« Mapping Cities » ►https://freakonometrics.hypotheses.org/55286
inspire par la lecture de deux livres fascinants,
We will take up here the two major historical turning points, mentioned in Söderström (1996), based on two recent works: the representation of Rome at the beginning of the Renaissance, and the first iconographic plans, described in Maier (2015), and the “social” or “health” maps of London of Victorian civil servants, described in Vaughan (2018).
Si certains sont intéressés par le livre de L. Vaughan, il est disponible en pdf sur le site de l’éditeur :
►http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10056449/2/Mapping-Society.pdf
#histoire, #historiographie
Version française de l’article : ▻http://variances.eu/?p=3581
Trentino and Yugoslavia narrated through a legend: roots of Marshal Josip Broz #Tito in #Vallarsa
In Trentino there is a valley where the surname Broz is widely diffused. During the second half of the 20th century, a peculiar legend took shape among these mountains. We are in Vallarsa, a few kilometers from the town of Rovereto, where – according to many locals – the origins of Josip Broz, that history will remember as Tito, are to be found. The Yugoslav Marshal was one of the most peculiar and controversial figures of the 20th century: Partisan leader, head of the communist state that split with the Soviet Union, a prominent figure on the international political scene and, above all, leader and symbol of a country that disintegrated violently shortly after his death. The relationship between Marshal Tito and the Vallarsa Valley is being talked about for some time, and not only in Trentino, so that the page dedicated to Tito on the Italian Wikipedia refers to him as “the seventh of fifteen children of Franjo, a Croat who probably originated from Vallarsa”.
A legend from Obra
The story originates in the area around the village of Obra, in the Vallarsa Valley, where there is a small settlement called Brozzi. It is said that the Broz surname has been present in the area for centuries. Transmitted orally, the legend spread and evolved over time, assuming different shapes and contours. There is however a version which is more or less codified. It is narrated that a family of the future Yugoslav president lived in a place called Maso Geche, a bit isolated from Obra and nearby settlements. Valentino Broz, “Tito’s grandfather”, took over an old house, transforming it in a family cottage. Valentino had four children. One of them died at a tender age, while Ferdinando, Giuseppe and Vigilio started contributing to the household by working in the fields and as lumberjacks, integrating these activities, as much as possible, with other occasional jobs. Just like for all the other families in that area, emigration was always an option.
Parochial registers confirm the structure of Valentino Broz’s family. What we learn from memories passed down through the generations is that Giuseppe (according to archives, Giuseppe Filippo Broz, born on August 29, 1853) and Ferdinando (Luigi Ferdinando Broz, born on April 13, 1848) – or, according to other versions of the story, Vigilio (Vigilio Andrea Broz, born on November 27, 1843) – emigrated from Vallarsa to Croatia between the 1870s and the 1880s, most probably in 1878 or 1879. At that time, both territories were part of Austria-Hungary, and in those years many people from Trentino emigrated in the eastern parts of the monarchy. The story of foundation of the village of Štivor, in Bosnia Herzegovina, is probably the best known. According to legend, the Broz brothers were driven to emigrate by the possibility of being engaged in the construction of railway Vienna-Zagreb-Belgrade. Indeed, in those years a new railway line, connecting Bosanski Brod to Sarajevo, was under construction. The first portion was completed in February 1879, and the last one in October 1882.
Some time later, Ferdinando (or Vigilio) returned to Vallarsa, while Giuseppe married a Slovenian girl, and in 1892 they gave birth to Josip Broz, who became known to the whole world as Tito. The news about Giuseppes’s fate reached the valley, mainly thanks to the information his brother brought home.
Tito between history and conspiracy
The legend from Vallarsa is not an isolated case. Since the end of the Second World War in Yugoslavia, but not only, speculations began circulating that Tito might have (had) Russian, Polish, Austrian or Jewish roots. His life, marked from a young age by participation in illegal activities of the Communist Party, sudden movings and use of false names, offered an ideal breeding ground for speculations and conspiracy theories. The doubts about Tito’s true identity, particularly diffused during the 1990s, recently have been reactualized due to publication of declassified CIA document that puts in doubt Tito’s knowledge of the Serbo-Croatian language.
Apart from dozens of newspaper articles and many publicistic texts, the question of Tito’s origins has never been the subject of proper historiographic research. None of the scholars who seriously occupy themselves with history of Yugoslavia has ever shown any particular interest in this issue. Even the most recent Tito’s biographies, written by world-renowned historians such as Geoffrey Swain and Jože Pirjevec, don’t contain any reference to different theories about his origins, only a traditional version whereby Tito was the son of Franjo Broz, a Croat from Kumrovec in Zagorje, and Marija Javeršek, originally from village of Podreda, in Slovenia. The only partial exception is represented by considerations made by Vladimir Dedijer in his monumental biography of Tito, published in 1981. A former member of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, sacked at the time of the Affaire Djilas, becoming a professional historian, in his book Dedijer attempts to refute speculations about Tito’s origins, reinvigorated after his death in May 1980.
The birth and life of a legend
In attempting to clarify the question, Vladimir Dedijer also makes reference to the Trentine case which, few months earlier, has been reactualized in Italy in an article appeared in the weekly Gente. The article has been published few days after Tito’s death, relying on a story transmitted orally over the years, according to some since the end of the Second World War, when the name of Josip Broz began to appear in the newspapers around the world. In addition to photos of the Vallarsa Valley and Maso Geche, the article contained statements of descendants of the family of Valentino Broz. Don Giuseppe Rippa, the then parson of Vallarsa, played an important role in defining the contours of the story, contributing to a process of consolidation of its credibility.
It is possible that Vladimir Dedijer has come to know about the Trentin legend thanks to attention given to it in the newspapers of the Italian minority in Yugoslavia. Shortly after the publication of the above mentioned article on the weekly Gente, the weekly newspaper Panorama from Rijeka started showing interest in the story, sending a crew to Vallarsa to find out more details. After talking to Don Rippa and some other local personalities, such as writer Sandra Frizzera, and studying parish registers, journalists from Rijeka have come to a conclusion that there was no evidence of a relationship between Trentin and Yugoslav Brozes. Vladimir Dedijer reacted by publishing Tito’s family tree, compiled by Andrija Lukinović, archivist from the Historical Archive of Zagreb [now called the Croatian State Archive], on the basis of preserved parish registers. Using available data, Lukinović reconstructed the paternal-line geneaology of the Broz family from the beginning of the 17th century, when parish registers were started in Kumrovec. As far as the previous period is concerned, Dedijer remains cautious, nevertheless quoting different sayings whereby the Broz family originated in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Spain, Istria, France or even Italy. In any case, we are talking about the possible settlement in Zagorje more than four centuries ago.
However, these information have not reached Trentino, where a word began to spread that in the whole Yugoslavia there have been no trace of the Broz surname. The descendents of the family of Valentino Broz continued releasing interviews, telling family stories and anecdotes. Also, it is narrated that representatives of Yugoslav government came to Obra, maybe even Tito himself. Many newspaper articles and reportage talked about physiognomic proximity, claiming that the Trentin Brozes bore a “remarkable resemblance” to Yugoslav leader.
In 1984 it was decided to create a commission, as part of “The Popular Committee of Obra di Vallarsa”, composed of historians, journalists and the then major, with the aim of clarifying the question through meticulous researches and investigations. However, no definite answer nor concrete evidence has been reached. Did Tito have Trentin origins or not? Over the years, the same information continued to circulate, but the story became gradually consolidated.
In the same period, the credibility of the story has been publicly recognized by some prominent personalities, such as politician Flaminio Piccoli, who has stated, on the occasion of a congress held in Rome in 1991, that Tito’s ancestors were from Trentino. Representative of the Italian Christian Democratic party (DC) in Trentino at the time, Piccoli asserted that he had “great respect” for Marshal Tito, because “his great grandfather was Trentin, originally from the region around Rovereto”. The story changes again – it was not Tito’s father, but rather his great grandfather who was from Trentino – but it is told by a prominent politician who met Tito personally.
What also contributed to building credibility of the story were numerous publications dedicated to emigration from Trentino, an issue that, since the 1980s, has attracted increasing interest. Already in 1984, Bonifacio Bolognani – Franciscan friar and scholar originally from Trentino who moved to the United States – mentioned a legend from Obra in his book about emigration from Trentino, published in English. The local writers and historians are those who paid greatest attention to the story: Daniella Stoffella refers to it in her book about emigration from Vallarsa, while Renzo Grosselli mentions it in a study about emigrants from Trentino which is widely read. Remo Bussolon and Aldina Martini revived it in the most important work about the history of Vallarsa. The theory of Tito’s Trentin origins is also being mentioned in different academic essays published in other countries (Frédéric Spagnoli, 2009). We are talking about more or less precise publications, some of which treat the argument with caution, but that, often citing each other, contribute to strengthening the authoritativness of the legend.
In the meantime, a local section of RAI [Italian public radio and television broadcaster] started to show an interest in the story, relaunching it periodically through tv reports. In 2008, a special program was dedicated to the legend of Obra, and on that occasion journalists from Trentino went to Croatia for the first time to hear the other side of the story. They went to Kumrovec, where they visited the birth house of Yugoslav leader and studied parish registers, trying to learn more about the history of Tito’s family and about his “Croatian father” Franjo Broz. But the question remained: Is it possible that Marija’s marriage with Franjo was her second wedding? Or rather, did she married Franjo after she gave birth to Tito and after Giuseppe Broz died?
In the summer of 2015, a visit of Tito’s granddaughter Svetlana Broz to Vallarsa, invited to a culture festival to present her book about the Yugoslav wars, becomes the occasion to discuss the issue. Asked during an interview to comment on the theory about Tito’s Trentin roots, Svetlana Broz responded vaguely and compliantly, saying: “That theory is just a theory. I have documentation that proves that my grandfather was born in the Croatian village of Kumrovec, as stated in his official biography. However, I can neither confirm nor deny anything about his ancestors”. In such ambivalent spaces, the legend from Vallarsa continues to live. Narrated and repeated mostly in Trentino, from time to time it arouses the interest of a wider public.
A story about Trentino and Yugoslavia
Of all the legends about the origins of the Yugoslav president, the Trentin one is probably most closely related to the history and identity of a local community, unlike the others, often inspired by different conspiracy ideas. It evocates the history of the territory profoundly marked by the migration phenomenon and is paradigmatic of a broader history of emigration from Trentino at the end of the 19th century and of pervasiveness of collective memories in those valleys. Its diffusion beyond the borders of Vallarsa, began in the 1980s, followed a gradual opening-up of Trentino to the international processes and reinforcement of consciousness about its “place in the world”. Above all, it is an integral part of the process of ri-elaboration of the traumatic experience of migration which profoundly marked local community: discovery of illustrious ancestors can help in making a sense of loss.
At the same time, this legend makes us think about the image socialist Yugoslavia projected abroad, about its perception in Italy and among inhabitants of one of the most remote valleys of Trentino. Considered a hostile country in the post-war period, over the following decades Yugoslavia was increasingly perceived by the Italian public as a close neighbor, so that relationships with the political leadership of socialist country were considered a question of public interest. It is narrated that inhabitants of the Vallarsa Valley had been deeply moved by Tito’s death in May 1980 and that a local parson “had recited the prayer for Josip Broz”. A few years later, when asked for his opinion about Marshal Tito, an inhabitant of the valley pointed out a change of perception: “There is no way to reconcile obscure and bloody events from his early years, ambition, will to power, sectarianism and violence of the first Tito with wise and prudent politician, magnanimous towards his enemies, which was the second Tito”.
The Trentin roots of Yugoslav Marshal remain a legend. In all those years, no proof has emerged that confirms that Giuseppe Broz, who probably emigrated to Croatia and Bosnia in search of work, was Tito’s real father. On the other hand, the official version of Tito’s biography remains undisputed. But like all legends, regardless of their adherence to reality, the one about “Trentin” Tito immerse us in perceptions, imaginings and memories deposited at the intersection of personal life stories, local vicissitudes and the Great History.
#histoire #légende #Trentino #Italie #ex-Yougoslavie #Yougoslavie #Obra
#vidéo:
▻https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Media/Multimedia/Marshal-Tito-and-Vallarsa
#film
ping @albertocampiphoto @wizo —> articolo disponibile anche in italiano: ▻https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/aree/Italia/Compa-esano-Tito!-Storia-di-una-leggenda-190146
AMD EPYC Rome : 64 coeurs pour doubler les scores sous Cinebench
▻https://www.tomshardware.fr/articles/cpu-amd-datacenters-benchmark-7-nm,1-68480.html#xtor=RSS-5
Un premier test atteignant 12 587 points
▻https://img.purch.com/rc/120x90/aHR0cDovL21lZGlhLmJlc3RvZm1pY3JvLmNvbS9SL04vNzk4MDM1L29yaWdpbmFsLzIwMzYyO
Map-archive of Europe’s migrant spaces
The project of an interactive map-archive of ‘migrant spaces’ of transit, border enforcement and refuge across Europe stems from a workshop organised in London in November 2016 by researchers working on migration and based in different European countries.
The goal of this collective project, is to bring to the fore the existence and the stories of ephemeral spaces of containment, transit, and struggle, that are the outcome of border enforcement politics and of their spatial effects, as well as of their impact on migrant lives.
What we want to represent
We do not represent on the map official detention centres or reception camps, but rather unofficial (but visible) spaces that have been produced as an effect of migration and border policies as well as of migrants’ practices of movement. Some well-known examples are the Jungle of Calais, or the Hellenic’s airport in Athens, which represent the output of the relation between the border enforcement policies with the autonomous movements of migrant subjects across Europe. Moreover, spaces of transit like the rail station of Milan will be represented, which have then become places of containment – such as Ventimiglia, Como, and the Brenner after the suspension of Schengen in such border areas. Several structures have been build in such transit knots, being characterized by their humanitarian element that intertwine the dimension of control with that of help and care. Finally, some of these places are zones inside European cities that have played the twofold role of spaces-refuge and area
controlled by the police, and then have been evicted as dwelling places where migrants found a temporary place to stay – like Lycée Jean-Quarré in Paris, La Chapelle. Others are self-managed places, like Refugee City Plaza Hotel, or square and public spaces that had been sites of migrant struggles for some time – as Orianenplatz in Berlin.
The three dimensions
The complexity of the processes that get intertwined in these places can be represented through three dimensions that we aimed to represent, although they cannot be exhaustively of the complexity of this phenomenon.
Border enforcement/ border control: by border control we understand all the operations, measures and actions put into place by the police for enhancing national borders and obstructing migrants’ movements and presence.
Humanitarian enforcement: by humanitarian enforcement we understand all the operation/action and structures deployed by those humanitarian actors involved in managing migrants. Being ‘humanitarianism’ a blurry and contested category, we understand it as a continuum with the two endpoints of humanitarian control and humanitarian support. The first endpoint refers to all these actions, operations and structures that aim to control migrants and contain their mobilities. The second endpoint refers to all these actions, operation and structures that aim to support migrants and their movements avoiding deploying control measures.
Migrant struggles: by ‘struggles’ we understand both self-organized struggles with a declared political claim, and everyday struggles such as the transits mobilities and the ‘everyday resistance’ (Scott, 1985) practices collectively enacted by migrants, that can be visible or remaining under the threshold of visibility.
Temporality and spatiality
A crucial feature of this map is the focus on temporality rather than spatiality. Indeed, this map cis an archive of those fleeting and ephemeral spaces that do no longer exist and that have changed their function over time, as frontiers or as spaces of refuge and struggle. The focus on temporality allows us to go beyond the mainstream representations of migrants routes offered by those official actors managing migration such as Fontex, European Union, IOM and the UNHCR.
We do not want to represent those informal places that are still existing in order to avoid shedding more light on them that could bring some problem to the people dwelling and transiting through those places. The idea of archive is related to that ethical/political topic: we do not want to trace the still existing place where people are struggling, but rather we aim to keep a record and a memory of such ephemeral spaces that do not exist any-more but nevertheless have contributed to the production of a Europe not represented in the mainstream debate. Therefore, we represent only those places still existing where the border and humanitarian enforcement come to the fore, in order to keep an ongoing monitoring gaze.
The aim
The aims of this map-archive are: a) to keep memory of these spaces that have been visible and have been the effect of border enforcement policies but that then had been evicted, or ‘disappeared’ ; b) to produce a new map of Europe, that is a map formed by these spaces of transit, containment, and refuge, as result of politics of border enforcement and of migration movements; c) to shed light on the temporality of migration as a crucial dimension through which understand and interpret the complexity of social processes related to migration towards and within Europe and the consequent border enforcement.
To be continued
Since Europe externalizes its borders beyond its geopolitical frontiers, we would like to add also spaces of transit and containment that are located in the so called ‘third countries’ – for instance, in Tunisia, Turkey and Morocco – as the map wants also to represent a different image of the borders of Europe, looking also at sites that are the effects of EU borders externalisation politics.
On peut faire un zoom sur la #frontière_sud-alpine :
https://i.imgur.com/qxjWuq3.png 
https://i.imgur.com/1dBLVj6.png 
https://i.imgur.com/SRt357l.png 
https://i.imgur.com/GktvvC6.png 
https://i.imgur.com/mjwhSdY.png 
https://i.imgur.com/gB2ObeH.png cc @reka
Migration: new map of Europe reveals real frontiers for refugees
Since the EU declared a “refugee crisis” in 2015 that was followed by an unprecedented number of deaths in the Mediterranean, maps explaining the routes of migrants to and within Europe have been used widely in newspapers and social media.
Some of these maps came out of refugee projects, while others are produced by global organisations, NGOs and agencies such as Frontex, the European Border and Coastguard Agency, and the International Organisation for Migration’s project, Missing Migrants. The Balkan route, for example, shows the trail along which hundred of thousands of Syrian refugees trekked after their towns and cities were reduced to rubble in the civil war.
However, migration maps tend to produce an image of Europe being “invaded” and overwhelmed by desperate women, men and children in search of asylum. At the same time, migrants’ journeys are represented as fundamentally linear, going from a point A to a point B. But what about the places where migrants have remained stranded for a long time, due to the closure of national borders and the suspension of the Schengen Agreement, which establishes people’s free internal movement in Europe? What memories and impressions remain in the memory of the European citizens of migrants’ passage and presence in their cities? And how is this most recent history of migration in Europe being recorded?
Time and memory
Our collective project, a map archive of Europe’s migrant spaces, engages with with these questions by representing border zones in Europe – places that have functioned as frontiers for fleeing migrants. Some of these border zones, such as Calais, have a long history, while other places have become effective borders for migrants in transit more recently, such as Como in Italy and Menton in France. The result of a collaborative work by researchers in the UK, Greece, Germany, Italy and the US, the project records memories of places in Europe where migrants remained in limbo for a long time, were confronted with violence, or found humanitarian aid, as well as marking sites of organised migrant protest.
