaggia per spendere, le frontiere si aprono rapidamente. Il contrario avviene per il migrante che guadagna per viaggiare, e viaggia per guadagnare. Per lui le frontiere si chiudono. (p.212)

https://www.bollatiboringhieri.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/donatella-di-cesare-stranieri-residenti-9788833927350-340x540.jpg

Reçu via la mailing-list de Inicijativa dobrodosli, le 28.10.2019 :

https://i.imgur.com/gK3Kzi3.png https://i.imgur.com/WlQt9Vv.png

Avec ce commentaire :

#Welcome_to_Croatia and #Croatia_Full_of_Torture – using the language of tourist slogans, are the latest #billboards set up in #Cista_Provo municipality, where artists have intervened in public space for more than a decade through billboards, highlighting various social issues.

Billboards were put up at this location, not far from the Croatian border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, a few days after the European Commission announced that Croatia had fulfilled the conditions to join the Schengen area. “People who are beaten up and insulted every day, people who truly know pain, hunger, and fear, speak much more accurate about our country than the worn-out tourist slogans,” said the activists behind the action.

In the name of joining Schengen, Croatia has normalized and institutionalized #violence, which remains unacceptable. Illegal pushbacks and incarceration of refugees and migrants, and police violence, abuse, and torture of individuals and groups, men and women, adults and children have been reported for years. With this action, we declare that we will never accept this (as) reality. We will never believe the police lies and their unconvincing press releases.

With these billboards, we declare that the truth of refugees and migrants who are exposed to police repression daily is more powerful and louder than your batons, beacons, and prison cells. People who are beaten up and insulted every day, people who truly know pain, hunger, and fear, speak much more accurate about our country than the worn-out tourist slogans. They speak of repression that knows no boundaries, of violence that spills over on all „others”, of violence that attacks women and girls, intimidates transgender and queer people, insults lesbians and gays, hates Serbs and Roma people, starves workers, crushes the poor and homeless, persecutes activists and journalists, beats up anti-fascists and libertarians. Not in our name!

Citation tirée du livre «Stranieri residenti. Una filosofia della migrazione» de Donatella Di Cesare (2017, p.152):

Schütz scorge la novità della «crisi», coglie l a differenza tra il turista, spettatore distaccato, e lo straniero che dovrà stabilirsi, vede l’esigenza di una traduzione da un modello culturale all’altro , cammino per nulla ovvio, dato che il nuovo paese più che un rifugio, è un campo d’avventura per l’immigrato.

►https://www.bollatiboringhieri.it/libri/donatella-di-cesare-stranieri-residenti-9788833927350

Graffiti vu à Athènes, le 07.07.2019 :
Immigrants welcome, tourists fuck off

https://i.imgur.com/1ipLaOM.jpg

#Refugees and #migrants that were brought to Paralimni Giannitsa in #Greece by buses to be housed in local #hotels, were blocked by locals

▻https://twitter.com/BrunoTersago/status/1190944723621568512

Source :
Έστησαν « μπλόκο » για να διώξουν τους πρόσφυγες

Επεισόδια δημιούργησαν τις πρώτες πρωινές ώρες στην Παραλίμνη Γιαννιτσών στον νομό Πέλλας, κάτοικοι της περιοχής, με αφορμή την άφιξη στην περιοχή λεωφορείων που μετέφεραν πρόσφυγες και μετανάστες.

Συγκεκριμένα, περίπου 30 άτομα συγκεντρώθηκαν στο σημείο που θα έφταναν δύο τουριστικά λεωφορεία που μετέφεραν περίπου 100 με 150 πρόσφυγες και αποπειράθηκαν να « μπλοκάρουν » την εγκατάστασή τους σε ξενοδοχείο.

Στην αρχή τα λεωφορεία αποχώρησαν από το σημείο, ωστόσο στη συνέχεια προσέγγισαν το ξενοδοχείο από παράδρομο και οι πρόσφυγες κατάφεραν να εγκατασταθούν.

https://im2.7job.gr/sites/default/files/imagecache/775x435/article/2019/44/304258g-prosfigesgiannitsa.jpg

Οι συγκεντρωθέντες αποχώρησαν φωνάζοντας συνθήματα κατά των προσφύγων ενώ λίγο νωρίτερα είχαν αναρτήσει πανό με το ρατσιστικό σύνθημα : « Απελάστε τους λαθραίους μετανάστες από την Ελλάδα. Κλείστε τα σύνορα. Αλληλεγγύη στους Έλληνες ».

Οι κάτοικοι μετέβησαν στο αστυνομικό τμήμα προκειμένου να υποβάλουν μήνυση κατά παντός υπευθύνου, καθώς υποστήριζαν πως δεν είχαν ενημερωθεί για την άφιξη των προσφύγων και μεταναστών.

Αντίστοιχο περιστατικό σημειώθηκε και στις Σέρρες. Λίγο πριν τις 3 τα ξημερώματα, κάτοικοι συγκεντρώθηκαν στον κάθετο άξονα της Εγνατίας Οδού.