All the cities and places represented in this map archive have over time become frontiers and hostile environments for migrants in transit. Take for instance the Italian city of Ventimiglia on the French-Italian border. This became a frontier for migrants heading to France in 2011, when the French government suspended Schengen to deter the passage of migrants who had landed in Lampedusa in Italy in the aftermath of the Tunisian revolution in 2011.
Four years later in 2015, after border controls were loosened, Ventimiglia again became a difficult border to cross, when France suspended Schengen for the second time. But far from being just a place where migrants were stranded and forced to go back, our map archive shows that Ventimiglia also became an important place of collective migrant protest.
Images of migrants on the cliffs holding banners saying “We are not going back” circulated widely in 2015 and became a powerful slogan for other migrant groups across Europe. The most innovative aspect of our map-archive consists in bringing the context of time, showing the transformations of spaces over time into a map about migration that explains the history of border zones over the last decade and how they proliferated across Europe. Every place represented – Paris, Calais, Rome, Lesbos, Kos, and Athens, for example – has been transformed over the years by migrants’ presence.
Which Europe?
This archive project visualises these European sites in a way that differs from the conventional geopolitical map: instead of highlighting national frontiers and cities, it foregrounds places that have been actual borders for migrants in transit and which became sites of protest and struggle. In this way the map archive produces another image of Europe, as a space that has been shaped by the presence migrants – the border violence, confinement and their struggle to advance.
The geopolitical map of Europe is transformed into Europe’s migrant spaces – that is, Europe as it is experienced by migrants and shaped by their presence. So another picture of Europe emerges: a space where migrants’ struggle to stay has contributed to the political history of the continent. In this Europe migrants are subjected to legal restrictions and human rights violations, but at the same time they open up spaces for living, creating community and as a backdrop for their collective struggles.
It is also where they find solidarity with European citizens who have sympathy with their plight. These border zones highlighted by our map have been characterised by alliances between citizens and migrants in transit, where voluntary groups have set up to provide food, shelter and services such as medical and legal support.
So how does this map engage with debate on the “migrant crisis” and the “refugee crisis” in Europe? By imposing a time structure and retracing the history of these ephemeral border zone spaces of struggle, it upends the image of migrants’ presence as something exceptional, as a crisis. The map gives an account of how European cities and border zones have been transformed over time by migrants’ presence.
By providing the history of border zones and recording memories of citizens’ solidarity with migrants in these places, this map dissipates the hardline view of migrants as invaders, intruders and parasites – in other words, as a threat. This way, migrants appear as part of Europe’s unfolding history. Their struggle to stay is now becoming part of Europe’s history.
But the increasing criminalisation of migrant solidarity in Europe is telling of how such collaboration disturbs state policies on containing migrants. This map-archive helps to erode the image of migrants as faceless masses and unruly mobs, bringing to the fore the spaces they create to live and commune in, embraced by ordinary European citizens who defy the politics of control and the violent borders enacted by their states.
Tunisian fishermen await trial after ’saving hundreds of migrants’
Friends and colleagues have rallied to the defence of six Tunisian men awaiting trial in Italy on people smuggling charges, saying they are fishermen who have saved hundreds of migrants and refugees over the years who risked drowning in the Mediterranean.
The men were arrested at sea at the weekend after their trawler released a small vessel it had been towing with 14 migrants onboard, 24 miles from the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Italian authorities said an aeroplane crew from the European border agency Frontex had first located the trawler almost 80 nautical miles from Lampedusa and decided to monitor the situation.They alerted the Italian police after the migrant vessel was released, who then arrested all crew members at sea.
According to their lawyers, the Tunisians maintain that they saw a migrant vessel in distress and a common decision was made to tow it to safety in Italian waters. They claim they called the Italian coastguard so it could intervene and take them to shore.
Prosecutors have accused the men of illegally escorting the boat into Italian waters and say they have no evidence of an SOS sent by either the migrant boat or by the fishermen’s vessel.
Among those arrested were 45-year-old Chamseddine Ben Alì Bourassine, who is known in his native city, Zarzis, which lies close to the Libyan border, for saving migrants and bringing human remains caught in his nets back to shore to give the often anonymous dead a dignified burial.
Immediately following the arrests, hundreds of Tunisians gathered in Zarzis to protest and the Tunisian Fishermen Association of Zarzis sent a letter to the Italian embassy in Tunis in support of the men.
“Captain Bourassine and his crew are hardworking fishermen whose human values exceed the risks they face every day,” it said. “When we meet boats in distress at sea, we do not think about their colour or their religion.”
According to his colleagues in Zarzis, Bourassine is an advocate for dissuading young Tunisians from illegal migration. In 2015 he participated in a sea rescue drill organised by Médecins Sans Frontières (Msf) in Zarzis.
Giulia Bertoluzzi, an Italian filmmaker and journalist who directed the documentary Strange Fish, about Bourassine, said the men were well known in their home town.
“In Zarzis, Bourassine and his crew are known as anonymous heroes”, Bertoluzzi told the Guardian. “Some time ago a petition was circulated to nominate him for the Nobel peace prize. He saved thousands of lives since.”
The six Tunisians who are now being held in prison in the Sicilian town of Agrigento pending their trial. If convicted, they could face up to 15 years in prison.
The Italian police said in a statement: “We acted according to our protocol. After the fishing boat released the vessel, it returned south of the Pelagie Islands where other fishing boats were active in an attempt to shield itself.”
It is not the first time that Italian authorities have arrested fishermen and charged them with aiding illegal immigration. On 8 August 2007, police arrested two Tunisian fishermen for having guided into Italian waters 44 migrants. The trial lasted four years and both men were acquitted of all criminal charges.
Leonardo Marino, a lawyer in Agrigento who had defended dozens of Tunisian fishermen accused of enabling smuggling, told the Guardian: “The truth is that migrants are perceived as enemies and instead of welcoming them we have decided to fight with repressive laws anyone who is trying to help them.”
cc @_kg_
Commentaires de Charles Heller sur FB :
Last year these Tunisian fishermen prevented the identitarian C-Star - chartered to prevent solidarity at sea - from docking in Zarzis. Now they have been arrested for exercising that solidarity.
Back to the bad old days of criminalising Tunisian fishermen who rescue migrants at sea. Lets make some noise and express our support and solidarity in all imaginable ways!
Des pêcheurs tunisiens poursuivis pour avoir tracté des migrants jusqu’en Italie
Surpris en train de tirer une embarcation de migrants vers l’Italie, des pêcheurs tunisiens -dont un militant connu localement- ont été écroués en Sicile. Une manifestation de soutien a eu lieu en Tunisie et une ONG essaie actuellement de leur venir en aide.
Des citoyens tunisiens sont descendus dans la rue lundi 3 septembre à Zarzis, dans le sud du pays, pour protester contre l’arrestation, par les autorités italiennes, de six pêcheurs locaux. Ces derniers sont soupçonnés d’être des passeurs car ils ont été "surpris en train de tirer une barque avec 14 migrants à bord en direction de [l’île italienne de] Lampedusa", indique la police financière et douanière italienne.
La contestation s’empare également des réseaux sociaux, notamment avec des messages publiés demandant la libération des six membres d’équipage parmi lesquels figurent Chamseddine Bourassine, président de l’association des pêcheurs de Zarzis. “Toute ma solidarité avec un militant et ami, le doyen des pêcheurs Chamseddine Bourassine. Nous appelons les autorités tunisiennes à intervenir immédiatement avec les autorités italiennes afin de le relâcher ainsi que son équipage”, a écrit lundi le jeune militant originaire de Zarzis Anis Belhiba sur Facebook. Une publication reprise et partagée par Chamesddine Marzoug, un pêcheur retraité et autre militant connu en Tunisie pour enterrer lui-même les corps des migrants rejetés par la mer.
Sans nouvelles depuis quatre jours
Un appel similaire a été lancé par le Forum tunisien pour les droits économiques et sociaux, par la voix de Romdhane Ben Amor, chargé de communication de cette ONG basée à Tunis. Contacté par InfoMigrants, il affirme n’avoir reçu aucune nouvelle des pêcheurs depuis près de quatre jours. “On ne sait pas comment ils vont. Tout ce que l’on sait c’est qu’ils sont encore incarcérés à Agrigente en Sicile. On essaie d’activer tous nos réseaux et de communiquer avec nos partenaires italiens pour leur fournir une assistance juridique”, explique-t-il.
Les six pêcheurs ont été arrêtés le 29 août car leur bateau de pêche, qui tractait une embarcation de fortune avec 14 migrants à son bord, a été repéré -vidéo à l’appui- par un avion de Frontex, l’Agence européenne de garde-côtes et garde-frontières.
Selon une source policière italienne citée par l’AFP, les pêcheurs ont été arrêtés pour “aide à l’immigration clandestine” et écroués. Le bateau a été repéré en train de tirer des migrants, puis de larguer la barque près des eaux italiennes, à moins de 24 milles de Lampedusa, indique la même source.
Mais pour Romdhane Ben Amor, “la vidéo de Frontex ne prouve rien”. Et de poursuivre : “#Chamseddine_Bourassine, on le connaît bien. Il participe aux opérations de sauvetage en Méditerranée depuis 2008, il a aussi coordonné l’action contre le C-Star [navire anti-migrants affrété par des militant d’un groupe d’extrême droite]”. Selon Romdhane Ben Amor, il est fort probable que le pêcheur ait reçu l’appel de détresse des migrants, qu’il ait ensuite tenté de les convaincre de faire demi-tour et de regagner la Tunisie. N’y parvenant pas, le pêcheur aurait alors remorqué l’embarcation vers l’Italie, la météo se faisant de plus en plus menaçante.
La Tunisie, pays d’origine le plus représenté en Italie
Un nombre croissant de Tunisiens en quête d’emploi et de perspectives d’avenir tentent de se rendre illégalement en Italie via la Méditerranée. D’ailleurs, avec 3 300 migrants arrivés entre janvier et juillet 2018, la Tunisie est le pays d’origine le plus représenté en Italie, selon un rapport du Haut commissariat de l’ONU aux réfugiés (HCR) publié lundi.
La Méditerranée a été "plus mortelle que jamais" début 2018, indique également le HCR, estimant qu’une personne sur 18 tentant la traversée meurt ou disparaît en mer.
Note de Catherine Teule :
Cela rappelle le procès ( à Agrigente déjà) de 7 pêcheurs tunisiens en 2007.... ( voir les archives de Migreurop )
Et aussi les procès contres les pêcheurs à #Mazara_del_vallo, en Italie, v. livre de Gabriele Del Grande :
Il mare di mezzo
▻https://www.infinitoedizioni.it/prodotto/il-mare-di-mezzoal-tempo-dei-respingimenti
Lampedusa, in cella ad Agrigento il pescatore tunisino che salva i migranti
Insieme al suo equipaggio #Chameseddine_Bourassine è accusato di favoreggiamento dell’immigrazione illegale. La Tunisia chiede il rilascio dei sei arrestati. L’appello per la liberazione del figlio di uno dei pescatori e del fratello di Bourassine
Per la Tunisia Chameseddine Bourassine è il pescatore che salva i migranti. Protagonista anche del film documentario «Strange Fish» di Giulia Bertoluzzi. Dal 29 agosto Chameseddine e il suo equipaggio sono nel carcere di Agrigento, perchè filmati mentre trainavano un barchino con 14 migranti fino a 24 miglia da Lampedusa. Il peschereccio è stato sequestrato e rischiano molti anni di carcere per favoreggiamento aggravato dell’immigrazione illegale. Da Palermo alcuni parenti giunti da Parigi lanciano un appello per la loro liberazione.
Ramzi Lihiba, figlio di uno dei pescatori arrestati: «Mio padre è scioccato perchè è la prima volta che ha guai con la giustizia. Mi ha detto che hanno incontrato una barca in pericolo e hanno fatto solo il loro dovere. Non è la prima volta. Chameseddine ha fatto centinaia di salvataggi, portando la gente verso la costa più vicina. Prima ha chiamato la guardia costiera di Lampedusa e di Malta senza avere risposta».
Mohamed Bourassine, fratello di Chameseddine: «Chameseddine l’ha detto anche alla guardia costiera italiana, se trovassi altre persone in pericolo in mare, lo rifarei».
La Tunisia ha chiesto il rilascio dei sei pescatori di Zarzis. Sit in per loro davanti alle ambasciate italiane di Tunisi e Parigi. Da anni i pescatori delle due sponde soccorrono migranti con molti rischi. Ramzi Lihiba: «Anche io ho fatto la traversata nel 2008 e sono stato salvato dai pescatori italiani, altrimenti non sarei qui oggi».
▻https://www.rainews.it/tgr/sicilia/video/2018/09/sic-lampedusa-carcere-pescatore-tunisino-salva-migranti-8f4b62a7-b103-48c0-8
#Tunisie demain, à Palerme, se tient l’audience des 6 marins pêcheurs de Zarzis, Chamseddine Bourassin et son équipage, détenus en Italie depuis le 31 août dernier dans la ville d’Agrigento près de Lampedusa, pour avoir tracté 14 migrants à la dérive.
▻https://twitter.com/lmgaveriaux/status/1042826264447475718
Tweets à défiler.
ping @_kg_
Posté par Charles Heller sur FB :
Yesterday, people demonstrated in the streets of Zarzis in solidarity with the Tunisian fishermen arrested by Italian authorities for exercising their solidarity with migrants crossing the sea. Tomorrow, they will be heard in front of a court in Sicily. While rescue NGOs have done an extraordinary job, its important to underline that European citizens do not have the monopoly over solidarity with migrants, and neither are they the only ones being criminalised. The Tunisian fishermen deserve our full support.
I pescatori, eroi di Zarzis, in galera
Il 29 agosto 2018 sei pescatori tunisini sono stati arrestati ad Agrigento, accusati di favoreggiamento dell’immigrazione clandestina, reato punibile fino a quindici anni di carcere. Il loro racconto e quello dei migranti soccorsi parla invece di una barca in panne che prendeva acqua, del tentativo di contattare la Guardia Costiera italiana e infine - dopo una lunga attesa – del trasporto del barchino verso Lampedusa, per aiutare le autorità nelle operazioni di soccorso. Mentre le indagini preliminari sono in corso, vi raccontiamo chi sono questi pescatori. Lo facciamo con Giulia Bertoluzzi, che ha girato il film “Strange Fish” – vincitore al premio BNP e menzione speciale della giuria al festival Visioni dal Mondo - di cui Bourassine è il protagonista, e Valentina Zagaria, che ha vissuto oltre due anni a Zarzis per un dottorato in antropologia.
Capitano, presidente, eroe. Ecco tre appellativi che potrebbero stare a pennello a Chamseddine Bourassine, presidente della Rete Nazionale della Pesca Artigianale nonché dell’associazione di Zarzis “Le Pêcheur” pour le Développement et l’Environnement, nominata al Premio Nobel per la Pace 2018 per il continuo impegno nel salvare vite nel Mediterraneo. I pescatori di Zarzis infatti, lavorando nel mare aperto tra la Libia e la Sicilia, si trovano da più di quindici anni in prima linea nei soccorsi a causa della graduale chiusura ermetica delle vie legali per l’Europa, che ha avuto come conseguenza l’inizio di traversate con mezzi sempre più di fortuna.
I frutti della rivoluzione
Sebbene la legge del mare abbia sempre prevalso per Chamseddine e i pescatori di Zarzis, prima della rivoluzione tunisina del 2011 i pescatori venivano continuamente minacciati dalla polizia del regime di Ben Ali, stretto collaboratore sia dell’Italia che dell’Unione europea in materia di controlli alle frontiere. “Ci dicevano di lasciarli in mare e che ci avrebbero messo tutti in prigione”, spiegava Bourassine, “ma un uomo in mare è un uomo morto, e alla polizia abbiamo sempre risposto che piuttosto saremmo andati in prigione”. In prigione finivano anche i cittadini tunisini che tentavano la traversata e che venivano duramente puniti dal loro stesso governo.
Tutto è cambiato con la rivoluzione. Oltre 25.000 tunisini si erano imbarcati verso l’Italia, di cui tanti proprio dalle coste di Zarzis. “Non c’erano più né stato né polizia, era il caos assoluto” ricorda Anis Souei, segretario generale dell’Associazione. Alcuni pescatori non lasciavano le barche nemmeno di notte perché avevano paura che venissero rubate, i più indebitati invece tentavano di venderle, mentre alcuni abitanti di Zarzis, approfittando del vuoto di potere, si improvvisavano ‘agenti di viaggi’, cercando di fare affari sulle spalle degli harraga – parola nel dialetto arabo nord africano per le persone che ‘bruciano’ passaporti e frontiera attraversando il Mediterraneo. Chamseddine Bourassine e i suoi colleghi, invece, hanno stretto un patto morale, stabilendo di non vendere le proprie barche per la harga. Si sono rimboccati le maniche e hanno fondato un’associazione per migliorare le condizioni di lavoro del settore, per sensibilizzare sulla preservazione dell’ambiente – condizione imprescindibile per la pesca – e dare una possibilità di futuro ai giovani.
E proprio verso i più giovani, quelli che più continuano a soffrire dell’alto tasso di disoccupazione, l’associazione ha dedicato diverse campagne di sensibilizzazione. “Andiamo nelle scuole per raccontare quello che vediamo e mostriamo ai ragazzi le foto dei corpi che troviamo in mare, perché si rendano conto del reale pericolo della traversata”, racconta Anis. Inoltre hanno organizzato formazioni di meccanica, riparazione delle reti e pesca subacquea, collaborando anche con diversi progetti internazionali, come NEMO, organizzato dal CIHEAM-Bari e finanziato dalla Cooperazione Italiana. Proprio all’interno di questo progetto è nato il museo di Zarzis della pesca artigianale, dove tra nodi e anforette per la pesca del polipo, c’è una mostra fotografica dei salvataggi in mare intitolata “Gli eroi anonimi di Zarzis”.
La guerra civile libica
Con l’inasprirsi della guerra civile libica e l’inizio di veri e propri traffici di esseri umani, le frontiere marittime si sono trasformate in zone al di fuori della legge.
“I pescatori tunisini vengono regolarmente rapiti dalle milizie o dalle autorità libiche” diceva Bourassine. Queste, una volta sequestrata la barca e rubato il materiale tecnico, chiedevano alle autorità tunisine un riscatto per il rilascio, cosa peraltro successa anche a pescatori siciliani. Sebbene le acque di fronte alla Libia siano le più ricche, soprattutto per il gambero rosso, e per anni siano state zone di pesca per siciliani, tunisini, libici e anche egiziani, ad oggi i pescatori di Zarzis si sono visti obbligati a lasciare l’eldorado dei tonni rossi e dei gamberi rossi, per andare più a ovest.
“Io pesco nelle zone della rotta delle migrazioni, quindi è possibile che veda migranti ogni volta che esco” diceva Bourassine, indicando sul monitor della sala comandi del suo peschereccio l’est di Lampedusa, durante le riprese del film.
Con scarso sostegno delle guardie costiere tunisine, a cui non era permesso operare oltre le proprie acque territoriali, i pescatori per anni si sono barcamenati tra il lavoro e la responsabilità di soccorrere le persone in difficoltà che, con l’avanzare del conflitto in Libia, partivano su imbarcazioni sempre più pericolose.
“Ma quando in mare vedi 100 o 120 persone cosa fai?” si chiede Slaheddine Mcharek, anche lui membro dell’Associazione, “pensi solo a salvare loro la vita, ma non è facile”. Chi ha visto un’operazione di soccorso in mare infatti può immaginare i pericoli di organizzare un trasbordo su un piccolo peschereccio che non metta a repentaglio la stabilità della barca, soprattutto quando ci sono persone che non sanno nuotare. Allo stesso tempo non pescare significa non lavorare e perdere soldi sia per il capitano che per l’equipaggio.
ONG e salvataggio
Quando nell’estate del 2015 le navi di ricerca e soccorso delle ONG hanno cominciato ad operare nel Mediterraneo, Chamseddine e tutti i pescatori si sono sentiti sollevati, perché le loro barche non erano attrezzate per centinaia di persone e le autorità tunisine post-rivoluzionarie non avevano i mezzi per aiutarli. Quell’estate, l’allora direttore di Medici Senza Frontiere Foued Gammoudi organizzò una formazione di primo soccorso in mare per sostenere i pescatori. Dopo questa formazione MSF fornì all’associazione kit di pronto soccorso, giubbotti e zattere di salvataggio per poter assistere meglio i rifugiati in mare. L’ONG ha anche dato ai pescatori le traduzioni in italiano e inglese dei messaggi di soccorso e di tutti i numeri collegati al Centro di coordinamento per il soccorso marittimo (MRCC) a Roma, che coordina i salvataggi tra le imbarcazioni nei paraggi pronte ad intervenire, fossero mercantili, navi delle ONG, imbarcazioni militari o della guardia costiera, e quelle dei pescatori di entrambe le sponde del mare. Da quel momento i pescatori potevano coordinarsi a livello internazionale e aspettare che le navi più grandi arrivassero, per poi riprendere il loro lavoro. Solo una settimana dopo la formazione, Gammoudi andò a congratularsi con Chamseddine al porto di Zarzis per aver collaborato con la nave Bourbon-Argos di MSF nel salvataggio di 550 persone.
Oltre al primo soccorso, MSF ha offerto ai membri dell’associazione una formazione sulla gestione dei cadaveri, fornendo sacchi mortuari, disinfettanti e guanti. C’è stato un periodo durato vari mesi, prima dell’arrivo delle ONG, in cui i pescatori avevano quasi la certezza di vedere dei morti in mare. Nell’assenza di altre imbarcazioni in prossimità della Libia, pronte ad aiutare barche in difficoltà, i naufragi non facevano che aumentare. Proprio come sta succedendo in queste settimane, durante le quali il tasso di mortalità in proporzione agli arrivi in Italia è cresciuto del 5,6%. Dal 26 agosto, nessuna ONG ha operato in SAR libica, e questo a causa delle politiche anti-migranti di Salvini e dei suoi omologhi europei.
Criminalizzazione della solidarietà
La situazione però è peggiorata di nuovo nell’estate del 2017, quando l’allora ministro dell’Interno Marco Minniti stringeva accordi con le milizie e la guardia costiera libica per bloccare i rifugiati nei centri di detenzione in Libia, mentre approvava leggi che criminalizzano e limitano l’attività delle ONG in Italia.
Le campagne di diffamazione contro atti di solidarietà e contro le ONG non hanno fatto altro che versare ancora più benzina sui sentimenti anti-immigrazione che infiammano l’Europa. Nel bel mezzo di questo clima, il 6 agosto 2017, i pescatori di Zarzis si erano trovati in un faccia a faccia con la nave noleggiata da Generazione Identitaria, la C-Star, che attraversava il Mediterraneo per ostacolare le operazioni di soccorso e riportare i migranti in Africa.
Armati di pennarelli rossi, neri e blu, hanno appeso striscioni sulle barche in una mescolanza di arabo, italiano, francese e inglese: “No Racists!”, “Dégage!”, “C-Star: No gasolio? No acqua? No mangiaro?“.
Chamseddine Bourassine, con pesanti occhiaie da cinque giorni di lavoro in mare, appena appresa la notizia ha organizzato un sit-in con tanto di media internazionali al porto di Zarzis. I loro sforzi erano stati incoraggiati dalle reti antirazziste in Sicilia, che a loro volta avevano impedito alla C-Star di attraccare nel porto di Catania solo un paio di giorni prima.
La reazione tunisina dopo l’arresto di Bourassine
Non c’è quindi da sorprendersi se dopo l’arresto di Chamseddine, Salem, Farhat, Lotfi, Ammar e Bachir l’associazione, le famiglie, gli amici e i colleghi hanno riempito tre pullman da Zarzis per protestare davanti all’ambasciata italiana di Tunisi. La Terre Pour Tous, associazione di famiglie di tunisini dispersi, e il Forum economico e sociale (FTDES) si sono uniti alla protesta per chiedere l’immediato rilascio dei pescatori. Una protesta gemella è stata organizzata anche dalla diaspora di Zarzis davanti all’ambasciata italiana a Parigi, mentre reti di pescatori provenienti dal Marocco e dalla Mauritania hanno rilasciato dichiarazioni di sostegno. Il Segretario di Stato tunisino per l’immigrazione, Adel Jarboui, ha esortato le autorità italiane a liberare i pescatori.
Nel frattempo Bourassine racconta dalla prigione al fratello: “stavo solo aiutando delle persone in difficoltà in mare. Lo rifarei”.
When rescue at sea becomes a crime: who the Tunisian fishermen arrested in Italy really are
Fishermen networks from Morocco and Mauritania have released statements of support, and the Tunisian State Secretary for Immigration, Adel Jarboui, urged Italian authorities to release the fishermen, considered heroes in Tunisia.
On the night of Wednesday, August 29, 2018, six Tunisian fishermen were arrested in Italy. Earlier that day, they had set off from their hometown of Zarzis, the last important Tunisian port before Libya, to cast their nets in the open sea between North Africa and Sicily. The fishermen then sighted a small vessel whose engine had broken, and that had started taking in water. After giving the fourteen passengers water, milk and bread – which the fishermen carry in abundance, knowing they might encounter refugee boats in distress – they tried making contact with the Italian coastguard.
After hours of waiting for a response, though, the men decided to tow the smaller boat in the direction of Lampedusa – Italy’s southernmost island, to help Italian authorities in their rescue operations. At around 24 miles from Lampedusa, the Guardia di Finanza (customs police) took the fourteen people on board, and then proceeded to violently arrest the six fishermen. According to the precautionary custody order issued by the judge in Agrigento (Sicily), the men stand accused of smuggling, a crime that could get them up to fifteen years in jail if the case goes to trial. The fishermen have since been held in Agrigento prison, and their boat has been seized.
This arrest comes after a summer of Italian politicians closing their ports to NGO rescue boats, and only a week after far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini[1] prevented for ten days the disembarkation of 177 Eritrean and Somali asylum seekers from the Italian coastguard ship Diciotti. It is yet another step towards dissuading anyone – be it Italian or Tunisian citizens, NGO or coastguard ships – from coming to the aid of refugee boats in danger at sea. Criminalising rescue, a process that has been pushed by different Italian governments since 2016, will continue to have tragic consequences for people on the move in the Mediterranean Sea.
The fishermen of Zarzis
Among those arrested is Chamseddine Bourassine, the president of the Association “Le Pêcheur” pour le Développement et l’Environnement, which was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year for the Zarzis fishermen’s continuous engagement in saving lives in the Mediterranean.
Chamseddine, a fishing boat captain in his mid-40s, was one of the first people I met in Zarzis when, in the summer of 2015, I moved to this southern Tunisian town to start fieldwork for my PhD. On a sleepy late-August afternoon, my interview with Foued Gammoudi, the then Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Head of Mission for Tunisia and Libya, was interrupted by an urgent phone call. “The fishermen have just returned, they saved 550 people, let’s go to the port to thank them.” Just a week earlier, Chamseddine Bourassine had been among the 116 fishermen from Zarzis to have received rescue at sea training with MSF. Gammoudi was proud that the fishermen had already started collaborating with the MSF Bourbon Argos ship to save hundreds of people. We hurried to the port to greet Chamseddine and his crew, as they returned from a three-day fishing expedition which involved, as it so often had done lately, a lives-saving operation.
The fishermen of Zarzis have been on the frontline of rescue in the Central Mediterranean for over fifteen years. Their fishing grounds lying between Libya – the place from which most people making their way undocumented to Europe leave – and Sicily, they were often the first to come to the aid of refugee boats in distress. “The fishermen have never really had a choice: they work here, they encounter refugee boats regularly, so over the years they learnt to do rescue at sea”, explained Gammoudi. For years, fishermen from both sides of the Mediterranean were virtually alone in this endeavour.
Rescue before and after the revolution
Before the Tunisian revolution of 2011, Ben Ali threatened the fishermen with imprisonment for helping migrants in danger at sea – the regime having been a close collaborator of both Italy and the European Union in border control matters. During that time, Tunisian nationals attempting to do the harga – the North African Arabic dialect term for the crossing of the Sicilian Channel by boat – were also heavily sanctioned by their own government.
Everything changed though with the revolution. “It was chaos here in 2011. You cannot imagine what the word chaos means if you didn’t live it”, recalled Anis Souei, the secretary general of the “Le Pêcheur” association. In the months following the revolution, hundreds of boats left from Zarzis taking Tunisians from all over the country to Lampedusa. Several members of the fishermen’s association remember having to sleep on their fishing boats at night to prevent them from being stolen for the harga. Other fishermen instead, especially those who were indebted, decided to sell their boats, while some inhabitants of Zarzis took advantage of the power vacuum left by the revolution and made considerable profit by organising harga crossings. “At that time there was no police, no state, and even more misery. If you wanted Lampedusa, you could have it”, rationalised another fisherman. But Chamseddine Bourassine and his colleagues saw no future in moving to Europe, and made a moral pact not to sell their boats for migration.
They instead remained in Zarzis, and in 2013 founded their association to create a network of support to ameliorate the working conditions of small and artisanal fisheries. The priority when they started organising was to try and secure basic social security – something they are still struggling to sustain today. With time, though, the association also got involved in alerting the youth to the dangers of boat migration, as they regularly witnessed the risks involved and felt compelled to do something for younger generations hit hard by staggering unemployment rates. In this optic, they organised training for the local youth in boat mechanics, nets mending, and diving, and collaborated in different international projects, such as NEMO, organised by the CIHEAM-Bari and funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate General for Cooperation Development. This project also helped the fishermen build a museum to explain traditional fishing methods, the first floor of which is dedicated to pictures and citations from the fishermen’s long-term voluntary involvement in coming to the rescue of refugees in danger at sea.
This role was proving increasingly vital as the Libyan civil war dragged on, since refugees were being forced onto boats in Libya that were not fit for travel, making the journey even more hazardous. With little support from Tunisian coastguards, who were not allowed to operate beyond Tunisian waters, the fishermen juggled their responsibility to bring money home to their families and their commitment to rescuing people in distress at sea. Anis remembers that once in 2013, three fishermen boats were out and received an SOS from a vessel carrying roughly one hundred people. It was their first day out, and going back to Zarzis would have meant losing petrol money and precious days of work, which they simply couldn’t afford. After having ensured that nobody was ill, the three boats took twenty people on board each, and continued working for another two days, sharing food and water with their guests.
Sometimes, though, the situation on board got tense with so many people, food wasn’t enough for everybody, and fights broke out. Some fishermen recall incidents during which they truly feared for their safety, when occasionally they came across boats with armed men from Libyan militias. It was hard for them to provide medical assistance as well. Once a woman gave birth on Chamseddine’s boat – that same boat that has now been seized in Italy – thankfully there had been no complications.
NGO ships and the criminalisation of rescue
During the summer of 2015, therefore, Chamseddine felt relieved that NGO search and rescue boats were starting to operate in the Mediterranean. The fishermen’s boats were not equipped to take hundreds of people on board, and the post-revolutionary Tunisian authorities didn’t have the means to support them. MSF had provided the association with first aid kits, life jackets, and rescue rafts to be able to better assist refugees at sea, and had given them a list of channels and numbers linked to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Rome for when they encountered boats in distress.
They also offered training in dead body management, and provided the association with body bags, disinfectant and gloves. “When we see people at sea we rescue them. It’s not only because we follow the laws of the sea or of religion: we do it because it’s human”, said Chamseddine. But sometimes rescue came too late, and bringing the dead back to shore was all the fishermen could do.[2] During 2015 the fishermen at least felt that with more ships in the Mediterranean doing rescue, the duty dear to all seafarers of helping people in need at sea didn’t only fall on their shoulders, and they could go back to their fishing.
The situation deteriorated again though in the summer of 2017, as Italian Interior Minister Minniti struck deals with Libyan militias and coastguards to bring back and detain refugees in detention centres in Libya, while simultaneously passing laws criminalising and restricting the activity of NGO rescue boats in Italy.
Media smear campaigns directed against acts of solidarity with migrants and refugees and against the work of rescue vessels in the Mediterranean poured even more fuel on already inflamed anti-immigration sentiments in Europe.
In the midst of this, on 6 August 2017, the fishermen of Zarzis came face to face with a far-right vessel rented by Generazione Identitaria, the C-Star, cruising the Mediterranean allegedly on a “Defend Europe” mission to hamper rescue operations and bring migrants back to Africa. The C-Star was hovering in front of Zarzis port, and although it had not officially asked port authorities whether it could dock to refuel – which the port authorities assured locals it would refuse – the fishermen of Zarzis took the opportunity to let these alt-right groups know how they felt about their mission.
Armed with red, black and blue felt tip pens, they wrote in a mixture of Arabic, Italian, French and English slogans such as “No Racists!”, “Dégage!” (Get our of here!), “C-Star: No gasoil? No acqua? No mangiato?” ?” (C-Star: No fuel? No water? Not eaten?), which they proceeded to hang on their boats, ready to take to sea were the C-Star to approach. Chamseddine Bourassine, who had returned just a couple of hours prior to the impending C-Star arrival from five days of work at sea, called other members of the fishermen association to come to the port and join in the peaceful protest.[3] He told the journalists present that the fishermen opposed wholeheartedly the racism propagated by the C-Star members, and that having seen the death of fellow Africans at sea, they couldn’t but condemn these politics. Their efforts were cheered on by anti-racist networks in Sicily, who had in turn prevented the C-Star from docking in Catania port just a couple of days earlier.
It is members from these same networks in Sicily together with friends of the fishermen in Tunisia and internationally that are now engaged in finding lawyers for Chamseddine and his five colleagues.
Their counterparts in Tunisia joined the fishermen’s families and friends on Thursday morning to protest in front of the Italian embassy in Tunis. Three busloads arrived from Zarzis after an 8-hour night-time journey for the occasion, and many others had come from other Tunisian towns to show their solidarity. Gathered there too were members of La Terre Pour Tous, an association of families of missing Tunisian migrants, who joined in to demand the immediate release of the fishermen. A sister protest was organised by the Zarzis diaspora in front of the Italian embassy in Paris on Saturday afternoon. Fishermen networks from Morocco and Mauritania also released statements of support, and the Tunisian State Secretary for Immigration Adel Jarboui urged Italian authorities to release the fishermen, who are considered heroes in Tunisia.
The fishermen’s arrest is the latest in a chain of actions taken by the Italian Lega and Five Star government to further criminalise rescue in the Mediterranean Sea, and to dissuade people from all acts of solidarity and basic compliance with international norms. This has alarmingly resulted in the number of deaths in 2018 increasing exponentially despite a drop in arrivals to Italy’s southern shores. While Chamseddine’s lawyer hasn’t yet been able to visit him in prison, his brother and cousin managed to go see him on Saturday. As for telling them about what happened on August 29, Chamseddine simply says that he was assisting people in distress at sea: he’d do it again.
https://cdn.opendemocracy.net/files/imagecache/article_xlarge/wysiwyg_imageupload/500209/41039232_424626621274696_975726216424194048_n.jpg 
https://cdn.opendemocracy.net/files/imagecache/article_xlarge/wysiwyg_imageupload/500209/figure%205.jpg ▻https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/valentina-zagaria/when-rescue-at-sea-becomes-crime-who-tunisian-fishermen-arrested-in-i
Les pêcheurs de Zarzis, ces héros que l’Italie préfère voir en prison
Leurs noms ont été proposés pour le prix Nobel de la paix mais ils risquent jusqu’à quinze ans de prison : six pêcheurs tunisiens se retrouvent dans le collimateur des autorités italiennes pour avoir aidé des migrants en Méditerranée.
▻https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/reportages/les-p-cheurs-de-zarzis-ces-h-ros-que-l-italie-pr-f-re-voir-en-prison-
Les pêcheurs tunisiens incarcérés depuis fin août en Sicile sont libres
Arrêtés après avoir tracté une embarcation de quatorze migrants jusqu’au large de Lampedusa, un capitaine tunisien et son équipage sont soupçonnés d’être des passeurs. Alors qu’en Tunisie, ils sont salués comme des sauveurs.
Les six pêcheurs ont pu reprendre la mer afin de regagner Zarzis, dans le sud tunisien. Les familles n’ont pas caché leur soulagement. Un accueil triomphal, par des dizaines de bateaux au large du port, va être organisé, afin de saluer le courage de ces sauveteurs de migrants à la dérive.
Et peu importe si l’acte est dénoncé par l’Italie. Leurs amis et collègues ne changeront pas leurs habitudes de secourir toute embarcation en danger.
A l’image de Rya, la cinquantaine, marin pêcheur à Zarzis qui a déjà sauvé des migrants en perdition et ne s’arrêtera pas : « Il y a des immigrés, tous les jours il y en a. De Libye, de partout. Nous on est des pêcheurs, on essaie de sauver les gens. C’est tout, c’est très simple. Nous on ne va pas s’arrêter, on va sauver d’autres personnes. Ils vont nous mettre en prison, on est là, pas de problème. »
Au-delà du soulagement de voir rentrer les marins au pays, des voix s’élèvent pour crier leur incompréhension. Pour Halima Aissa, présidente de l’Association de recherche des disparus tunisiens à l’étranger, l’action de ce capitaine de pêche ne souffre d’aucune légitimité : « C’est un pêcheur tunisien, mais en tant qu’humaniste, si on trouve des gens qui vont couler en mer, notre droit c’est de les sauver. C’est inhumain de voir des gens mourir et de ne pas les sauver, ça c’est criminel. »
Ces arrestations, certes suivies de libérations, illustrent pourtant la politique du nouveau gouvernement italien, à en croire Romdhane Ben Amor, du Forum tunisien des droits économiques et sociaux qui s’inquiète de cette nouvelle orientation politique : « Ça a commencé par les ONG qui font des opérations de sauvetage dans la Méditerranée et maintenant ça va vers les pêcheurs. C’est un message pour tous ceux qui vont participer aux opérations de sauvetage. Donc on aura plus de danger dans la mer, plus de tragédie dans la mer. » Pendant ce temps, l’enquête devrait se poursuivre encore plusieurs semaines en Italie.