Ένα λεωφορείο που μετέφερε πρόσφυγες σε ξενοδοχείο, στην περιοχή του Σιδηροκάστρου, αναγκάστηκε να σταματήσει πριν τα διόδια και, όταν οι ντόπιοι αποχώρησαν, συνέχισε την πορεία του για τον τελικό προορισμό του.

▻https://tvxs.gr/news/ellada/estisan-mploko-gia-na-dioksoyn-toys-prosfyges

Uz granicu s BiH postavljeni jumbo plakati Dobrodošli u Hrvatsku – Hrvatska puna mučenja

Dobrodošli u Hrvatsku i Hrvatska puna mučenja – Welcome to Croatia i Croatia full of torture, najnoviji su jumbo plakati postavljeni u Cisti Provo, na mjestu na kojem umjetnici više od desetljeća kroz jumbo plakate interveniraju u javni prostor i propituju društvene probleme. Plakati su u ovom mjestu nedaleko od granice s BiH podignuti nekoliko dana nakon što je Europska komisija objavila da Hrvatska ispunjava uvjete za ulazak u Schengenski prostor. “Ljudi koji svakodnevno trpe udarce, uvrede i psovke, koji poznaju bol, glad i strah, govore vjerodostojnije o našoj zemlji od izlizanih turističkih slogana”, poručuju aktivistkinje koje stoje iza akcije.

Priopćenje aktivstkinja prenosimo u cijelosti:Ljudi koji svakodnevno trpe udarce, uvrede i psovke, koji poznaju bol, glad i strah, govore vjerodostojnije o našoj zemlji od izlizanih turističkih slogana

“U ime ulaska u Schengen u Hrvatskoj je normalizirano i institucionalizirano nasilje, a to je nedopustivo. Godinama se izvještava o nezakonitim protjerivanjima i zatvaranjima izbjeglica i migranata, o policijskom nasilju, zlostavljanju i mučenju kojem su izloženi pojedinci i grupe, muškarci i žene, odrasli i djeca.

Ovom akcijom želimo poručiti da nikad nećemo pristati na takvo stanje stvari. Nikada nećemo povjerovati policijskim lažima i neuvjerljivim priopćenjima.

Jumbo plakatima poručujemo da je istina izbjeglica i migranata koji su svakodnevno izloženi policijskoj represiji snažnija i glasnija od vaših pendreka, rotirki i ćelija. Ljudi koji svakodnevno trpe udarce, uvrede i psovke, koji poznaju bol, glad i strah, govore vjerodostojnije o našoj zemlji od izlizanih turističkih slogana.

Govore o represiji koja ne poznaje granice, o nasilju koje se prelijeva i na nas druge, o nasilju koje napada žene i djevojčice, zastrašuje transrodne i queer osobe, vrijeđa lezbijke i gejeve, mrzi Srbe i Rome, izgladnjuje radnice i radnike, mrvi siromašne i bezdomne, proganja aktiviste i novinare, mlati antifašiste i slobodare. Ne u naše ime!”

Za više informacija o policijskom nasilju na granicama, aktivistkinje mole da se kontaktira: Davor Božinović, telefon: 00 385 1 6122 129, telefaks: 00 385 1 6122 405, email: pitanja@mup.hr, policija@mup.hr.

https://www.h-alter.org/img/repository/2019/10/scaled/img_20191028_160125_708.jpg

Commentaire de Inicijativa dobrodosli, mail du 06.11.2019 :

Not far from the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the town of #Cista_Provo, billboards were put up this week with slogans Welcome to Croatia and Croatia full of torture. The activists behind this campaign say that “people who suffer physical and verbal abuse on a daily basis, who know pain, hunger and fear, speak more credibly about our country than worn out tourist slogans.” Artists have been questioning social issues through billboards in the town of Cista Provo for more than a decade, with the current campaign appearing just a few days after the European Commission gave Croatia the green light to enter Schengen.

Commentaire reçu via la mailing-list Migreurop :

The irony of travel giant #Airbus profiting from border walls (!!!)

Le commentaire fait référence à ce rapport sur les murs :
The Business of Building Walls

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Europe is once again known for its border walls. This time Europe is divided not so much by ideology as by perceived fear of refugees and migrants, some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

https://i.imgur.com/b8FDo6k.png

►https://www.tni.org/en/businessbuildingwalls

Citation tirée du livre «Stranieri residenti. Una filosofia della migrazione» de Donatella Di Cesare (2017, p.217):

««Documenti!» La richiesta appare del tutto ovvia nell’epoca attuale. Di solito è la polizia a domandare le generalità. Lo straniero che arriva viene identificato alla frontiera. «Perché è qui?» «Per quanto tempo?» «Nome e indirizzo dell’albergo in cui soggiornerà!?» Non è detto, peraltro, che non venga fermato, se non addirittura respinto. A ben guardare la richiesta, che mina già al fondo ogni ospitalità, è la conferma che chi viaggia è «fuori posto», non è lì dove era stato assegnato. Il che non costituisce un problema, se lo spostamento è temporaneo, come avviene per il turista, per il manager, per lo studente. Diventa invece una difficoltà insormontabile per il migrante.»