■ Dénoncés par Frontex
Détenus dans une prison d’Agrigente depuis le 29 août, les six pêcheurs tunisiens qui étaient soupçonnés d’aide à l’immigration illégale ont retrouvé leur liberté grâce à la décision du tribunal de réexamen de Palerme. L’équivalent italien du juge des libertés dans le système français.
Le commandant du bateau de pêche, Chamseddine Bourassine, président de l’association des pêcheurs de Zarzis, ville du sud de la Tunisie, avait été arrêté avec les 5 membres d’équipage pour avoir secouru au large de l’île de Lampedusa une embarcation transportant 14 migrants.
C’est un #avion_de_reconnaissance, opérant pour l’agence européenne #Frontex, qui avait repéré leur bateau tractant une barque et averti les autorités italiennes, précise notre correspondante à Rome, Anne Le Nir.
▻http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20180923-pecheurs-tunisiens-incarceres-depuis-fin-aout-sicile-sont-libres
A Zarzis, les pêcheurs sauveurs de migrants menacés par l’Italie
Après l’arrestation le 29 août de six pêcheurs tunisiens à Lampedusa, accusés d’être des passeurs alors qu’ils avaient secouru des migrants, les marins de la petite ville de Zarzis au sud de la Tunisie ont peur des conséquences du sauvetage en mer.
▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/121118/zarzis-les-pecheurs-sauveurs-de-migrants-menaces-par-l-italie
#pêcheurs_tunisiens
Migrants : quand les pêcheurs tunisiens deviennent sauveteurs
En Méditerranée, le sauvetage des candidats à l’exil et les politiques européennes de protection des frontières ont un impact direct sur le village de pêcheurs de #Zarzis, dans le sud de la Tunisie. Dans le code de la mer, les pêcheurs tout comme les gardes nationaux ont l’obligation de sauver les personnes en détresse en mer. Aujourd’hui, ce devoir moral pousse les pêcheurs à prendre des risques, et à se confronter aux autorités européennes.
Chemssedine Bourassine a été arrêté fin août 2018 avec son équipage par les autorités italiennes. Ce pêcheur était accusé d’avoir fait le passeur de migrants car il avait remorqué un canot de 14 personnes en détresse au large de Lampedusa. Lui arguait qu’il ne faisait que son devoir en les aidant, le canot étant à la dérive, en train de couler, lorsqu’il l’avait trouvé.
Revenu à bon port après trois mois sans son navire, confisqué par les autorités italiennes, cet épisode pèse lourd sur lui et ses compères. Nos reporters Lilia Blaise et Hamdi Tlili sont allés à la rencontre de ces pêcheurs, pour qui la mer est devenue une source d’inquiétudes.
▻https://www.france24.com/fr/20190306-focus-tunisie-migrants-mediterranee-mer-sauvetage-pecheurs
Les pêcheurs tunisiens, sauveurs d’hommes en Méditerranée
Lorsque Chamseddine Bourassine a vu l’embarcation de 69 migrants à la dérive au large de la Tunisie, il a appelé les secours et continué à pêcher. Mais deux jours plus tard, au moment de quitter la zone, il a bien fallu les embarquer.
Les pêcheurs tunisiens se retrouvent de plus en plus seuls pour secourir les embarcations clandestines quittant la Libye voisine vers l’Italie, en raison des difficultés des ONG en Méditerranée orientale et du désengagement des navires militaires européens.
Le 11 mai, les équipages de M. Bourassine et de trois autres pêcheurs ont ramené à terre les 69 migrants partis cinq jours plus tôt de Zouara dans l’ouest libyen.
« La zone où nous pêchons est un point de passage » entre Zouara et l’île italienne de Lampedusa, souligne Badreddine Mecherek, un patron de pêche de Zarzis (sud), port voisin de la Libye plongée dans le chaos et plaque tournante pour les migrants d’Afrique, mais aussi d’Asie.
Au fil des ans, la plupart des pêcheurs de Zarzis ont ramené des migrants, sauvant des centaines de vies.
Avec la multiplication de départs après l’hiver, les pêcheurs croisent les doigts pour ne être confrontés à des tragédies.
« On prévient d’abord les autorités, mais au final on les sauve nous-mêmes », soupire M. Mecherek, quinquagénaire bougonnant, en bricolant le Asil, son sardinier.
La marine tunisienne, aux moyens limités, se charge surtout d’intercepter les embarcations clandestines dans ses seules eaux territoriales.
Contactées par l’AFP pour commenter, les autorités tunisiennes n’ont pas souhaité s’exprimer. Celles-ci interdisent depuis le 31 mai le débarquement de 75 migrants sauvés de la noyade dans les eaux internationales, sans avancer de raisons.
– « Comme un ange » -
« Tout le monde s’est désengagé », déplore M. Mecherek.
« Si nous trouvons des migrants au deuxième jour (de notre sortie en mer), nous avons pu travailler une nuit, mais si nous tombons sur eux dès la première nuit, il faut rentrer », ajoute-t-il. « C’est très compliqué de terminer le travail avec des gens à bord ».
La situation est particulièrement complexe quand les pêcheurs tombent sur des migrants à proximité de l’Italie.
M. Bourassine, qui a voulu rapprocher des côtes italiennes une embarcation en détresse mi-2018 au large de Lampedusa, a été emprisonné quatre semaines avec son équipage en Sicile et son bateau confisqué pendant de longs mois.
Ces dernières années, les navires des ONG et ceux de l’opération antipasseurs européenne Sophia étaient intervenus pour secourir les migrants. Mais les opérations ont pâti en 2019 de la réduction du champ d’action de Sophia et des démarches contre les ONG des Etats européens cherchant à limiter l’arrivée des migrants.
« Avec leurs moyens, c’était eux qui sauvaient les gens, on arrivait en deuxième ligne. Maintenant le plus souvent on est les premiers, et si on n’est pas là, les migrants meurent », affirme M. Mecherek.
C’est ce qui est arrivé le 10 mai. Un chalutier a repêché de justesse 16 migrants ayant passé huit heures dans l’eau. Une soixantaine s’étaient noyés avant son arrivée.
Ahmed Sijur, l’un des miraculés, se souvient de l’arrivée du bateau, comme « un ange ».
« J’étais en train d’abandonner mais Dieu a envoyé des pêcheurs pour nous sauver. S’ils étaient arrivés dix minutes plus tard, je crois que j’aurais lâché », explique ce Bangladais de 30 ans.
– « Pas des gens » ! -
M. Mecherek est fier mais inquiet. « On aimerait ne plus voir tous ces cadavres. On va pêcher du poisson, pas des gens » !.
« J’ai 20 marins à bord, il disent +qui va faire manger nos familles, les clandestins ?+ Et ils ont peur des maladies, parfois des migrants ont passé 15-20 jours en mer, ils ne se sont pas douchés, il y a des odeurs, c’est compliqué ». « Mais nos pêcheurs ne laisseront jamais des gens mourir ».
Pour Mongi Slim, responsable du Croissant-Rouge tunisien, « les pêcheurs font pratiquement les gendarmes de la mer et peuvent alerter. Des migrants nous disent que certains gros bateaux passent » sans leur porter secours.
Même les gros thoniers de Zarzis, sous pression pour pêcher leur quota en une sortie annuelle, reconnaissent éviter parfois d’embarquer les migrants mais assurent qu’ils ne les abandonnent pas sans secours.
« On signale les migrants, mais on ne peut pas les ramener à terre : on n’a que quelques semaines pour pêcher notre quota », souligne un membre d’équipage.
Double peine pour les sardiniers : les meilleurs coins de pêche au large de l’ouest libyen leur sont inaccessibles car les gardes-côtes et les groupes armés les tiennent à l’écart.
« Ils sont armés et ils ne rigolent pas », explique M. Mecherek. « Des pêcheurs se sont fait arrêter », ajoute-t-il, « nous sommes des témoins gênants ».
Pour M. Bourassine « l’été s’annonce difficile : avec la reprise des combats en Libye, les trafiquants sont de nouveau libres de travailler, il risque d’y avoir beaucoup de naufrages ».
Les pêcheurs tunisiens, désormais en première ligne pour sauver les migrants en Méditerranée
Les embarcations en péril sont quasiment vouées à l’abandon avec le recul forcé des opérations de sauvetage des ONG et de la lutte contre les passeurs.
Lorsque Chamseddine Bourassine a vu l’embarcation de 69 migrants à la dérive au large de la Tunisie, il a appelé les secours et continué à pêcher. Mais, deux jours plus tard, au moment de quitter la zone, il a bien fallu les embarquer puisque personne ne leur était venu en aide.
Les pêcheurs tunisiens se retrouvent de plus en plus seuls pour secourir les embarcations clandestines quittant la Libye voisine vers l’Italie, en raison des difficultés des ONG en Méditerranée orientale et du désengagement des navires militaires européens.
Le 11 mai, les équipages de M. Bourassine et de trois autres pêcheurs ont ramené à terre les 69 migrants partis cinq jours plus tôt de Zouara, dans l’Ouest libyen. « La zone où nous pêchons est un point de passage » entre Zouara et l’île italienne de Lampedusa, explique Badreddine Mecherek, un patron de pêche de Zarzis (sud). Le port est voisin de la Libye, plongée dans le chaos et plaque tournante pour les migrants d’Afrique, mais aussi d’Asie.
« Tout le monde s’est désengagé »
Au fil des ans, la plupart des pêcheurs de Zarzis ont ramené des migrants, sauvant des centaines de vies. Avec la multiplication de départs après l’hiver, les pêcheurs croisent les doigts pour ne pas être confrontés à des tragédies. « On prévient d’abord les autorités, mais au final on les sauve nous-mêmes », soupire M. Mecherek, quinquagénaire bougonnant, en bricolant le Asil, son sardinier.
La marine tunisienne, aux moyens limités, se charge surtout d’intercepter les embarcations clandestines dans ses seules eaux territoriales. Contactées par l’AFP pour commenter, les autorités tunisiennes n’ont pas souhaité s’exprimer. Celles-ci interdisent depuis le 31 mai le débarquement de 75 migrants sauvés de la noyade dans les eaux internationales, sans avancer de raisons.
« Tout le monde s’est désengagé, déplore M. Mecherek. Si nous trouvons des migrants au deuxième jour de notre sortie en mer, cela nous laisse le temps de travailler une nuit. Mais si nous tombons sur eux dès la première nuit, il faut rentrer. C’est très compliqué de terminer le travail avec des gens à bord. »
La situation est particulièrement complexe quand les pêcheurs tombent sur des migrants à proximité de l’Italie. M. Bourassine, qui avait voulu rapprocher des côtes italiennes une embarcation en détresse mi-2018 au large de Lampedusa, a été emprisonné quatre semaines en Sicile avec son équipage et son bateau, confisqué pendant de longs mois.
« Un ange »
Ces dernières années, les navires des ONG et ceux de l’opération européenne antipasseurs Sophia intervenaient pour secourir les migrants. Mais ces manœuvres de sauvetage ont pâti en 2019 de la réduction du champ d’action de Sophia et des démarches engagées contre les ONG par des Etats européens qui cherchent à limiter l’arrivée des migrants.
« Avec leurs moyens, c’était eux qui sauvaient les gens, on arrivait en deuxième ligne. Maintenant, le plus souvent, on est les premiers, et si on n’est pas là, les migrants meurent », affirme M. Mecherek.
C’est ce qui est arrivé le 10 mai. Un chalutier a repêché de justesse 16 migrants ayant passé huit heures dans l’eau. Une soixantaine d’entre eux s’étaient noyés avant son arrivée.
Ahmed Sijur, l’un des miraculés, se souvient de l’arrivée du bateau, comme d’« un ange ». « J’étais en train d’abandonner, mais Dieu a envoyé des pêcheurs pour nous sauver. S’ils étaient arrivés dix minutes plus tard, je crois que j’aurais lâché », explique ce Bangladais de 30 ans.
M. Mecherek est fier mais inquiet : « On aimerait ne plus voir tous ces cadavres. On va pêcher du poisson, pas des gens ! ». « J’ai vingt marins à bord, explique-t-il encore. Ils disent “Qui va faire manger nos familles, les clandestins ?” Et ils ont peur des maladies, parfois des migrants ont passé quinze à vingt jours en mer, ils ne se sont pas douchés. C’est compliqué, mais nos pêcheurs ne laisseront jamais des gens mourir. » Les petits chalutiers ont donc pris l’habitude d’emporter de nombreux gilets de sauvetage avant leur départ en mer.
« L’été s’annonce difficile »
Pour Mongi Slim, responsable du Croissant-Rouge tunisien, « les pêcheurs sont devenus en pratique les gendarmes de la mer et peuvent alerter. Des migrants nous disent que certains gros bateaux passent » sans leur porter secours.
Les gros thoniers de Zarzis, sous pression pour pêcher leur quota en une seule sortie annuelle, reconnaissent éviter parfois d’embarquer les migrants, mais assurent qu’ils ne les abandonnent pas sans secours. « On signale les migrants, mais on ne peut pas les ramener à terre : on n’a que quelques semaines pour pêcher notre quota », explique un membre d’équipage.
Double peine pour les sardiniers : les meilleurs coins de pêche au large de l’Ouest libyen leur sont devenus inaccessibles, car les garde-côtes et les groupes armés les tiennent à l’écart. « Ils sont armés et ils ne rigolent pas, témoigne M. Mecherek. Des pêcheurs se sont fait arrêter. Nous sommes des témoins gênants. »
Pour M. Bourassine, « l’été s’annonce difficile : avec la reprise des combats en Libye, les trafiquants sont de nouveau libres de travailler, il risque d’y avoir beaucoup de naufrages ».
►https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2019/06/17/les-pecheurs-tunisiens-desormais-en-premiere-ligne-pour-sauver-les-migrants-
Autour des #gardes-côtes_libyens... et de #refoulements en #Libye...
Je copie-colle ici des articles que j’avais mis en bas de cette compilation (qu’il faudrait un peu mettre en ordre, peut-être avec l’aide de @isskein ?) :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/705401
Les articles ci-dessous traitent de :
#asile #migrations #réfugiés #Méditerranée #push-back #refoulement #externalisation #frontières
Pour la première fois depuis 2009, un navire italien ramène des migrants en Libye
Une embarcation de migrants secourue par un navire de ravitaillement italien a été renvoyée en Libye lundi 30 juillet. Le HCR a annoncé mardi l’ouverture d’une enquête et s’inquiète d’une violation du droit international.
Lundi 30 juillet, un navire battant pavillon italien, l’Asso Ventotto, a ramené des migrants en Libye après les avoir secourus dans les eaux internationales – en 2012 déjà l’Italie a été condamnée par la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme pour avoir reconduit en Libye des migrants secourus en pleine mer en 2009.
L’information a été donnée lundi soir sur Twitter par Oscar Camps, le fondateur de l’ONG espagnole Proactiva Open Arms, avant d’être reprise par Nicola Fratoianni, un député de la gauche italienne qui est actuellement à bord du bateau humanitaire espagnol qui sillonne en ce moment les côtes libyennes.
Selon le quotidien italien La Repubblica, 108 migrants à bord d’une embarcation de fortune ont été pris en charge en mer Méditerranée par l’Asso Ventotto lundi 30 juillet. L’équipage du navire de ravitaillement italien a alors contacté le MRCC à Rome - centre de coordination des secours maritimes – qui les a orienté vers le centre de commandement maritime libyen. La Libye leur a ensuite donné l’instruction de ramener les migrants au port de Tripoli.
En effet depuis le 28 juin, sur décision européenne, la gestion des secours des migrants en mer Méditerranée dépend des autorités libyennes et non plus de l’Italie. Concrètement, cela signifie que les opérations de sauvetage menées dans la « SAR zone » - zone de recherche et de sauvetage au large de la Libye - sont désormais coordonnées par les Libyens, depuis Tripoli. Mais le porte-parole du Conseil de l’Europe a réaffirmé ces dernières semaines qu’"aucun navire européen ne peut ramener des migrants en Libye car cela serait contraire à nos principes".
Violation du droit international
La Libye ne peut être considérée comme un « port sûr » pour le débarquement des migrants. « C’est une violation du droit international qui stipule que les personnes sauvées en mer doivent être amenées dans un ‘port sûr’. Malgré ce que dit le gouvernement italien, les ports libyens ne peuvent être considérés comme tels », a déclaré sur Twitter le député Nicola Fratoianni. « Les migrants se sont vus refuser la possibilité de demander l’asile, ce qui constitue une violation des accords de Genève sur les sauvetages en mer », dit-il encore dans le quotidien italien La Stampa.
Sur Facebook, le ministre italien de l’Intérieur, Matteo Salvini, nie toutes entraves au droit international. « La garde-côtière italienne n’a ni coordonné, ni participé à cette opération, comme l’a faussement déclarée une ONG et un député de gauche mal informé ».
Le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) a de son côté annoncé mardi 31 juillet l’ouverture d’une enquête. « Nous recueillons toutes les informations nécessaires sur le cas du remorqueur italien Asso Ventotto qui aurait ramené en Libye 108 personnes sauvées en Méditerranée. La Libye n’est pas un ‘port sûr’ et cet acte pourrait constituer une violation du droit international », dit l’agence onusienne sur Twitter.
▻http://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/10995/pour-la-premiere-fois-depuis-2009-un-navire-italien-ramene-des-migrant
Nave italiana soccorre e riporta in Libia 108 migranti. Salvini: «Nostra Guardia costiera non coinvolta»
L’atto in violazione della legislazione internazionale che garantisce il diritto d’asilo e che non riconosce la Libia come un porto sicuro. Il vicepremier: «Nostre navi non sono intervenute nelle operazioni». Fratoianni (LeU): «Ci sono le prove della violazione»
▻http://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/07/31/news/migranti_nave_italiana_libia-203026448/?ref=RHPPLF-BH-I0-C8-P1-S1.8-T1
#vos_thalassa #asso_28
Commentaire de Sara Prestianni, via la mailing-list de Migreurop:
Le navire commerciale qui opere autour des plateformes de pétrole, battant pavillon italien - ASSO 28 - a ramené 108 migrants vers le port de Tripoli suite à une opération de sauvetage- Les premiers reconstructions faites par Open Arms et le parlementaire Fratoianni qui se trouve à bord de Open Arms parlent d’une interception en eaux internationales à la quelle a suivi le refoulement. Le journal La Repubblica dit que les Gardes Cotes Italiennes auraient invité Asso28 à se coordonner avec les Gardes Cotes Libyennes (comme font habituellement dans les derniers mois. Invitation déclinés justement par les ong qui opèrent en mer afin de éviter de proceder à un refoulement interdit par loi). Le Ministre de l’Interieur nie une implication des Gardes Cotes Italiens et cyniquement twitte “Le Garde cotes libyenne dans les derniers heures ont sauvé et ramené à terre 611 migrants. Les Ong protestent les passeurs font des affaires ? C’est bien. Nous continuons ainsi”
Départs de migrants depuis la Libye :
Libya : outcomes of the sea journey
Migrants intercepted /rescued by the Libyan coast guard
Lieux de désembarquement :
–-> Graphiques de #Matteo_Villa, posté sur twitter :
source : ►https://twitter.com/emmevilla/status/1036892919964286976
#statistiques #chiffres #2016 #2017 #2018
cc @simplicissimus
Libyan Coast Guard Takes 611 Migrants Back to Africa
Between Monday and Tuesday, the Libyan Coast Guard reportedly rescued 611 migrants aboard several dinghies off the coast and took them back to the African mainland.
Along with the Libyan search and rescue operation, an Italian vessel, following indications from the Libyan Coast Guard, rescued 108 migrants aboard a rubber dinghy and delivered them back to the port of Tripoli. The vessel, called La Asso 28, was a support boat for an oil platform.
Italian mainstream media have echoed complaints of NGOs claiming that in taking migrants back to Libya the Italian vessel would have violated international law that guarantees the right to asylum and does not recognize Libya as a safe haven.
In recent weeks, a spokesman for the Council of Europe had stated that “no European ship can bring migrants back to Libya because it is contrary to our principles.”
Twenty days ago, another ship supporting an oil rig, the Vos Thalassa, after rescuing a group of migrants, was preparing to deliver them to a Libyan patrol boat when an attempt to revolt among the migrants convinced the commander to reverse the route and ask the help of the Italian Coast Guard. The migrants were loaded aboard the ship Diciotti and taken to Trapani, Sicily, after the intervention of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.
On the contrary, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has declared Tuesday’s operation to be a victory for efforts to curb illegal immigration. The decision to take migrants back to Africa rather than transporting them to Europe reflects an accord between Italy and Libya that has greatly reduced the numbers of African migrants reaching Italian shores.
Commenting on the news, Mr. Salvini tweeted: “The Libyan Coast Guard has rescued and taken back to land 611 immigrants in recent hours. The NGOs protest and the traffickers lose their business? Great, this is how we make progress,” followed by hashtags announcing “closed ports” and “open hearts.”
Parliamentarian Nicola Fratoianni of the left-wing Liberi and Uguali (Free and Equal) party and secretary of the Italian Left, presently aboard the Spanish NGO ship Open Arms, denounced the move.
“We do not yet know whether this operation was carried out on the instructions of the Italian Coast Guard, but if so it would be a very serious precedent, a real collective rejection for which Italy and the ship’s captain will answer before a court,” he said.
“International law requires that people rescued at sea must be taken to a safe haven and the Libyan ports, despite the mystification of reality by the Italian government, cannot be considered as such,” he added.
The United Nations immigration office (UNHCR) has threatened Italy for the incident involving the 108 migrants taken to Tripoli, insisting that Libya is not a safe port and that the episode could represent a breach of international law.
“We are collecting all the necessary information,” UNHCR tweeted.
►https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/santiago-anti-abortion-women-stabbed-chile-protest-a8469786.html
#refoulements #push-back
UNHCR Position on Returns to Libya - Update II
Libya rescued 10,000 migrants this year, says Germany
Libyan coast guards have saved some 10,000 migrants at sea since the start of this year, according to German authorities. The figure was provided by the foreign ministry during a debate in parliament over what the Left party said were “inhumane conditions” of returns of migrants to Libya. Libyan coast guards are trained by the EU to stop migrants crossing to Europe.
UNHCR Flash Update Libya (9 - 15 November 2018) [EN/AR]
As of 14 November, the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) has rescued/intercepted 14,595 refugees and migrants (10,184 men, 2,147 women and 1,408 children) at sea. On 10 November, a commercial vessel reached the port of Misrata (187 km east of Tripoli) carrying 95 refugees and migrants who refused to disembark the boat. The individuals on board comprise of Ethiopian, Eritrean, South Sudanese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Somali nationals. UNHCR is closely following-up on the situation of the 14 individuals who have already disembarked and ensuring the necessary assistance is provided and screening is conducted for solutions. Since the onset, UNHCR has advocated for a peaceful resolution of the situation and provided food, water and core relief items (CRIs) to alleviate the suffering of individuals onboard the vessel.
►https://reliefweb.int/report/libya/unhcr-flash-update-libya-9-15-november-2018-enar
#statistiques #2018 #chiffres
Rescued at sea, locked up, then sold to smugglers
In Libya, refugees returned by EU-funded ships are thrust back into a world of exploitation.
The Souq al Khamis detention centre in Khoms, Libya, is so close to the sea that migrants and refugees can hear waves crashing on the shore. Its detainees – hundreds of men, women and children – were among 15,000 people caught trying to cross the Mediterranean in flimsy boats in 2018, after attempting to reach Italy and the safety of Europe.
They’re now locked in rooms covered in graffiti, including warnings that refugees may be sold to smugglers by the guards that watch them.
This detention centre is run by the UN-backed Libyan government’s department for combatting illegal migration (DCIM). Events here over the last few weeks show how a hardening of European migration policy is leaving desperate refugees with little room to escape from networks ready to exploit them.Since 2014, the EU has allocated more than €300 million to Libya with the aim of stopping migration. Funnelled through the Trust Fund for Africa, this includes roughly €40 million for the Libyan coast guard, which intercepts boats in the Mediterranean. Ireland’s contribution to the trust fund will be €15 million between 2016 and 2020.
Scabies
One of the last 2018 sea interceptions happened on December 29th, when, the UN says, 286 people were returned to Khoms. According to two current detainees, who message using hidden phones, the returned migrants arrived at Souq al Khamis with scabies and other health problems, and were desperate for medical attention.
On New Year’s Eve, a detainee messaged to say the guards in the centre had tried to force an Eritrean man to return to smugglers, but others managed to break down the door and save him.On Sunday, January 5th, detainees said, the Libyan guards were pressurising the still-unregistered arrivals to leave by beating them with guns. “The leaders are trying to push them [to] get out every day,” one said.
▻https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/rescued-at-sea-locked-up-then-sold-to-smugglers-1.3759181
Migranti, 100 persone trasferite su cargo e riportate in Libia. Alarm Phone: “Sono sotto choc, credevano di andare in Italia”
Dopo l’allarme delle scorse ore e la chiamata del premier Conte a Tripoli, le persone (tra cui venti donne e dodici bambini, uno dei quali potrebbe essere morto di stenti) sono state trasferite sull’imbarcazione che batte bandiera della Sierra Leone in direzione Misurata. Ma stando alle ultime informazioni, le tensioni a bordo rendono difficoltoso lo sbarco. Intanto l’ong Sea Watch ha salvato 47 persone e chiede un porto dove attraccare
►https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/01/21/migranti-100-persone-trasferite-su-cargo-e-riportate-in-libia-alarm-phone-sono-sotto-choc-credevano-di-andare-in-italia/4911794
Migrants calling us in distress from the Mediterranean returned to Libya by deadly ‘refoulement’ industry
When they called us from the sea, the 106 precarious travellers referred to their boat as a white balloon. This balloon, or rubber dinghy, was meant to carry them all the way to safety in Europe. The people on board – many men, about 20 women, and 12 children from central, west and north Africa – had left Khoms in Libya a day earlier, on the evening of January 19.
Though they survived the night at sea, many of passengers on the boat were unwell, seasick and freezing. They decided to call for help and used their satellite phone at approximately 11am the next day. They reached out to the Alarm Phone, a hotline operated by international activists situated in Europe and Africa, that can be called by migrants in distress at sea. Alongside my work as a researcher on migration and borders, I am also a member of this activist network, and on that day I supported our shift team who received and documented the direct calls from the people on the boat in distress.
The boat had been trying to get as far away as possible from the Libyan coast. Only then would the passengers stand a chance of escaping Libya’s coastguard. The European Union and Italy struck a deal in 2017 to train the Libyan coastguard in return for them stopping migrants reaching European shores. But a 2017 report by Amnesty International highlighted how the Libyan authorities operate in collusion with smuggling networks. Time and again, media reports suggest they have drastically violated the human rights of escaping migrants as well as the laws of the sea.
The migrant travellers knew that if they were detected and caught, they would be abducted back to Libya, or illegally “refouled”. But Libya is a dangerous place for migrants in transit – as well as for Libyan nationals – given the ongoing civil conflict between several warring factions. In all likelihood, being sent back to Libya would mean being sent to detention centres described as “concentration-camp like” by German diplomats.
The odds of reaching Europe were stacked against the people on the boat. Over the past year, the European-Libyan collaboration in containing migrants in North Africa, a research focus of mine, has resulted in a decrease of sea arrivals in Italy – from about 119,000 in 2017 to 23,000 in 2018. Precisely how many people were intercepted by the Libyan coastguards last year is unclear but the Libyan authorities have put the figure at around 15,000. The fact that this refoulement industry has led to a decrease in the number of migrant crossings in the central Mediterranean means that fewer people have been able to escape grave human rights violations and reach a place of safety.
Shifting responsibility
In repeated conversations, the 106 people on the boat made clear to the Alarm Phone activists that they would rather move on and endanger their lives by continuing to Europe than be returned by the Libyan coastguards. The activists stayed in touch with them, and for transparency reasons, the distress situation was made public via Twitter.
Around noon, the situation on board deteriorated markedly and anxiety spread. With weather conditions worsening and after a boy had fallen unconscious, the people on the boat expressed for the first time their immediate fear of dying at sea and demanded Alarm Phone to alert all available authorities.
The activists swiftly notified the Italian coastguards. But both the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, and in turn the Maltese authorities, suggested it was the Libyan coastguard’s responsibility to handle the distress call. And yet, eight different phone numbers of the Libyan coastguards could not be reached by the activists.
In the afternoon, the situation had come across the radar of the Italian media. When the Alarm Phone activists informed the people on board that the public had also been made aware of the situation by the media one person succinctly responded: “I don’t need to be on the news, I need to be rescued.”
And yet media attention catapulted the story into the highest political spheres in Italy. According to a report in the Italian national newspaper Corriere della Sera, the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, took charge of the situation, stating that the fate of the migrant boat could not be left to Alarm Phone activists. Conte instructed the Italian foreign intelligence service to launch rapid negotiations with the Libyan coastguards. It took some time to persuade them, but eventually, the Libyans were convinced to take action.
In the meantime, the precarious passengers on the boat reported of water leaking into their boat, of the freezing cold, and their fear of drowning. The last time the Alarm Phone reached them, around 8pm, they could see a plane in the distance but were unable to forward their GPS coordinates to the Alarm Phone due to the failing battery of their satellite phone.
Sent back to Libya
About three hours later, the Italian coastguards issued a press release: the Libyans had assumed responsibility and co-ordinated the rescue of several boats. According to the press release, a merchant vessel had rescued the boat and the 106 people would be returned to Libya.
According to the survivors and Médecins Sans Frontières who treated them on arrival, at least six people appeared to have drowned during the voyage – presumably after the Alarm Phone lost contact with them. Another boy died after disembarkation.
A day later, on January 21, members of a second group of 144 people called the Alarm Phone from another merchant vessel. Just like the first group, they had been refouled to Libya, but they were still on board. Some still believed that they would be brought to Europe.
Speaking on the phone with the activists, they could see land but it was not European but Libyan land. Recognising they’d been returned to their place of torment, they panicked, cried and threatened collective suicide. The women were separated from the men – Alarm Phone activists could hear them shout in the background. In the evening, contact with this second group of migrants was lost.
During the evening of January 23, several of the women of the group reached out to the activists. They said that during the night, Libyan security forces boarded the merchant vessel and transported small groups into the harbour of Misrata, where they were taken to a detention centre. They said they’d been beaten when refusing to disembark. One of them, bleeding, feared that she had already lost her unborn child.
On the next day, the situation worsened further. The women told the activists that Libyan forces entered their cell in the morning, pointing guns at them, after some of the imprisoned had tried to escape. Reportedly, every man was beaten. The pictures they sent to the Alarm Phone made it into Italian news, showing unhygienic conditions, overcrowded cells, and bodies with torture marks.
Just like the 106 travellers on the “white balloon”, this second group of 144 people had risked their lives but were now back in their hell.
Profiteering
It’s more than likely that for some of these migrant travellers, this was not their first attempt to escape Libya. The tens of thousands captured at sea and returned over the past years have found themselves entangled in the European-Libyan refoulement “industry”. Due to European promises of financial support or border technologies, regimes with often questionable human rights records have wilfully taken on the role as Europe’s frontier guards. In the Mediterranean, the Libyan coastguards are left to do the dirty work while European agencies – such as Frontex, Eunavfor Med as well as the Italian and Maltese coastguards – have withdrawn from the most contentious and deadly areas of the sea.
It’s sadly not surprising that flagrant human rights violations have become the norm rather than the exception. Quite cynically, several factions of the Libyan coastguards have profited not merely from Europe’s financial support but also from playing a “double game” in which they continue to be involved in human smuggling while, disguised as coastguards, clampdown on the trade of rival smuggling networks. This means that the Libyan coastguards profit often from both letting migrant boats leave and from subsequently recapturing them.
The detention camps in Libya, where torture and rape are everyday phenomena, are not merely containment zones of captured migrants – they form crucial extortion zones in this refoulement industry. Migrants are turned into “cash cows” and are repeatedly subjected to violent forms of extortion, often forced to call relatives at home and beg for their ransom.
Despite this systematic abuse, migrant voices cannot be completely drowned out. They continue to appear, rebelliously, from detention and even from the middle of the sea, reminding us all about Europe’s complicity in the production of their suffering.
▻https://theconversation.com/migrants-calling-us-in-distress-from-the-mediterranean-returned-to-
Libya coast guard detains 113 migrants during lull in fighting
The Libyan coast guard has stopped 113 migrants trying to reach Italy over the past two days, the United Nations said on Wednesday, as boat departures resume following a lull in fighting between rival forces in Libya.
The western Libyan coast is a major departure point for mainly African migrants fleeing conflict and poverty and trying to reach Italy across the Mediterranean Sea with the help of human traffickers.
Smuggling activity had slowed when forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive to take the capital Tripoli, home to Libya’s internationally recognized government.
But clashes eased on Tuesday after a push by Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) back by artillery failed to make inroads toward the center.
Shelling audible in central Tripoli was less intense on Wednesday than on previous days. Three weeks of clashes had killed 376 as of Tuesday, the World Health Organization said.
The Libyan coast guard stopped two boats on Tuesday and one on Wednesday, carrying 113 migrants in all, and returned them to two western towns away from the Tripoli frontline, where they were put into detention centers, U.N. migration agency IOM said.
A coast guard spokesman said the migrants were from Arab and sub-Saharan African countries as well as Bangladesh.
Human rights groups have accused armed groups and members of the coast guard of being involved in human trafficking.
Officials have been accused in the past of mistreating detainees, who are being held in their thousands as part of European-backed efforts to curb smuggling. A U.N. report in December referred to a “terrible litany” of violations including unlawful killings, torture, gang rape and slavery.
Rights groups have also accused the European Union of complicity in the abuse as Italy and France have provided boats for the coast guard to step up patrols. That move has helped to reduce migrant departures.
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security/libya-coast-guard-detains-113-migrants-during-lull-in-fighting-idUSKCN1S73R
Judgement in Italy recognizes that people rescued by #Vos_Thalassa acted lawfully when opposed disembarkation in #Libya. Two men spent months in prison, as Italian government had wished, till a judge established that they had acted in legitimate defence.
Also interesting that judge argues that Italy-Libya Bilateral agreement on migration control must be considered illegitimate as in breach of international, EU and domestic law.
▻https://dirittopenaleuomo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/GIP-Trapani.pdf
Reçu via FB par @isskein :
▻https://www.facebook.com/isabelle.saintsaens/posts/10218154173470834?comment_id=10218154180551011¬if_id=1560196520660275&n
#justice
The Commission and Italy tie themselves up in knots over Libya
►http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-344-Commission-and-Italy-tie-themselves-up-in-knots-over-libya.pdf
–-> analyse de #Yasha_Maccanico sur la polémique entre Salvini et la Commission quand il a déclaré en mars que la Commission était tout a fait d’accord avec son approche (le retour des migrants aux champs logiques), la Commission l’a démenti et puis a sorti la lettre de Mme. Michou (JAI Commission) de laquelle provenaient les justifications utilisées par le ministre, qui disait à Leggeri que la collaboration avec la garde côtière libyenne des avions européennes était legale. Dans la lettre, elle admit que les italiens et la mission de Frontex font des activités qui devrait être capable de faire la Libye, si sa zone SAR fuisse authentique et pas une manière pour l’UE de se débarrasser de ses obligations légales et humanitaires. C’est un acte de auto-inculpation pour l’UE et pour l’Italie.
Returned to War and Torture: Malta and Frontex coordinate push-back to Libya
On Saturday, 14 March 2020, RCC Malta coordinated a push-back operation from the Maltese Search and Rescue (SAR) zone to Libya in cooperation with the EU border agency Frontex and the so-called Libyan coastguards.[1] Similar to the events we documented on 18 October 2019, the Maltese authorities instructed the so-called Libyan coastguards to enter a European SAR zone in order to abduct about 49 people and force them back to Libya.[2] Instead of complying with refugee and human rights conventions, the Maltese authorities coordinated a grave violation of international law and of the principle of non-refoulment, as the rescued must be disembarked in a safe harbour.[3] Clearly, Libya is not a safe harbour but a place of war and systemic human rights abuses. Every week, the Alarm Phone receives testimonies of torture, rape and other forms of violence against migrants detained in Libyan camps and prisons.
On the same day, we alerted the Armed Forces of Malta to a second boat in distress in the Maltese SAR zone with 112 people on board.[4] Before their eventual rescue, the people spent about 48 hours at sea. Malta delayed the rescue for more than 18 hours, putting 112 lives at severe risk. Non-assistance, delays, and pushbacks are becoming the norm in the Central Mediterranean, causing trauma in survivors, disappearances and deaths, both at sea and in Libya.
Europe continues to delegate border enforcement to the Libyan authorities to evade their responsibility to rescue the distressed to Europe. We hold Europe accountable for the abuses and suffering inflicted on migrants at sea and in Libya. We condemn the role of European institutions and member states, including Malta and Italy, in these human rights violations through bilateral agreements as well as the financing, equipping, and training of the so-called Libyan coastguards.