►https://www.bollatiboringhieri.it/libri/donatella-di-cesare-stranieri-residenti-9788833927350

Requérants d’asile aux Mayens de Chamoson : mon rêve c’est la paix

Ils viennent de Syrie, du Sri Lanka, d’Erythrée ou encore de Géorgie. Une cinquantaine de familles de réfugiés et de requérants d’asile ont été placées pour des séjours de plusieurs semaines au « Temps de vivre », une ancienne auberge des #Mayens_de_Chamoson transformée par le canton du Valais en lieu de vie et de formation. C’est là que la mini radio ambulante « Caravane FM » a monté son antenne pour recueillir les témoignages et les instants de vie de ces migrants qui tentent de reconstruire leur existence et de réaliser leur rêve : celui de la paix. Reportage touchant qui donne la parole aux personnes venues chercher refuge en Suisse.

▻https://www.rts.ch/play/tv/caravane-fm/video/requerants-dasile-aux-mayens-de-chamoson-mon-reve-cest-la-paix?id=10878138&start
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/812254

Tourists in #Gran_Canaria are left stunned as 24 migrants including three children and a pregnant woman in a rickety boat land on popular beach on the holiday isle

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH400/nGfXo4Cjpg-00203-f6e85.jpg

#Hotel_Sedra, en #Bosnie, utilisé comme centre pour demandeurs d’asile :

https://www.unhcr.org/see/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2019/03/RF2212159_de_190211_5213-1280x812.jpg https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH381/RF2212165_de1a9d-6615f.jpg

L’hotel est situé à #Cazin, en #Bosnie-Herzégovine :

https://i.imgur.com/ZPBihQP.png

Voir aussi le #film #Il_rifugio, tourné dans un centre pour demandeurs d’asile dans les #Alpes italiennes :

Il Rifugio (2012) retrace la vie suspendue de 116 de ces migrants, hébergés pendant plus de quatre mois dans un #hôtel solitaire sur le sommet des Alpes italiennes. Isolés du reste du monde, ils vivent dans l’attente de savoir s’ils seront expulsés ou enfin reconnus, alors que l’hiver est à venir.

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L594xH334/il-refugio2j73f0-79e45.jpg

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/145973

Hotel Berlin, Sjenica

#Sjenica was set up as a temporary centre in the former #Hotel_Berlin to accommodate an increased number of asylum-seekers in Serbia in August 2013. Later on, in March 2017, the former textile factory Vesna was added to the Asylum Centre. The old Hotel Berlin, with inadequate conditions and collective dormitories in the hall, was closed in July 2018. The centre in Sjenica is now located only in the former factory Vesna, downtown Sjenica, that can take up to 250 persons in 27 rooms. According to the management of the centre, the ongoing reconstruction works are to extend its capacity by an additional 160 places. An average of 150 persons per day stayed in this centre in the course of the first eleven months of 2018. According to the latest information of November 2018, children comprised 93% of the residents of the centre, the majority of them being unaccompanied. The principle of family unity is observed at placement, so the families are always accommodated together.

▻https://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/serbia/conditions-reception-facilities
#Serbie

Et une photo signée Alberto Campi à l’intérieur de l’Hotel Berlin :

https://i.imgur.com/adDFxVA.png

“I hadn’t been sure what to bring with me from Iran. I really didn’t have anything of any value.

My lot in life after thirty years /
After thirty years of trying my best in that dictatorship /
After thirty years struggling within that theocracy known as Iran /
After thirty years my lot in life was nothing /
What else could I have taken with me besides a book of petry?

I had wanted to exit the gates of Teheran airport not carrying anything with me. But I was afraid of the officers. Without a doubt they would have asked why this skinny lad, going overseas, was taking nothing with him. So I brought a backpack and filled it with a bunch of old newspapers and a few sets of worthless clothes. I departed the airport looking like a tourist. I honestly didn’t have a thing that was worth even a cent. If it weren’t for my fear of the officers, I would have left like an empty-handed vagbond.
I was probably the lightest traveller in the history of all the world’s airports. It was just me, the clothes on my back, a book of poetry, a packet of smokes, and my manhood.
Now I am metres away from completing my long, arduous journey. I have my soaking wet boo of poetry in my hands. I have lost my shoes, and my clothes are full of thousands of holes.”

Citation tirée du livre de #Behrouz_Boochani, No friends but the mountains:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51YdeYjXatL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

L’inteview de deux réfugiés syriens qui expliquent comment ils arrivent à quitter un aéroport en Grèce (je ne sais plus lequel) en se faisant passer par des touristes espagnols...
"Metal syrien en exil"

https://i.imgur.com/mmxpxJz.png

#The_island_of_all_together

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH600/r4OVEk4jpg-aa5c0-01d1e.jpg

Evakuiert die griechischen Inseln - jetzt!

Récemment, l’Initiative européenne pour la stabilité a publié un plan concret à cet effet. 35 000 migrants devraient maintenant être amenés des îles vers le continent. L’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM) y construit actuellement trois camps pour plusieurs milliers de migrants. Cinq autres camps temporaires pourraient accueillir 10 000 migrants supplémentaires. Selon l’OIM, ces travaux pourraient être achevés en moins de deux semaines.

10 000 autres personnes pourraient être hébergées dans des #hôtels vides sur le continent. Il s’agit également d’une solution provisoire viable compte tenu de l’effondrement du tourisme. Des fonds européens sont disponibles pour cela. En Grèce, quelque 7 000 personnes sont déjà hébergées dans des hôtels.

–-> traduction de l’allemand:

Vor Kurzem veröffentlichte die Europäische Stabilitätsinitiative einen konkreten Plan dazu. 35.000 Migranten müssten jetzt von den Inseln auf das Festland gebracht werden. Die Internationale Organisation für Migration (IOM) baut dort derzeit drei Lager für einige Tausend Migranten. Fünf weitere provisorische Lager könnten weitere 10.000 Migranten beherbergen. Laut IOM wären diese innerhalb von weniger als zwei Wochen fertigstellbar.

Weiter 10.000 Menschen könnten in leeren Hotels auf dem Festland untergebracht werden. Auch das ist angesichts des Zusammenbruchs des Tourismus eine praktikable Übergangslösung. Europäische Gelder dafür gibt es. Bereits jetzt sind etwa 7.000 Menschen in Griechenland in Hotels untergebracht.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/838057

#îles #Grèce #évacuation #coronavirus #covid-19

Dans les #Alpes, face au #coronavirus, mettre les migrant·es à l’abri

Alors que les #Hautes-Alpes regorgent d’#infrastructures_touristiques inutilisées pendant la période de #confinement, aucune #mise_à_l’abri préventive n’a été décidée pour les 120 personnes précaires du département. Malgré tout, les associations s’organisent et ripostent.
(...)
« On pourrait limiter le risque contamination de ces publics précaires en leur offrant un hébergement préventif, regrette Carla Melki. Dans les Hautes-Alpes, on parle de 120 personnes à héberger. Dans un département où il y a d’énormes infrastructures touristiques qui ne sont plus utilisées, la possibilité de mettre à l’abri paraît plutôt facile. »

►https://seenthis.net/messages/838321

#Voyageurs_internationaux ou immigrants, le virus ne fait pas la différence

Une fermeture prophylactique des frontières ciblée sur les seuls migrants (européens ou non), n’aurait donc aucun sens, vu leur part minime dans l’ensemble des entrées. Dans notre imaginaire, fermer les frontières, c’est d’abord les fermer aux migrants. Mais le covid-19 se moque de cette distinction ; il se propage d’un pays à l’autre via les voyageurs de toute sorte, sans se demander s’ils sont migrants.

►https://seenthis.net/messages/844270

Les enfants invisibles de #Haraldvangen

Alentour, le paysage lui donne raison. Nous sommes à une heure d’Oslo, dans un décor enneigé de vacances à la montagne. Haraldvangen, ancienne #colonie_de_vacances entourée de sapins, fait face à un lac bleu étincelant. Ici, des générations de petits Norvégiens ont skié et nagé, étés et hivers durant. Mais depuis deux ans, la grande bâtisse de bois ne résonne plus des rires des enfants. Fin décembre 2017, le gouvernement norvégien a fermé le bâtiment à double tour, installé un feu rouge derrière la porte, fait enlever les poignées des fenêtres pour transformer la colo en bunker. Haraldvangen est devenu la première « #unité_familiale » du pays, un mot fleuri pour désigner un #centre_de_détention pour #mineurs migrants et leurs parents.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/846690

Asylum seekers’ lives ‘put at risk’ by decision to move them to hotels

Hundreds of asylum seekers claim their lives are being put at risk after they were moved out of their flats and into #Glasgow hotels where they are unable to isolate to protect themselves from coronavirus.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/847069
#Ecosse #UK

Dispositif d’#accueil des demandeurs d’asile : état des lieux 2020

On parle ici des hôtels #Formule_1 (donc appartenant au groupe Accor) utilisées pour héberger surtout des Dublinés :

5 351 places ont été créées dans le cadre d’un programme d’accueil et d’hébergement des demandeurs d’asile (#PRAHDA). Lancé par appel d’offres en septembre 2016 remporté pour tous les lots par ADOMA, il consiste en grande partie en des places situées dans d’anciens #hôtels formule 1, rachetés au groupe #Accor. Ces places, gérées par l’OFII, accueillent pour moitié des personnes isolées, qui ont demandé l’asile ou qui souhaitent le faire et qui n’ont pas été enregistrées. Ce dispositif s’est spécialisé dans beaucoup de lieux dans l’hébergement avec #assignation_à_résidence des personnes Dublinées notamment ceux situés à proximité d’un #pôle_régional_Dublin. Cependant des personnes dont la demande est examinée à l’OFPRA ou à la CNDA y sont également logées.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/847094#message848864

#Meltem

https://i.imgur.com/L2yYnl9.png

Elena, jeune Française d’origine grecque, a dû mal à se remettre de la mort de sa mère, survenue un an plus tôt. Elle décide de retourner dans sa maison de vacances sur l’île de #Lesbos où la présence de sa mère est partout. Heureusement, elle peut compter sur l’amitié de Nassim et Sekou, deux jeunes banlieusards trop heureux d’avoir quitté leur banlieue le temps d’un été. Mais les vacances vont être bouleversées quand le trio rencontre Elyas, jeune Syrien réfugié depuis peu sur l’île. Attirée par le jeune homme et émue par son histoire, Elena va tout tenter pour aider Elyas à continuer son périple et retrouver sa mère qui est dans un camp...