Summary of the push-back by proxy case:
On Saturday 14 March 2020, at 15:33h CET, the Alarm Phone received a distress call from 49 people, including one pregnant woman and three children, who were trying to escape from the war in Libya. They had left Tripoli the evening before on a white fiberglass boat. They shared their GPS position with us, which clearly showed them within the Maltese SAR zone (34° 26′ 39 ” N, 14° 07′ 86″ E, at 15:33h). The people on board told us that they had lost their engine and that water was entering the boat. We immediately informed RCC Malta and the Italian coastguard via email. We received updated GPS positions from the people in distress at 16:22h (34° 26 81′ N, 014° 08′ 56″ E) and at 17:07h (N 34° 27′ 12″, E 014° 09′ 37″), both confirming once more that they were drifting within the Maltese SAR zone.
At 17:42h, RCC Malta confirmed via phone that they had sent two patrol boats for the two SAR events in the Maltese SAR zone to which we had alerted them: one for the boat of 49 people and another one for the rubber boat with 112 people on board. Soon after, at 17:45h, we talked to the 49 people on the boat who told us that they could see a boat heading in their direction. Unfortunately, the conversation broke off and we were not able to clarify further details. This was our last contact to the people in distress after which we could not reach them any longer. Since then, we have tried to obtain further details from RCC Malta, but they claim to not have any information.
However, confidential sources have informed us that a Frontex aerial asset had spotted the migrant boat already at 6:00h when it was still in the contested Libyan SAR zone. At 18.04h, the Libyan coastguard vessel Ras Al Jadar intercepted the boat in the Maltese SAR zone at the position N34° 26’, E 14° 07’. This means that the European border agency Frontex, MRCC Rome as well as RCC Malta were all aware of this boat in distress and colluded with the Libyan authorities to enter Maltese SAR and intercept the migrant boat.
On Sunday 15 March 2020, at 7:00h, we were called by relatives of the people on board who told us that the people in distress had just informed them that they had been abducted by a Libyan vessel from within the Maltese SAR zone and returned to Libya, where, according to their testimonies, they were imprisoned and battered. In the afternoon, we were called by the people who were on the boat, and they testified that before the push-back occurred they saw a helicopter circling above them. About 30 minutes later, according to their testimonies, a vessel of the so-called Libyan coastguard arrived on scene. The people stated that the Libyan officers behaved brutally toward them, beating them repeatedly. They also stated that they were prevented from filming and documenting these abuses as their phones were confiscated. Moreover, the people reported that they had travelled together with another boat, a white rubber boat with around 60 people on board (including 7 women and 1 woman with a nine-month-old infant). Also this second boat[5] was intercepted and returned to Libya and its passengers experienced similar forms of violence and abuse.
▻https://alarmphone.org/en/2020/03/15/returned-to-war-and-torture/?post_type_release_type=post
Albania Cannot “Adopt” Asylum Seekers from Italy
Over the weekend, the Albanian government announced that it would “adopt” 20 of the 150 Eritrean asylum seekers that had been blocked for a week in the Italian port of Catania by far-right deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini. The refugees were only allowed to leave the ship after the Italian court started proceedings against him.
The Italian Ombudsman Mauro Palma, claimed that migrants were “de facto deprived of freedom without any legal basis or judicial oversight” and that Salvini and the Italian government had potentially violated the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, the Italian Constitution, the Geneva Convention, as well as the Italian Criminal Code and Code of Navigation.
The acceptance of Albania’s offer to take over 20 asylum seekers may yet be another violation, because Albania is a “third country” and not part of the common EU asylum system, the Dublin Convention.
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Lorenzo Trucco, director of the Association for the Juridical Study of Immigration (ASGI), called the Albanian “solution” a “theater of the absurd”:
Here we are outside any legal context. Albania is not in the European Union, so we are talking about a relocation to a third country that does not have everything that is foreseen by the common European asylum system. It means that we are not sure that they have the requisites required for the recognition of protection. So a transfer to this country can only take place if the migrants agree, never against their will. In that case it would be a forced removal.
And then there is the issue of choice. How will anyone selected to go to Albania be selected? It is a theater of the absurd, an attack on the asylum system. Fortunately, there was the intervention of the judiciary.
Transferring Eritrean refugees from Italy to Albania against their will or after they applied for asylum in Italy (for which they had the right as soon as they disembarked the ship) is a breach of EU law. The Albanian government has given Salvini a pretext for doing so, while also showing how little it understands of how the rule of law works.
▻https://exit.al/en/2018/08/27/albania-cannot-adopt-asylum-seekers-from-italy
#externalisation #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Italie #Albanie
Cette tentative d’externaliser les procédures en Albanie a été pensée pour les réfugiés à bord de la #Diciotti, navire bloqué pendant des jours et des jours en mer car le gouvernement italien a bloqué l’accès sur son territoire.
Malheureusement, je n’ai pas trop suivi ce dernier épisode, car j’étais loin et pas toujours connectée.
Il y a tout de même de la documentation ici, qui traite du cas Diciotti, mais pas de la tentative d’externalisation en Albanie :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/717803
L’Italie a demandé au #Monténégro d’accepter des réfugiés du Diciotti
30 août - 11h30 : « L’Italie a contacté le ministère des Affaires étrangères, lui demandant d’accueillir certains réfugiés du Diciotti », a confirmé le porte-parole du gouvernement monténégrin, Srđan Kusovac. Ces derniers, principalement d’origine africaine, sont bloqués depuis dix jours dans le port de Catane, en Sicile. L’Albanie doit accueillir 20 d’entre eux.
Vu sur le site du Courrier des Balkans, dernières info, pas de URL propre, malheureusement.
Réfugiés : l’Albanie va accueillir 20 passagers du Diciotti
20 passagers du Diciotti, le navire bloqué dans le port de Catane, vont être pris en charge par Tirana. Ce geste du gouvernement d’Edi Rama intervient alors que Rome est en plein bras de fer avec l’Union européenne sur la question de l’accueil des réfugiés.
▻https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/L-Albanie-va-accueillir-20-refugies-du-Diciotti
Montenegro to Host Some Migrants From Italy
Montenegrin on Thursday announced that it will take in up to five people from a ship full of migrants that was stranded off the coast of Italy for days.
The government of Montenegro has said it will receive up to five refugees and migrants who disembarked at a port in Sicily after the Italian authorities kept them on the ship for days.
“The Government, having acknowledged the principles of humanity and solidarity with people in need as a traditional value of Montenegrin society, confirmed many times in our history, decided that Montenegro should accept up to five migrants from the Diciotto,” the government said on its Twitter account on Thursday evening.
Montenegro confirmed on August 30 that it had been approached by Italy and asked to take in a number of migrants and refugees, to help end a 10-day standoff with the ship docked off the Italian coast at Catania.
Podgorica said then it was still mulling whether to take the mostly African-origin migrants and refugees, but had not yet taken a stance.
“Unanimously, the Government of Montenegro confirms its commitment to the European value system and affirms human dignity,” it said on Twitter on Thursday.
▻http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/montenegro-to-receive-up-to-five-migrants-from-italy-09-06-2018
Vu sur Twitter :
M.Potte-Bonneville @pottebonneville a retweeté Catherine Boitard
Vous vous souvenez ? Elle avait sauvé ses compagnons en tirant l’embarcation à la nage pendant trois heures : Sarah Mardini, nageuse olympique et réfugiée syrienne, est arrêtée pour aide à l’immigration irrégulière.
Les olympiades de la honte 2018 promettent de beaux records
M.Potte-Bonneville @pottebonneville a retweeté Catherine Boitard @catboitard :
Avec sa soeur Yusra, nageuse olympique et distinguée par l’ONU, elle avait sauvé 18 réfugiés de la noyade à leur arrivée en Grèce. La réfugiée syrienne Sarah Mardini, boursière à Berlin et volontaire de l’ONG ERCI, a été arrêtée à Lesbos pour aide à immigration irrégulière
GRÈCE : LA POLICE ARRÊTE 30 MEMBRES D’UNE ONG D’AIDE AUX RÉFUGIÉS
La police a arrêté, mardi 28 août, 30 membres de l’ONG grecque #ERCI, dont les soeurs syriennes Yusra et Sarah Mardini, qui avaient sauvé la vie à 18 personnes en 2015. Les militant.e.s sont accusés d’avoir aidé des migrants à entrer illégalement sur le territoire grec via l’île de Lesbos. Ils déclarent avoir agi dans le cadre de l’assistance à personnes en danger.
Par Marina Rafenberg
L’ONG grecque Emergency response centre international (ERCY) était présente sur l’île de Lesbos depuis 2015 pour venir en aide aux réfugiés. Depuis mardi 28 août, ses 30 membres sont poursuivis pour avoir « facilité l’entrée illégale d’étrangers sur le territoire grec » en vue de gains financiers, selon le communiqué de la police grecque.
L’enquête a commencé en février 2018, rapporte le site d’information protagon.gr, lorsqu’une Jeep portant une fausse plaque d’immatriculation de l’armée grecque a été découverte par la police sur une plage, attendant l’arrivée d’une barque pleine de réfugiés en provenance de Turquie. Les membres de l’ONG, six Grecs et 24 ressortissants étrangers, sont accusés d’avoir été informés à l’avance par des personnes présentes du côté turc des heures et des lieux d’arrivée des barques de migrants, d’avoir organisé l’accueil de ces réfugiés sans en informer les autorités locales et d’avoir surveillé illégalement les communications radio entre les autorités grecques et étrangères, dont Frontex, l’agence européenne des gardes-cotes et gardes-frontières. Les crimes pour lesquels ils sont inculpés – participation à une organisation criminelle, violation de secrets d’État et recel – sont passibles de la réclusion à perpétuité.
Parmi les membres de l’ONG grecque arrêtés se trouve Yusra et Sarah Mardini, deux sœurs nageuses et réfugiées syrienne qui avaient sauvé 18 personnes de la noyade lors de leur traversée de la mer Égée en août 2015. Depuis Yusra a participé aux Jeux Olympiques de Rio, est devenue ambassadrice de l’ONU et a écrit un livre, Butterfly. Sarah avait quant à elle décidé d’aider à son tour les réfugiés qui traversaient dangereusement la mer Égée sur des bateaux de fortune et s’était engagée comme bénévole dans l’ONG ERCI durant l’été 2016.
Sarah a été arrêtée le 21 août à l’aéroport de Lesbos alors qu’elle devait rejoindre Berlin où elle vit avec sa famille. Le 3 septembre, elle devait commencer son année universitaire au collège Bard en sciences sociales. La jeune Syrienne de 23 ans a été transférée à la prison de Korydallos, à Athènes, dans l’attente de son procès. Son avocat a demandé mercredi sa remise en liberté.
Ce n’est pas la première fois que des ONG basées à Lesbos ont des soucis avec la justice grecque. Des membres de l’ONG espagnole Proem-Aid avaient aussi été accusés d’avoir participé à l’entrée illégale de réfugiés sur l’île. Ils ont été relaxés en mai dernier. D’après le ministère de la Marine, 114 ONG ont été enregistrées sur l’île, dont les activités souvent difficilement contrôlables inquiètent le gouvernement grec et ses partenaires européens.
►https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/Une-ONG-accusee-d-aide-a-l-entree-irreguliere-de-migrants
#grèce #asile #migrations #réfugiés #solidarité #délit_de_solidarité
Arrest of Syrian ’hero swimmer’ puts Lesbos refugees back in spotlight
Sara Mardini’s case adds to fears that rescue work is being criminalised and raises questions about NGO.
Greece’s high-security #Korydallos prison acknowledges that #Sara_Mardini is one of its rarer inmates. For a week, the Syrian refugee, a hero among human rights defenders, has been detained in its women’s wing on charges so serious they have elicited baffled dismay.
The 23-year-old, who saved 18 refugees in 2015 by swimming their waterlogged dingy to the shores of Lesbos with her Olympian sister, is accused of people smuggling, espionage and membership of a criminal organisation – crimes allegedly committed since returning to work with an NGO on the island. Under Greek law, Mardini can be held in custody pending trial for up to 18 months.
“She is in a state of disbelief,” said her lawyer, Haris Petsalnikos, who has petitioned for her release. “The accusations are more about criminalising humanitarian action. Sara wasn’t even here when these alleged crimes took place but as charges they are serious, perhaps the most serious any aid worker has ever faced.”
Mardini’s arrival to Europe might have gone unnoticed had it not been for the extraordinary courage she and younger sister, Yusra, exhibited guiding their boat to safety after the engine failed during the treacherous crossing from Turkey. Both were elite swimmers, with Yusra going on to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The sisters, whose story is the basis of a forthcoming film by the British director Stephen Daldry, were credited with saving the lives of their fellow passengers. In Germany, their adopted homeland, the pair has since been accorded star status.
It was because of her inspiring story that Mardini was approached by Emergency Response Centre International, ERCI, on Lesbos. “After risking her own life to save 18 people … not only has she come back to ground zero, but she is here to ensure that no more lives get lost on this perilous journey,” it said after Mardini agreed to join its ranks in 2016.
After her first stint with ERCI, she again returned to Lesbos last December to volunteer with the aid group. And until 21 August there was nothing to suggest her second spell had not gone well. But as Mardini waited at Mytilini airport to head back to Germany, and a scholarship at Bard College in Berlin, she was arrested. Soon after that, police also arrested ERCI’s field director, Nassos Karakitsos, a former Greek naval force officer, and Sean Binder, a German volunteer who lives in Ireland. All three have protested their innocence.
The arrests come as signs of a global clampdown on solidarity networks mount. From Russia to Spain, European human rights workers have been targeted in what campaigners call an increasingly sinister attempt to silence civil society in the name of security.
“There is the concern that this is another example of civil society being closed down by the state,” said Jonathan Cooper, an international human rights lawyer in London. “What we are really seeing is Greek authorities using Sara to send a very worrying message that if you volunteer for refugee work you do so at your peril.”
But amid concerns about heavy-handed tactics humanitarians face, Greek police say there are others who see a murky side to the story, one ofpeople trafficking and young volunteers being duped into participating in a criminal network unwittingly. In that scenario,the Mardini sisters would make prime targets.
Greek authorities spent six months investigating the affair. Agents were flown into Lesbos from Athens and Thessaloniki. In an unusually long and detailed statement, last week, Mytilini police said that while posing as a non-profit organisation, ERCI had acted with the sole purpose of profiteering by bringing people illegally into Greece via the north-eastern Aegean islands.
Members had intercepted Greek and European coastguard radio transmissions to gain advance notification of the location of smugglers’ boats, police said, and that 30, mostly foreign nationals, were lined up to be questioned in connection with the alleged activities. Other “similar organisations” had also collaborated in what was described as “an informal plan to confront emergency situations”, they added.
Suspicions were first raised, police said, when Mardini and Binder were stopped in February driving a former military 4X4 with false number plates. ERCI remained unnamed until the release of the charge sheets for the pair and that of Karakitsos.
Lesbos has long been on the frontline of the refugee crisis, attracting idealists and charity workers. Until a dramatic decline in migration numbers via the eastern Mediterranean in March 2016, when a landmark deal was signed between the EU and Turkey, the island was the main entry point to Europe.
An estimated 114 NGOs and 7,356 volunteers are based on Lesbos, according to Greek authorities. Local officials talk of “an industry”, and with more than 10,000 refugees there and the mood at boiling point, accusations of NGOs acting as a “pull factor” are rife.
“Sara’s motive for going back this year was purely humanitarian,” said Oceanne Fry, a fellow student who in June worked alongside her at a day clinic in the refugee reception centre.
“At no point was there any indication of illegal activity by the group … but I can attest to the fact that, other than our intake meeting, none of the volunteers ever met, or interacted, with its leadership.”
The mayor of Lesbos, Spyros Galinos, said he has seen “good and bad” in the humanitarian movement since the start of the refugee crisis.
“Everything is possible,. There is no doubt that some NGOs have exploited the situation. The police announcement was uncommonly harsh. For a long time I have been saying that we just don’t need all these NGOs. When the crisis erupted, yes, the state was woefully unprepared but now that isn’t the case.”
Attempts to contact ERCI were unsuccessful. Neither a telephone number nor an office address – in a scruffy downtown building listed by the aid group on social media – appeared to have any relation to it.
In a statement released more than a week after Mardini’s arrest, ERCI denied the allegations, saying it had fallen victim to “unfounded claims, accusations and charges”. But it failed to make any mention of Mardini.
“It makes no sense at all,” said Amed Khan, a New York financier turned philanthropist who has donated boats for ERCI’s search and rescue operations. To accuse any of them of human trafficking is crazy.
“In today’s fortress Europe you have to wonder whether Brussels isn’t behind it, whether this isn’t a concerted effort to put a chill on civil society volunteers who are just trying to help. After all, we’re talking about grassroots organisations with global values that stepped up into the space left by authorities failing to do their bit.”
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/dfda97afb0be8069e54daa62e04af602207ce7fa/0_22_5450_3271/master/5450.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=a40a6f7b27a13e3db90966ebc0b4f4ef#.jpg 
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/02bbfb68eeac0b7263a24ed2b1671bfe29593e30/0_0_3543_2126/master/3543.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=dc6f681ac5d87bcac57d7463fb0d07d4#.jpg
The volunteers facing jail for rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean
The risk of refugees and migrants drowning in the Mediterranean has increased dramatically over the past few years.
As the European Union pursued a policy of externalisation, voluntary groups stepped in to save the thousands of people making the dangerous crossing. One by one, they are now criminalised.
The arrest of Sarah Mardini, one of two Syrian sisters who saved a number of refugees in 2015 by pulling their sinking dinghy to Greece, has brought the issue to international attention.
The Trial
There aren’t chairs enough for the people gathered in Mytilíni Court. Salam Aldeen sits front row to the right. He has a nervous smile on his face, mouth half open, the tongue playing over his lips.
Noise emanates from the queue forming in the hallway as spectators struggle for a peak through the door’s windows. The morning heat is already thick and moist – not helped by the two unplugged fans hovering motionless in dead air.
Police officers with uneasy looks, 15 of them, lean up against the cooling walls of the court. From over the judge, a golden Jesus icon looks down on the assembly. For the sunny holiday town on Lesbos, Greece, this is not a normal court proceeding.
Outside the court, international media has unpacked their cameras and unloaded their equipment. They’ve come from the New York Times, Deutsche Welle, Danish, Greek and Spanish media along with two separate documentary teams.
There is no way of knowing when the trial will end. Maybe in a couple of days, some of the journalists say, others point to the unpredictability of the Greek judicial system. If the authorities decide to make a principle out of the case, this could take months.
Salam Aldeen, in a dark blue jacket, white shirt and tie, knows this. He is charged with human smuggling and faces life in jail.
More than 16,000 people have drowned in less than five years trying to cross the Mediterranean. That’s an average of ten people dying every day outside Europe’s southern border – more than the Russia-Ukraine conflict over the same period.
In 2015, when more than one million refugees crossed the Mediterranean, the official death toll was around 3,700. A year later, the number of migrants dropped by two thirds – but the death toll increased to more than 5,000. With still fewer migrants crossing during 2017 and the first half of 2018, one would expect the rate of surviving to pick up.
The numbers, however, tell a different story. For a refugee setting out to cross the Mediterranean today, the risk of drowning has significantly increased.
The deaths of thousands of people don’t happen in a vacuum. And it would be impossible to explain the increased risks of crossing without considering recent changes in EU-policies towards migration in the Mediterranean.
The criminalisation of a Danish NGO-worker on the tiny Greek island of Lesbos might help us understand the deeper layers of EU immigration policy.
The deterrence effect
On 27 March 2011, 72 migrants flee Tripoli and squeeze into a 12m long rubber dinghy with a max capacity of 25 people. They start the outboard engine and set out in the Mediterranean night, bound for the Italian island of Lampedusa. In the morning, they are registered by a French aircraft flying over. The migrants stay on course. But 18 hours into their voyage, they send out a distress-call from a satellite phone. The signal is picked up by the rescue centre in Rome who alerts other vessels in the area.
Two hours later, a military helicopter flies over the boat. At this point, the migrants accidentally drop their satellite phone in the sea. In the hours to follow, the migrants encounter several fishing boats – but their call of distress is ignored. As day turns into night, a second helicopter appears and drops rations of water and biscuits before leaving.
And then, the following morning on 28 March – the migrants run out of fuel. Left at the mercy of wind and oceanic currents, the migrants embark on a hopeless journey. They drift south; exactly where they came from.
They don’t see any ships the following day. Nor the next; a whole week goes by without contact to the outside world. But then, somewhere between 3 and 5 April, a military vessel appears on the horizon. It moves in on the migrants and circle their boat.
The migrants, exhausted and on the brink of despair, wave and signal distress. But as suddenly as it arrived, the military vessel turns around and disappears. And all hope with it.
On April 10, almost a week later, the migrant vessel lands on a beach south of Tripoli. Of the 72 passengers who left 2 weeks ago, only 11 make it back alive. Two die shortly hereafter.
Lorenzo Pezzani, lecturer at Forensic Architecture at Goldsmiths University of London, was stunned when he read about the case. In 2011, he was still a PhD student developing new spatial and aesthetic visual tools to document human rights violations. Concerned with the rising number of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean, Lorenzo Pezzani and his colleague Charles Heller founded Forensic Oceanography, an affiliated group to Forensic Architecture. Their first project was to uncover the events and policies leading to a vessel left adrift in full knowledge by international rescue operations.
It was the public outrage fuelled by the 2013 Lampedusa shipwreck which eventually led to the deployment of Operation Mare Nostrum. At this point, the largest migration of people since the Second World War, the Syrian exodus, could no longer be contained within Syria’s neighbouring countries. At the same time, a relative stability in Libya after the fall of Gaddafi in 2011 descended into civil war; waves of migrants started to cross the Mediterranean.
From October 2013, Mare Nostrum broke with the reigning EU-policy of non-interference and deployed Italian naval vessels, planes and helicopters at a monthly cost of €9.5 million. The scale was unprecedented; saving lives became the political priority over policing and border control. In terms of lives saved, the operation was an undisputed success. Its own life, however, would be short.
A critical narrative formed on the political right and was amplified by sections of the media: Mare Nostrum was accused of emboldening Libyan smugglers who – knowing rescue ships were waiting – would send out more migrants. In this understanding, Mare Nostrum constituted a so-called “pull factor” on migrants from North African countries. A year after its inception, Mare Nostrum was terminated.
In late 2014, Mare Nostrum was replaced by Operation Triton led by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, with an initial budget of €2.4 million per month. Triton refocused on border control instead of sea rescues in an area much closer to Italian shores. This was a return to the pre-Mare Nostrum policy of non-assistance to deter migrants from crossing. But not only did the change of policy fail to act as a deterrence against the thousands of migrants still crossing the Mediterranean, it also left a huge gap between the amount of boats in distress and operational rescue vessels. A gap increasingly filled by merchant vessels.
Merchant vessels, however, do not have the equipment or training to handle rescues of this volume. On 31 March 2015, the shipping community made a call to EU-politicians warning of a “terrible risk of further catastrophic loss of life as ever-more desperate people attempt this deadly sea crossing”. Between 1 January and 20 May 2015, merchant ships rescued 12.000 people – 30 per cent of the total number rescued in the Mediterranean.
As the shipping community had already foreseen, the new policy of non-assistance as deterrence led to several horrific incidents. These culminated in two catastrophic shipwrecks on 12 and 18 April 2015 and the death of 1,200 people. In both cases, merchant vessels were right next to the overcrowded migrant boats when chaotic rescue attempts caused the migrant boats to take in water and eventually sink. The crew of the merchant vessels could only watch as hundreds of people disappeared in the ocean.
Back in 1990, the Dublin Convention declared that the first EU-country an asylum seeker enters is responsible for accepting or rejecting the claim. No one in 1990 had expected the Syrian exodus of 2015 – nor the gigantic pressure it would put on just a handful of member states. No other EU-member felt the ineptitudes and total unpreparedness of the immigration system than a country already knee-deep in a harrowing economic crisis. That country was Greece.
In September 2015, when the world saw the picture of a three-year old Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, washed up on a beach in Turkey, Europe was already months into what was readily called a “refugee crisis”. Greece was overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the Syrian war. During the following month alone, a staggering 200.000 migrants crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to reach Europe. With a minimum of institutional support, it was volunteers like Salam Aldeen who helped reduce the overall number of casualties.
The peak of migrants entered Greece that autumn but huge numbers kept arriving throughout the winter – in worsening sea conditions. Salam Aldeen recalls one December morning on Lesbos.
The EU-Turkey deal
And then, from one day to the next, the EU-Turkey deal changed everything. There was a virtual stop of people crossing from Turkey to Greece. From a perspective of deterrence, the agreement was an instant success. In all its simplicity, Turkey had agreed to contain and prevent refugees from reaching the EU – by land or by sea. For this, Turkey would be given a monetary compensation.
But opponents of the deal included major human rights organisations. Simply paying Turkey a formidable sum of money (€6 billion to this date) to prevent migrants from reaching EU-borders was feared to be a symptom of an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude pervasive among EU decision makers. Moreover, just like Libya in 2015 threatened to flood Europe with migrants, the Turkish President Erdogan would suddenly have a powerful geopolitical card on his hands. A concern that would later be confirmed by EU’s vague response to Erdogan’s crackdown on Turkish opposition.
As immigration dwindled in Greece, the flow of migrants and refugees continued and increased in the Central Mediterranean during the summer of 2016. At the same time, disorganised Libyan militias were now running the smuggling business and exploited people more ruthlessly than ever before. Migrant boats without satellite phones or enough provision or fuel became increasingly common. Due to safety concerns, merchant vessels were more reluctant to assist in rescue operations. The death toll increased.
A Conspiracy?
Frustrated with the perceived apathy of EU states, Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) responded to the situation. At its peak, 12 search and rescue NGO vessels were operating in the Mediterranean and while the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) paused many of its operations during the fall and winter of 2016, the remaining NGO vessels did the bulk of the work. Under increasingly dangerous weather conditions, 47 per cent of all November rescues were carried out by NGOs.
Around this time, the first accusations were launched against rescue NGOs from ‘alt-right’ groups. Accusations, it should be noted, conspicuously like the ones sounded against Mare Nostrum. Just like in 2014, Frontex and EU-politicians followed up and accused NGOs of posing a “pull factor”. The now Italian vice-prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, went even further and denounced NGOs as “taxis for migrants”. Just like in 2014, no consideration was given to the conditions in Libya.
Moreover, NGOs were falsely accused of collusion with Libyan smugglers. Meanwhile Italian agents had infiltrated the crew of a Save the Children rescue vessel to uncover alleged secret evidence of collusion. The German Jugendrettet NGO-vessel, Iuventa, was impounded and – echoing Salam Aldeen’s case in Greece – the captain accused of collusion with smugglers by Italian authorities.
The attacks to delegitimise NGOs’ rescue efforts have had a clear effect: many of the NGOs have now effectively stopped their operations in the Mediterranean. Lorenzo Pezzani and Charles Heller, in their report, Mare Clausum, argued that the wave of delegitimisation of humanitarian work was just one part of a two-legged strategy – designed by the EU – to regain control over the Mediterranean.
Migrants’ rights aren’t human rights
Libya long ago descended into a precarious state of lawlessness. In the maelstrom of poverty, war and despair, migrants and refugees have become an exploitable resource for rivalling militias in a country where two separate governments compete for power.
In November 2017, a CNN investigation exposed an entire industry involving slave auctions, rape and people being worked to death.
Chief spokesman of the UN Migration Agency, Leonard Doyle, describes Libya as a “torture archipelago” where migrants transiting have no idea that they are turned into commodities to be bought, sold and discarded when they have no more value.
Migrants intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) are routinely brought back to the hellish detention centres for indefinite captivity. Despite EU-leaders’ moral outcry following the exposure of the conditions in Libya, the EU continues to be instrumental in the capacity building of the LCG.
Libya hadn’t had a functioning coast guard since the fall of Gaddafi in 2011. But starting in late 2016, the LCG received increasing funding from Italy and the EU in the form of patrol boats, training and financial support.
Seeing the effect of the EU-Turkey deal in deterring refugees crossing the Aegean Sea, Italy and the EU have done all in their power to create a similar approach in Libya.
The EU Summit
Forty-two thousand undocumented migrants have so far arrived at Europe’s shores this year. That’s a fraction of the more than one million who arrived in 2015. But when EU leaders met at an “emergency summit” in Brussels in late June, the issue of migration was described by Chancellor Merkel as a “make or break” for the Union. How does this align with the dwindling numbers of refugees and migrants?
Data released in June 2018 showed that Europeans are more concerned about immigration than any other social challenge. More than half want a ban on migration from Muslim countries. Europe, it seems, lives in two different, incompatible realities as summit after summit tries to untie the Gordian knot of the migration issue.
Inside the courthouse in Mytilini, Salam Aldeen is questioned by the district prosecutor. The tropical temperature induces an echoing silence from the crowded spectators. The district prosecutor looks at him, open mouth, chin resting on her fist.
She seems impatient with the translator and the process of going from Greek to English and back. Her eyes search the room. She questions him in detail about the night of arrest. He answers patiently. She wants Salam Aldeen and the four crew members to be found guilty of human smuggling.
Salam Aldeen’s lawyer, Mr Fragkiskos Ragkousis, an elderly white-haired man, rises before the court for his final statement. An ancient statuette with his glasses in one hand. Salam’s parents sit with scared faces, they haven’t slept for two days; the father’s comforting arm covers the mother’s shoulder. Then, like a once dormant volcano, the lawyer erupts in a torrent of pathos and logos.
“Political interests changed the truth and created this wicked situation, playing with the defendant’s freedom and honour.”
He talks to the judge as well as the public. A tragedy, a drama unfolds. The prosecutor looks remorseful, like a small child in her large chair, almost apologetic. Defeated. He’s singing now, Ragkousis. Index finger hits the air much like thunder breaks the night sounding the roar of something eternal. He then sits and the room quiets.
It was “without a doubt” that the judge acquitted Salam Aldeen and his four colleagues on all charges. The prosecutor both had to determine the defendants’ intention to commit the crime – and that the criminal action had been initialised. She failed at both. The case, as the Italian case against the Iuventa, was baseless.
But EU’s policy of externalisation continues. On 17 March 2018, the ProActiva rescue vessel, Open Arms, was seized by Italian authorities after it had brought back 217 people to safety.
Then again in June, the decline by Malta and Italy’s new right-wing government to let the Aquarious rescue-vessel dock with 629 rescued people on board sparked a fierce debate in international media.
In July, Sea Watch’s Moonbird, a small aircraft used to search for migrant boats, was prevented from flying any more operations by Maltese authorities; the vessel Sea Watch III was blocked from leaving harbour and the captain of a vessel from the NGO Mission Lifeline was taken to court over “registration irregularities“.
Regardless of Europe’s future political currents, geopolitical developments are only likely to continue to produce refugees worldwide. Will the EU alter its course as the crisis mutates and persists? Or are the deaths of thousands the only possible outcome?
▻https://theferret.scot/volunteers-facing-jail-rescuing-migrants-mediterranean
Michael O’Brien’s Anger | The American Conservative
▻https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/michael-obrien-anger-catholic-ireland-sex-abuse
Le média n’est pas trop ma tasse de thé mais... le sujet est plus qu’important, totalement crucial aujoud’hui où les voix s’élèvent de plus en plus fréquement, et je suis surpris d’avoir raté ce témoignage irlandais le jour où Monsieur le Pape visite l’Irlande.
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iQGczIx6Sg
“Mr Chairman, I am surprised at the Minister now. First of all Minister you made a bags of it in the beginning by changing the judges. You made a complete bags of it at that time because I went to the Laffoy Commission and ye had seven barristers there questioning me, telling me that I was telling lies when I told them that I got raped of a Saturday, got an merciful beating after it and he then came along the following morning and put Holy Communion in my mouth. You don’t know what happened there . You haven’t the foggiest. You’re talking through your hat there, and you are talking to a Fianna Fáil man, and a former councillor and a former mayor that worked tooth and nail for the party that you are talking about now. You didn’t do it right. You got it wrong. Admit it and apologise for doing that because you don’t know what I feel inside me. You don’t know the hurt I have.
You said it was non-adversarial. My God, seven barristers throwing questions at us non-stop. I attempted to commit suicide, [turning to his wife] there’s the woman who saved me from committing suicide on my way down from Dublin after spending five days at the commission . They brought a man over from Rome – 90 odd years of age – to tell me I was telling lies and that I wasn’t beaten for an hour non-stop by two of them from head to toe without a shred of cloth on my body. My God, Minister.
[Turning to Fine Gael TD Leo Varadkar] Can I speak to you and ask your leader to stop making a political football out of this. You hurt us when you do that. You tear the shreds from inside our body. For God’s sake, try and give us some peace, try and give us some peace, and not continue hurting us.
[Turning to his wife]
That woman will tell you how many times I jump out of bed at night with the sweat pumping out of me because I see these fellows at the end of the bed with their fingers pulling me into the room to rape me, to bugger me and to beat the shite out of me. That’s the way it is, and sometime, you know what, I listen to the leader of Fianna Fáil. I even listened to the apology. It was mealy-mouthed but at least it was an apology. The Rosminians said in the report that they were easy on us. The first day I went there, the first day I went to the Rosminians in my home which is Ferryhouse in Clonmel, the only home I know, he said you’re in it for the money. We didn’t want money. We wanted someone to stand up and say ‘yes these fellows were buggered, these people were robbed’.
Little girls, my sister, a month old when she was put into an institution, eight of us from the one family were dragged by the ISPCC cruelty man, put into two cars and brought to the court in Clonmel. We were left standing there without food or anything and the fellow in the long black frock and white collar came along and he put us into a scut-truck and landed us below with 200 other boys. Two nights later I was raped.
How can anyone, you’re talking about the Constitution, these people would gladly say yes to a Constitution to freeze the funds of the religious orders. This State, this country of ours will say yes to that Constitution if you have to change it.
Don’t say you can’t change it. You are the Government of this State. You run this State. So, for God’s sake, stop mealy-mouthing because I am sick of it. You are turning me away from voting Fianna Fáil, which I have done from the day I could vote.
You know me Minister and you have met me on several occasions, so you know what I am like. Remember Wexford?”
UPDATE: Reader Old West points out that this is exactly the kind of anger we ought to be seeing and hearing from bishops. That’s right! And that’s the thing that I have never, ever understood about this entire damn scandal: why we have yet to see a single bishop respond with that kind of righteous anger. I’m sick and tired of hearing them say how “sad” this is, though sad it is. If they had the slightest empathy with those children, they would react much as Michael O’Brien did. Just think of Pope Francis spoke with even a fraction of O’Brien’s conviction and passion, what it would do. It might just put the fear of God into those cretinous time-servers.
#église #pédophilie #droit #état_de_droit #viol #cruauté #barbares #impunité
#catholicisme #religion #clergé et merci @madmeg et @bce_106_6 pour les tags additionnels.
Death Race 2000
▻http://www.nova-cinema.org/prog/2018/167-pleinopenair/weekend-1/article/death-race-2000
Paul Bartel, 1975, US, 35mm, VO ANG ST FR NL, 79’
Prenez un épisode des « Fous du volants » et « Rollerball », remplacez Satanas et Diabolo par Sylvester Stallone (dans l’un de ses premiers rôles) et David Carradine : vous obtenez cette perle de série B des années 1970. Comme la Rome Antique avait ses combats de gladiateurs, les Provinces-Unies d’Amérique ont la Grande Course Transcontinentale, une course automobile où l’on gagne des points en écrasant des piétons, avec des suppléments lorsqu’on percute femmes, enfants et personnes âgées. Dans cette société qui magnifie le chacun pour soi, la vitesse et la violence : « Si tu veux vaincre, tous les coups sont bons ! » Le plus salaud d’entre tous, celui qui part vainqueur, c’est Frankenstein. Joué par un Carradine en forme, (...)
Esclavage moderne : saisie de près d’un million d’euros chez les travailleuses missionnaires de Lisieux Stéphanie Potay - 14 Aout 2018 - France 3 Regions
▻https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/normandie/esclavage-moderne-saisie-pres-million-euros-travailleus
et aussi : ►https://www.vosgesmatin.fr/edition-de-la-plaine/2018/08/10/950-000-saisis-chez-les-missionnaires
L’histoire a été révélée en 2014, les Travailleuses Missionnaires de l’Immaculée ( TMI) travaillaient au mépris de tout droit social dans un réseau d’hôtellerie de pélerins . L’association qui gérait notamment celle du Sanctuaire de Lisieux vient de voir ses comptes saisis par la justice.
Dernier épisode judiciaire dans l’affaire de travail dissimulé chez les Travailleuses missionnaires de l’Immaculée, la saisie de 950 000 euros. Cette somme est une première estimation des arriérés de rémunérations et de cotisations auprès des organismes sociaux relatif à l’emploi " d’étrangers démunis d’une autorisation de travail" et de "recours à personne exerçant un travail dissimulé".
Qui sont les victimes ?
Des femmes recrutées au Burkina Faso, à Wallis et Futuna ou encore aux Philippines, ces jeunes filles ont rejoint la famille missionnaire Donum Dei, créé en 1950 sous le nom des Travailleuses missionnaires de l’Immaculée. Elle fonde une grande partie de sa spiritualité sur la vie de Sainte-Thérèse-de Lisieux. Ces « vierges chrétiennes » sont motivées par un appel à la vie religieuse et une formation consacrée en Europe.