▻https://www.universcine.com/films/meltem
#film

https://i.imgur.com/jElDIM9.png

Residents from a village near #Pella in Central Macedonia gathered to protest the transfer of vulnerable asylum seekers from Moria, Lesbos, to a Greek hotel rented by IOM. In the early hrs of Tuesday, locals started a fire, blocked the roads and threatened to burn down the hotel.

▻https://twitter.com/daphnetoli/status/1257738850958442500

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Άρνισσα Πέλλας : Έκαψαν ξενοδοχείο που θα φιλοξενούσε αιτούμενους άσυλο

Ρατσιστικές αντιδράσεις στις προσπάθειες μετεγκατάστασης στην ηπειρωτική χώρα, προσφύγων που ανήκουν σε ευάλωτες ομάδες

https://i.imgur.com/oK6dKgz.jpg

#IOM #OIM

Bon voyage

Jonas et Silvia sont en vacances en voilier sur la Méditerranée. Au large, ils tombent sur une embarcation en difficulté, des tas de réfugiés à son bord. Après avoir alerté les garde-côtes, ils perdent le bateau de vue. Le lendemain matin, ils se réveillent...

https://media.senscritique.com/media/000016922084/160/Bon_voyage.jpg

#Estate

Sur une #plage méditerranéenne ensoleillée, le temps semble figé. Un homme noir, à bout de force, rampe péniblement pour quitter la plage. Autour de lui, les #baigneurs habituels semblent ne pas le voir...

https://i.imgur.com/djpS8TG.png

Grèce : un millier de migrants transférés de camps vers des hôtels vides

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/851228

Fury after Syrian asylum seeker found dead in Scottish hotel

►https://seenthis.net/messages/852434

Malte retient en mer plus de 400 migrants sur des navires de tourisme

https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1266382653487558656/yc5Z_Lbe?format=jpg&name=small#.jpg

Depuis fin avril, Malte retient systématiquement sur des navires touristiques positionnés au large de ses côtes tous les migrants secourus en mer dans ses eaux territoriales. On compte désormais plus de 400 personnes retenues à bord de quatre ferries sans avoir eu accès à des avocats, des interprètes ou des agents du HCR.

Malgré les appels répétés de l’ONU et des ONG à mettre fin à la détention de centaines de migrants retenus au large de Malte, La Valette fait la sourde oreille et continue, au contraire, de maintenir en pleine mer de nouveaux naufragés.

Les autorités ont même affrété un quatrième bateau touristique, le Jade de l’opérateur #Supreme_Cruise, pour les 75 personnes secourues mercredi 27 mai dans ses eaux territoriales, portant à 425 le nombre de migrants retenus à bord de #navires_privés.

Fermeture des ports

Depuis début avril, Malte refuse tout débarquement de migrants sur son sol, arguant que ses ports ne peuvent être considérés comme sûrs en raison de la pandémie de coronavirus. Les autorités mettent également en avant un manque de places suffisantes pour accueillir de nouveaux arrivants dans les centres pour migrants du pays, en pleine crise sanitaire.

Ainsi, dès le 30 avril, les premiers naufragés secourus par un bateau de pêche au large de Malte n’ont pas été autorisés à débarquer dans un port maltais. Les 57 naufragés ont été transférés sur un ferry touristique, l’#Europa_II, appartenant à la société #Captain_Morgan_Cruises Ltd.

Quelques jours plus tard, le 7 mai, le même scénario s’est reproduit avec le transfert de 105 migrants secourus dans les eaux maltaises à bord d’un autre bateau touristique, l’#Atlantis, appartenant à la même compagnie. Dix-huit femmes et enfants ont par ailleurs été amenés sur la terre ferme.

Le vendredi 22 mai, ce sont 121 personnes secourues par les autorités maltaises qui sont orientées vers le ferry #Bahari, toujours de la compagnie Captain Morgan Cruises Ltd. Dix-neuf personnes vulnérables ont, quant à elles, été prises en charge sur l’île.

Les derniers naufragés à prendre place à bord d’un des trois navires de l’entreprise Captain Morgan sont les 63 migrants secourus dans la même zone mardi 26 mai.

"Nous sommes dans un état déplorable"

Les informations sur les conditions de vie à bord de ces navires de croisières sont peu nombreuses, les Maltais refusant aux journalistes et aux associations de rencontrer les prisonniers. Seule la Croix-Rouge a pu monter à bord écrit le quotidien Times of Malta.

Selon Alarm Phone, la plateforme d’aide aux migrants en mer, qui cite le témoignage d’un migrant retenu, des tentatives de suicide et des grèves de la faim ont été signalées. "L’anxiété, le désespoir et la dépression ont augmenté (...). Nous sommes dans un état déplorable. Nous n’avons aucun moyen de communication pour montrer notre (condition) au monde extérieur", a déclaré un prisonnier à l’organisation.

En réponse à ces affirmations, des vidéos et des photos ont été diffusées sur les réseaux sociaux, montrant des migrants à bord de ces navires chanter et danser. Cependant, les ONG s’interrogent sur la date d’enregistrement de ces vidéos, qui aurait pu être tournées au moment de leur arrivée sur le bateau touristique.

▻https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1265218149043122177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

"Les personnes à bord sont gravement traumatisées par les abus dont elles ont été victimes dans les camps de torture libyens. N’utilisez pas leur soulagement momentané pour justifier des violations cruelles des droits de l’homme", a ainsi réagi Alarm Phone.
"Violation du droit international et européen"

Dans une lettre envoyée jeudi 28 mai au Premier ministre maltais, Amnesty International rappelle que "rien ne peut justifier de détenir des personnes pendant des jours sans base légale et dans des conditions inadéquates". Selon les ONG, les naufragés n’ont pas pu avoir accès à des avocats, à des interprètes ou à des agents du Haut-commissariat des Nations unies aux réfugiés (HCR).

"La privation de liberté sans base légale est une détention illégale et arbitraire en violation du droit international et européen", averti de son côté Human Right Watch dans un communiqué.

▻https://twitter.com/sunderland_jude/status/1266085420108001280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

En agissant de la sorte, les autorités maltaises entendent faire pression sur les États membres de l’Union européenne (UE) afin qu’ils prennent "leur responsabilité". Malte plaide depuis des mois pour la mise en place d’un mécanisme de répartition pérenne au sein de l’UE.

Le HCR demandait déjà le 22 mai à Malte et aux États européens de s’entendre sur un accord de répartition de ces migrants, afin de les “mettre en sécurité sur la terre ferme".

"Le traitement (des migrants) et la violation de leurs droits (ne sont pas) dignes du peuple de Malte ou de toute autre pays de l’UE", estime HRW, qui appelle les États membres à respecter "leurs engagements".

►https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/25080/malte-retient-en-mer-plus-de-400-migrants-sur-des-navires-de-tourisme

Greece ready to welcome tourists as refugees stay locked down in Lesbos
►https://seenthis.net/messages/858847

Attirer les touristes, collaborer, se taire : comment la station de Montgenèvre protège l’ordre de la frontière

▻https://derootees.wordpress.com/2019/09/08/attirer-les-touristes-collaborer-se-taire-comment-la-station-de

Migrazione internazionale e spazio pubblico turistico: la presenza silenziosa dei venditori ambulanti di origine straniera nelle spiagge dell’isola di #Ischia

Questo contributo propone la descrizione delle dinamiche socio-spaziali che si sviluppano in un luogo turistico, in periodo di alta stagione, concentrandosi in particolare sulle spiagge di San Pietro e Maronti, sull’isola di Ischia. Nella fattispecie, lo spazio balneare sarà letto al prisma delle relazioni che intercorrono tra bagnanti e venditori ambulanti di origine straniera. La spiaggia, nonostante si presenti come uno spazio liminale e poco strutturato, viene dunque letta come spazio che solo in apparenza rifugge da quelle categorie che in letteratura sono usate piuttosto per definire e studiare lo spazio urbano. Tale dimensione sarà interpretata e concepita come prodotto sia dell’esperienza visiva sia di quella uditiva, attraverso una iniziale analisi del paesaggio sonoro che la caratterizza. Dal caso preso in esame si verificherà anche il ruolo svolto dall’ambulantato nel sostentamento di una certa parte della popolazione migrante, residente o meno sull’isola, con particolare riferimento agli effetti delle iniziative ministeriali e municipali messe in atto per combattere questa attività.

▻https://www.ageiweb.it/geotema/supplemento2020_ingenito

#espace_public #plage

#Coronavirus : au #Maroc, des dizaines de migrants sub-sahariens arrêtés et confinés de force

Une cinquantaine de migrants sub-sahariens ont été arrêtés dimanche 21 juin, chez eux, sur leur lieu de travail et parfois dans la rue par la police marocaine qui les a conduits dans une école de la ville de #Laâyoune, dans la région du #Sahara_occidental. Pendant sept jours, ils ont été entassés dans des salles de classe, sans accès à l’eau courante ou à des vêtements propres, sans possibilité de sortir ou de s’alimenter correctement. Tous ont subi des tests de dépistage au coronavirus avant d’être relâchés dans la soirée, dimanche 28 juin. Ceux testés positifs au Covid-19 ont été mis en quarantaine dans un #hôtel où ils reçoivent notamment un traitement à la #chloroquine.
(...)
Mohamed était loin de se douter qu’il allait passer une semaine en enfer. Cinq heures après son arrivée à l’école de Laâyoune, une équipe médicale s’est présentée pour lui faire passer un premier dépistage. « On était plus de 50. Personne ne pouvait sortir tant qu’on n’avait pas les résultats. Trois jours plus tard, on a appris que 11 personnes étaient positives. Elles ont été mises à l’écart dans un hôtel où ils leur donnent des médicaments. »
(...)
Un peu plus au nord, à #Tan-Tan, la situation est plus tendue. L’AMDH a recensé un groupe de 33 migrants dont « 20 femmes et 3 bébés » placés en quarantaine dans l’#hôtel_Hagounia depuis sept jours « sans qu’ils n’aient subi un seul dépistage au Covid jusqu’à présent ».

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/863894

Ce jour-là à #Vintimille. Retour d’un lieu d’exil sans cesse confiné

À la veille de la reprise officielle de la saison touristique, plusieurs réalités se superposent. Les arrivées de touristes tant attendues par la municipalité coïncident avec celles de groupes considérés comme irréguliers. Les usagers des terrasses à nouveau animées côtoient les déambulations quotidiennes des personnes exilées pour trouver une stratégie de passage. Les camions de nettoyage sillonnent les rues ; les fourgons des marchands du célèbre marché de Vintimille reprennent place. Cette soudaine effervescence économique est traversée par le ballet des forces de l’ordre : militaires, police municipale, guardia di finanza et carabinieri quadrillent la ville. Nous nous étonnons de voir la police nationale française stationnée devant la gare. La stratégie des autorités italiennes semble moins correspondre à une logique de contrôle de l’immigration qu’à un impératif de tenir à l’écart du centre-ville les migrant-tes indésirables. C’est-à-dire celles et ceux qu’il ne faut pas voir dans ce paysage renaissant de la consommation.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/864936

#DJAO - After the Road

La personne qui témoignage dans ce court-métrage est visiblement logée dans un #hôtel (#F1) :

https://i.imgur.com/GCbL9A6.png https://i.imgur.com/3PLeeEa.png

Utilisation de #ferries privés (en Italie et à Malte) pour effectuer la #quarantaine en lien avec la #pandémie de #coronavirus :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/866072
#navi-quarantena

Athènes veut des touristes, mais pas de migrants
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/870180

Citations tirées du livre de Alessandro Leogrande : La frontiera

Para rapport à #Lampedusa...

“Come indicato su molti siti turistici, è davvero una delle spiagge più belle al mondo, un paradiso incontaminato avvolto dalla luce e dal silenzio. Un paradiso davanti al quale almeno 366 persone sono morte affogate. Il peschereccio si è rovesciato a poche centinaia di metri dalal costa, tra l’Isola dei Conigli e Cala Galera, nello stesso spicchio di mare riprodotto su un’infinità di dépliant.
Non poteva esserci contrasto più netto. E’ incommensurabile, semplicemente incommensurabile, la frattura tra la tragedia avvenuta qui davanti e la calma piatta dell’acqua limpida, un vetro sotto al sole feroce, appena inscurito dagli scogli che sul basso fondale venano la sabbia.” (Leogrande, 2017 : 144)

“Accanto a noi un gruppo di svedesi si fotografa con le imbarcazioni della Capitaneria di porto sullo sfondo. Syoum sbotta: ‘Va bene la memoria, ma qui si rischia una replica della Costa Concordia. I selfie, le foto in posa… prima o poi prenderà piede anche qui il turismo dell’orrore con le guide’”. (Leogrande, 2017 : 145)

#dark_tourism #tourisme_noir

https://i.imgur.com/IK50uFQ.jpg

source : #Terra_migra :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/873045

« Ci siamo, eccoci dentro #Claviere, paese delle mie vacanze da ragazzo, dove mio padre mi ha insegnato a sciare e mia madre metteva il visone durante la settimana bianca. Vaneggiamenti d’amore adolescenziali mi tornano in mente, accanite ricerche su e giù per il paese alla ricerca di Arianna, ricordi che sembrano finiti un secondo fa. Passiamo davanti alla chiesetta il cui interrato è occupato da qualche giorno dagli anarchici, gente insopportabile ma dal cuore enorme. Passiamo davanti ai carabinieri che osservano gli occupanti e l’anziano prete che squadra, infuriato, la cantina della sua chiesa piena di gente con pezzi di ferro sulla faccia e negri di ogni genere ed età – chiedo scusa, ma è l’unico termine che possa spiegare il sentimento generale di quel momento. Sciatori ovunque, felici : mi piacciono. Devo tornare a sciare in questo bellissimo comprensorio. Gente che non immagina nemmeno, che sorride e si chiude gli scarponi, controlla il filo, cerca parcheggio, si compra un pezzo di pizza. Due mondi mescolati, ineluttabilmente destinati a convivere, ma in apparenza alieni »

(in: Maurizio Pagliassotti, Ancora dodici chilometri , 2019 : 57)

#Kamena_Vourla: Locals rally against refugee children, close schools in protest

According to local media, Mayor of Kamena Vourla, Ioannis Sykiotis, announced that as of tomorrow, schools of all levels in the municipality will remain closed in protest.

He said that that they were not informed by the central government about the arrival of 39 refugee children who are accommodated in a spa hotel.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/878345

« Una scena usuale da queste parti. (…) Gente per bene alla guida, quelli che riconosci per l’implacabile sorriso di chi è troppo ricco e troppo felice. Una decina di superbe Ferrari con targa italiana più qualche eccezione svizzera mi superano, come una lunga bandiera rossa tesa dal vento: Tutti dovrebbero venire a vedere questo su queste meravigliose montagne il territorio spettacolo dei ricchissimi e dei poverissimmi che si incrociano e nemmeno si vedono, di chi corre per piacere verso un piatto di ostriche e una coppa di champagne a 2000 metri e 2000 euro, e chi corre per scappare verso un miserabile piatto di cous cous con un bicchier d’acqua alla stessa altitudine »

Source: Maurizio Pagliassotti, Ancora dodici chilometri, 2019 : 203-204.

El ministro de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones, José Luis Escrivá, anunció este viernes que de aquí a finales de año Canarias contará con 7.000 plazas de acogida provisionales en carpas para vaciar el puerto de #Arguineguín y los establecimientos hoteleros.

El epicentro de este fenómeno migratorio ha sido el puerto de Arguineguín, que aloja en la actualidad a poco más de 1.300 personas, si bien ha llegado a registrar picos de 2.300 en un dique de apenas 3.600 metros cuadrados. Además, 17 hoteles y edificios de apartamentos alojan a 5.500 migrantes, según los datos del Ministerio.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/885310#message887584

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El delegado del Gobierno en Canarias ha explicado que las personas que permanecían hasta este domingo en el muelle han sido reubicadas en distintos recursos, algunos de ellos gestionados por el Ministerio del Interior, como el #CATE (#Centro_de Atención_Temporal_para_Extranjeros) de #Barranco_Seco, y otros por la cartera de Migraciones, como los complejos hoteleros del sur de Gran Canaria.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/885310#message889038

#Canaries #îles_Canaries #Gran_Canaria

Refugees detained in #Melbourne hotel ’devastated’ as they await move to another site
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/891624
#Australie

L’accueil de réfugiés « réinstallés » dans les communes rurales de #Dordogne

« Tout cet accompagnement n’est pas assez structuré pour permettre aux réfugiés de s’intégrer », s’emporte Liliane Gonthier, maire de #Boulazac, dont la commune a aussi dû accueillir des demandeurs d’asile dans un hôtel proche de la mairie. « Si on veut être une terre d’accueil, il faut une volonté politique. Quand on voit les demandeurs d’asile entassés dans le Formule 1, sans cuisine ou même frigo, ce n’est pas un accueil digne. On sait que, dans certaines communes, les migrants sont repartis vers les grandes villes, peut-être vers la jungle de Calais. Ce n’est pas une politique aboutie et ça manque d’humanité ! » « J’aurais pu continuer à accueillir des personnes », se désole Pascal Bourdeau qui ne souhaite pas recevoir plus de 5 familles dans sa commune, pourtant convaincu que « l’intégration est plus facile dans les campagnes et que les mélanges sont une richesse ». Mais il n’y a aucune coordination entre les différents acteurs institutionnels et peu ou pas de suivi. « Quand on arrive au bout du dispositif prévu par les associations prestataires, on nous laisse tomber ! »

►https://icmigrations.fr/2019/08/30/defacto-11

#Belgique : Les conséquences de la privatisation dans le centre d’accueil de demandeur·ses d’asile de #Jalhay (Spa)

Enregistrée comme coopérative à finalité sociale, #Svasta est administrée par le groupe hôtelier de luxe #Corsendonk et gère les centres sur les sites de ce dernier.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/911803

“Vagabonds move because they find the world inhospitable.
Tourists move at their hearts’ desire”

https://i.imgur.com/VBSUOUq.jpg

–-> carte postale de l’Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Department of Mobility and Migration

#Croatie : une saison touristique sans assez de travailleurs saisonniers
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/922489

Kurdish refugee sues Australian government for alleged unlawful imprisonment in Melbourne hotels
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/925796

Afghan boy, 5, who died in Sheffield hotel fall named as Mohammed Munib Majeedi
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/926611
#OYO_Rooms

Les premiers Afghans arrivent à #Paris...

Tous seront placés en quarantaine dans des #hôtels des #Hauts-de-Seine , en région parisienne. « Dans un deuxième temps, ils seront dirigés vers des structures d’accueil pérennes », affirme Didier Leschi. De là, leur parcours administratif de demande d’asile débutera. « Ils devront suivre la procédure habituelle, quoiqu’accélérée : passer devant le Guichet unique [s’enregistrer à la préfecture, NDLR] puis devant l’Ofpra ». Ils auront également droit à l’allocation pour demandeurs d’asile (ADA).

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/926952

UK: Charities concerned about level of support provided to families in hotels.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/927667

« Les CAS peuvent occuper d’anciens bâtiements publics (casernes, gendarmeries, prisons ou écoles). Ils peuvent aussi être installés dans des appartements loués dans des immeubles, des chambres d’hôtels ou des hôtels entiers qui décident de convertir leur usage – de l’accueil des touristes aux demandeurs d’asile »

in : Bontemps, Makaremi, Mazouz 2018, Entre accueil et rejet : ce que les villes font aux migrants, p. 139
►https://www.lepassagerclandestin.fr/catalogue/bibliotheque-des-frontieres/entre-accueil-et-rejet