Mais en fait, c’est dans plusieurs restaurants catholiques « L’Eau Vive » ▻http://www.tourisme-marseille.com/fiche/restaurant-l-eau-vive-notre-dame-de-la-garde-marseille , une chaîne d’hôtellerie pour pèlerins, à Marseille, ►https://www.laprovence.com/article/edition-marseille/4708595/enquete-aux-pieds-de-la-bonne-mere.html Caen ou encore Lisieux ▻https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/normandie/calvados/pays-auge/lisieux-suspectees-esclavage-moderne-travailleuses-miss qu’elles vont passer leur temps : elles y travaillent sans salaire, ni protection sociale parfois de 6h jusqu’à minuit.
Processus d’emprise et embarras de l’Eglise
En 2014, les dérives sectaires de ce groupe sont dénoncées dans un livre noir. Un processus d’emprise sur ces travailleuses missionnaires est décrit.
En 2015, une plainte est déposée par une membre de la communauté de Lisieux ( voir notre reportage de l’époque ci-dessous) pour exploitation d’une personne réduite en esclavage.
Reportage en 2015 par Catherine Berra :
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP6razgXuGk
En 2017, la convention qui liait le Sanctuaire de Lisieux à la Famille missionnaire n’est pas renouvelée, l’Eglise prend officieusement ses distances avec cette communauté.
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZJB21QNWP8
Dossier hors norme
Les Travailleuses missionnaires font l’objet de deux enquêtes : une enquête canonique, mandatée par le Vatican, qui concerne l’aspect spirituel de leur association et une enquête civile à propos des conditions de travail des travailleuses. L’association cherche à jouer sur le statut de communauté religieuse pour justifier que du fait de l’engagement spirituel de ses femmes, elles s’apparentent à des moniales et ne relèveraient pas de la justice ordinaire .Au Parquet d’Epinal, où l’ensemble des procédures sont regroupées pour accroître l’efficacité( celles de Lisieux, Marseille, Ars-sur-Formans), on rappelle que l’association en question est une association de fidèles laïques, en aucun cas un ordre religieux.
En novembre 2017, la responsable légale de l’association est mise en examen en tant que personne morale et dernièrement, la justice vient de saisir 950 000 euros comme l’indique nos confrères de Vosges matin ►https://www.vosgesmatin.fr/edition-de-la-plaine/2018/08/10/950-000-saisis-chez-les-missionnaires dans son édition du 10 août. Certaines de ces jeunes filles exerçaient dans le restaurant proche de la basilique de Domrémy, l ’association était en effet présente au restaurant « L’accueil du pèlerin », à Domrémy-la-Pucelle, juste à côté de la Basilique.
Au total, une dizaine de plaintes, pour esclavage moderne, ont été enregistrées auprès du parquet d’Epinal (Vosges), qui suit l’affaire. En attendant la fin de l’enquête, Vosges matin indique que les Travailleuses missionnaires de Domrémy ont quitté les Vosges pour Besançon.
#esclavage #économie #Femmes #religion #eglise_catholique #Lisieux #pelerin.e.s #Marseille #Caen #secte #Ars-sur-Formans #Domrémy-la-Pucelle
Marseille : enquête au restaurant de Notre-Dame-la-Garde Delphine Tanguy - 10 Aout 2018 - La Provence
►https://www.laprovence.com/article/edition-marseille/4708595/enquete-aux-pieds-de-la-bonne-mere.html
L’association des Travailleuses missionnaires, qui gère le restaurant L’Eau Vive, est mise en examen pour travail dissimulé.
Sur #Tripadvisor, il obtient une note de 4 sur 5 : « sympathique », « excellent rapport qualité prix ». Avec son charme désuet et son panorama à couper le souffle, L’Eau Vive est toujours une adresse chérie des touristes visitant Notre-Dame de la Garde. De fait, cette cafétéria au menu à 13€ se niche précisément sous les jupes de la Bonne Mère, où la gèrent les Travailleuses missionnaires de l’Immaculée : ces « vierges chrétiennes » font partie de la Famille Donum Déi, rattachée au tiers ordre du Carmel.
Travail sans salaire, ni protection sociale et papiers confisqués
Des femmes recrutées très jeunes, en Afrique ou en Asie, pour servir dans les différents restaurants L’Eau vive en Europe. En 2014, La Provence avait révélé le rapport accablant de l’association Avref (aide aux victimes des dérives de mouvements religieux en Europe et à leurs familles), « Le livre noir des Travailleuses missionnaires de l’Immaculée » qui rassemblait des témoignages d’anciennes ayant fui l’association. Nous avions pu nous aussi les rencontrer : toutes décrivaient avoir travaillé des années sans salaire, ni protection sociale, leurs papiers confisqués, dans ces restaurants situés à Marseille, Lisieux, Caen, Ars, Besançon, etc.Six plaintes pour « traite d’êtres humains aux fins de travail forcé » avaient été déposées et appuyées par la Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires (Miviludes), directement attachée aux services du Premier Ministre. C’est d’ailleurs Serge Blisko, président de la Miviludes, que nous avions entendu sur ce sujet « scandaleux et particulièrement sensible », qui avait défendu auprès du garde des Sceaux le principe d’un regroupement des plaintes « afin d’augmenter leurs chances d’aboutir ». En 2015, des enquêtes préliminaires avaient été ouvertes par plusieurs parquets en France dont celui de Marseille.
Depuis, selon nos informations, les Travailleuses missionnaires avaient commencé à se mettre en conformité avec la loi, les femmes recevant par exemple les premières cartes Vitale de leur vie. Une visite canonique avait aussi été mandatée par Rome en 2016 : conduite par le dominicain Jean-Claude Lavigne, elle avait fait le tour des sites gérés par les TM. Car à Lisieux et Donrémyy, l’affaire avait jeté le trouble dans l’Église ; les évêques leur avaient même retiré la gestion de foyers. À Marseille, Mgr Pontier, à la tête de la Conférence des évêques de France, alerté depuis des années des soupçons pesant sur la gestion de L’Eau Vive, n’a jamais souhaité commenter l’affaire.
Un dossier hors normes
Que « les diocèses ouvrent enfin les yeux » est pourtant le souhait du Parquet d’Épinal auprès duquel l’ensemble des plaintes ont finalement été regroupées. « Les TM ne sont pas un ordre religieux mais bien une association, et à ce titre elles sont soumises au droit du travail », pointe Étienne Manteaux, le procureur. Au terme des investigations menées depuis 18 mois par l’office central en charge de la lutte contre le travail illégal, et closes cet été, la responsable des TM en France a été mise en examen, en tant que personne morale, le 9 novembre. « C’est un dossier hors normes, décrit le procureur, alors que l’instruction n’est pas encore clôturée. L’immense majorité de ces femmes se disent consentantes et satisfaites de leur sort. Mais le droit est le droit. » Des centaines ont bel et bien été employées depuis plus de 20 ans sans être payées ni déclarées. Un procès devrait s’ouvrir « avant l’été 2018 », escompte-t-on à Épinal.
À nouveau contacté hier, Mgr Pontier garde le silence, tout comme la responsable de L’Eau Vive à Marseille. Quant au conseil de direction de la Famille Donum Déi, il indique, depuis Rome, que la comparution (de sa directrice française, ndlr) « est intervenue sur le seul délit de travail dissimulé à raison d’un débat technique tenant au statut administratif » des TM dans l’Hexagone. « Nous ne souhaitons pas fournir d’information complémentaire à cet égard », conclut-il.
Et aussi Travail dissimulé à Marseille : l’Urssaf cible une vraie plaie sociale
The History of Civilization Is a History of Border Walls
When I joined my first archaeological dig at a site near Hadrian’s Wall in 2002, walls never appeared in the nightly news. Britain was still many years away from planning a barrier near the opening of the Chunnel in Calais. Saudi Arabia hadn’t yet encircled itself with high-tech barricades. Israel hadn’t started reinforcing its Gaza border fence with concrete. Kenya wasn’t seeking Israel’s help in the construction of a 440-mile barrier against Somalia. And the idea that India might someday send workers high into the Himalayas to construct border walls that look down on clouds still seemed as preposterous as the notion that Ecuador might commence construction on a 950-mile concrete wall along its border with Peru.
No one chatted about walls while we cut through sod to expose the buried remains of an ancient fortress in northern Britain. I doubt that anyone was chatting about walls anywhere. The old fortress, on the other hand, was generally considered the crown jewel of British archaeology. For more than 30 years, sharp-eyed excavators at the Roman fort of Vindolanda had been finding writing tablets — thin slivers of wood upon which Roman soldiers had written letters, duty rosters, inventories, and other assorted jottings. At first, the tablets had represented something of a technical challenge; their spectral writing faded almost immediately upon exposure to air, almost as if written in invisible ink. But when the writings were recovered through infrared photography, a tremendous satisfaction came from the discovery that Roman soldiers complained about shortages of beer while the wives of their commanders planned birthday parties. The Romans, it turned out, were a lot like us.
Archaeology, even at such a special place, was tiring business, but after work I enjoyed taking hikes along the wall. It was beautiful countryside — well lit by an evening sun that lingered late during the Northumbrian summer — and as I ambled over the grassy hills, occasionally enjoying the company of sheep, I sometimes imagined I was a lonely Roman soldier, stationed at the end of the world, scanning the horizon for barbarians while I awaited a resupply of beer. I’m ashamed to say that I took no detailed notes on the wall itself. It made for beautiful photographs, the way it stretched languidly over the countryside, but my real interest lay in other things: the Roman soldiers, the barbarians, the letters. If anything I saw in Britain was to hold any significance for my research, it seemed obvious that I would find it in the wet gray clay of Vindolanda. There I hoped only to discern tiny clues about a particular period of Roman history. Such are the modest goals of the academic. For the duration of my stay, my focus was on the clay. All the while, I was standing right next to a piece of a much bigger story, a fragment of the past that was about to rise up from its ancient slumber to dominate contemporary politics on two continents. I was leaning against it, resting my hand on it, posing for pictures by it. I just didn’t see it.
It was my interest in the barbarians that finally opened my eyes to the historical importance of walls. The barbarians were, in the main, inhabitants of every North African or Eurasian wasteland — the steppes, the deserts, the mountains. Civilized folk had erected barriers to exclude them in an astonishing array of countries: Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Britain, Algeria, Libya, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Peru, China, and Korea, to give only a partial list. Yet somehow this fact had entirely escaped the notice of historians. Not a single textbook observed the nearly universal correlation between civilization and walls. It remained standard even for specialists to remark that walls were somehow unique to Chinese history, if not unique to Chinese culture — a stereotype that couldn’t possibly be any less true.
By some cruel irony, the mere concept of walls now divides people more thoroughly than any structure of brick or stone.
The reemergence of border walls in contemporary political debates made for an even more surprising revelation. Like most people my age, I had watched the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 with great excitement. To many of us, it looked like the beginning of a new era, heralded by no less towering an international figure than David Hasselhoff, whose concert united both halves of Berlin in inexplicable rapture. More than a quarter-century has passed since then, and if it had once seemed that walls had become a thing of the past, that belief has proven sorely wrong.
Border walls have experienced a conspicuous revival in the 21st century. Worldwide, some 70 barriers of various sorts currently stand guard. Some exist to prevent terrorism, others as obstacles to mass migration or the flow of illegal drugs. Nearly all mark national borders. By some cruel irony, the mere concept of walls now divides people more thoroughly than any structure of brick or stone. For every person who sees a wall as an act of oppression, there is always another urging the construction of newer, higher, and longer barriers. The two sides hardly speak to each other.
As things turned out, it was the not the beer or the birthday parties that connected the past to the present in northern England. It was the wall. We can almost imagine it now as a great stone timeline, inhabited on one end by ancients, on the other by moderns, but with both always residing on the same side facing off against an unseen enemy. If I couldn’t see that in 2002, it was only because we were then still living in an anomalous stage in history and had somehow lost our instinct for something that has nearly always been a part of our world.
How important have walls been in the history of civilization? Few civilized peoples have ever lived outside them. As early as the 10th millennium BC, the builders of Jericho encircled their city, the world’s first, with a rampart. Over time, urbanism and agriculture spread from Jericho and the Levant into new territories: Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Balkans, and beyond. Walls inevitably followed. Everywhere farmers settled, they fortified their villages. They chose elevated sites and dug ditches to enclose their homes. Entire communities pitched in to make their villages secure. A survey of prehistoric Transylvanian farming villages determined that some 1,400 to 1,500 cubic meters of earth typically had to be moved just to create an encircling ditch — an effort that would have required the labor of 60 men for 40 days. Subsequently, those ditches were lined with stone and bolstered by palisades. If a community survived long enough, it might add flanking towers. These were the first steps toward walls.
The creators of the first civilizations descended from generations of wall builders. They used their newfound advantages in organization and numbers to build bigger walls. More than a few still survive. We can estimate their heights, their thicknesses, their volumes, and their lengths. But the numbers can only tell us so much. We will always learn more by examining the people who built the walls or the fear that led to their construction.
And what about these fears? Were civilizations — and walls — created only by unusually fearful peoples? Or did creating civilization cause people to become fearful? Such questions turn out to be far more important than we’ve ever realized.
Since 2002, I’ve had ample time to reflect on the Roman soldiers who once guarded Hadrian’s Wall. They certainly never struck me as afraid of anything. Then again, they weren’t exactly Roman, either. They came chiefly from foreign lands, principally Belgium and Holland, which were in those days still as uncivilized as the regions north of the wall. Everything they knew of building and writing, they had learned in the service of Rome.
As for the Romans, they preferred to let others fight their battles. They had become the definitive bearers of civilization and as such were the target of a familiar complaint: that they had lost their edge. Comfortable behind their city walls and their foreign guards, they had grown soft. They were politicians and philosophers, bread makers and blacksmiths, anything but fighters.
The Roman poet Ovid knew a thing or two about the soft life, but he also had the unusual experience of learning what life was like for Rome’s frontier troops. The latter misfortune came as a consequence of his having offended the emperor Augustus. The offense was some peccadillo — Ovid never divulges the details — compounded by his having penned a rather scandalous book on the art of seduction. “What is the theme of my song?” he asked puckishly, in verse. “Nothing that’s very far wrong.” Augustus disagreed. Reading Ovid’s little love manual, the moralistic emperor saw plenty of wrong. He probably never even made it to the section where Ovid raved about what a great ruler he was. Augustus banished the poet from Rome, exiling him to Tomis, a doomed city on the coast of the Black Sea, 60-odd miles south of the Danube.
Tomis was a hardscrabble sort of place, a former Greek colony already some 600 years old by the time of Ovid’s exile in the first century AD and no shinier for the wear. Its distinguishing characteristics were exactly two: First, it was about as far from Rome as one could be sent. Second, it lay perilously close to some of Rome’s fiercest enemies, in an area that didn’t yet have a border wall. Like northern Britain, the region of Tomis would one day receive its share of border walls, but in Ovid’s day, the only barriers to invasion were the fortifications around the city itself.
Ovid suffered in his new home. It was one thing to live in a walled city, but quite another to be completely confined within those walls. In his letters to Rome, Ovid complained that the farmers of Tomis couldn’t even venture out onto their fields. On the rare occasion when a peasant dared to visit his plot, he guided the plow with one hand while carrying weapons in another. Even the shepherds wore helmets.
Fear permeated everyday life in Tomis. Even in times of peace, wrote Ovid, the dread of war loomed. The city was, for all intents and purposes, under perpetual siege. Ovid likened the townspeople to a timid stag caught by bears or a lamb surrounded by wolves.
Occasionally, Ovid reminisced on his former life in the capital, where he’d lived free from fear. He wistfully recalled the amenities of Rome — the forums, the temples, and the marble theaters; the porticoes, gardens, pools, and canals; above all, the cornucopia of literature at hand. The contrast with his new circumstances was complete. At Tomis, there was nothing but the clash and clang of weapons. Ovid imagined that he might at least content himself with gardening, if only he weren’t afraid to step outside. The enemy was quite literally at the gates, separated only by the thickness of the city’s wall. Barbarian horsemen circled Tomis. Their deadly arrows, which Ovid unfailingly reminds us had been dipped in snake venom, made pincushions of the roofs in the city.
The birth of walls set human societies on divergent paths, one leading to self-indulgent poetry, the other to taciturn militarism.
There remained a final indignity for Ovid: the feeble, middle-aged author was pressed into service in defense of Tomis. As a youth, Ovid had avoided military service. There was no shame for shirkers back in Rome, a city replete with peaceniks and civilians. Now aging, Ovid had finally been forced to carry a sword, shield, and helmet. When the guard from the lookout signaled a raid, the poet donned his armor with shaking hands. Here was a true Roman, afraid to step out from behind his fortifications and hopelessly overwhelmed by the responsibility of defending them.
From time to time, a Chinese poet would find himself in a situation much like Ovid’s. Stationed at some lonely outpost on the farthest reaches of the empire, the Chinese, too, longed for home while dreading the nearness of the barbarians. “In the frontier towns, you will have sad dreams at night,” wrote one. “Who wants to hear the barbarian pipe played to the moon?” Sometimes they meditated on the story of the Chinese princess who drowned herself in a river rather than cross beyond the wall. Even Chinese generals lamented the frontier life.
Oddly, none of these sentiments appear in the letters written by the Roman soldiers at Vindolanda. Transplanted to a rainy land far from home, they grumbled at times about the beer supply but had nothing to say about shaky hands or sad dreams. It was as if these barbarian-turned-Roman auxiliaries had come from another world, where homesickness and fear had been banished. Perhaps they had.
Almost anytime we examine the past and seek out the people most like us — those such as Ovid or the Chinese poets; people who built cities, knew how to read, and generally carried out civilian labor — we find them enclosed behind walls of their own making. Civilization and walls seem to have gone hand in hand. Beyond the walls, we find little with which we can identify — warriors mostly, of the sort we might hire to patrol the walls. The outsiders are mostly anonymous, except when they become notorious.
The birth of walls set human societies on divergent paths, one leading to self-indulgent poetry, the other to taciturn militarism. But the first path also pointed to much more — science, mathematics, theater, art — while the other brought its followers only to a dead end, where a man was nothing except a warrior and all labor devolved upon the women.
No invention in human history played a greater role in creating and shaping civilization than walls. Without walls, there could never have been an Ovid, and the same can be said for Chinese scholars, Babylonian mathematicians, or Greek philosophers. Moreover, the impact of walls wasn’t limited to the early phases of civilization. Wall building persisted for most of history, climaxing spectacularly during a 1,000-year period when three large empires — Rome, China, and Sasanid Persia — erected barriers that made the geopolitical divisions of the Old World all but permanent.
The collapse of those walls influenced world history almost as profoundly as their creation, by leading to the eclipse of one region, the stagnation of another, and the rise of a third. When the great border walls were gone, leaving only faint traces on the landscape, they left indelible lines on our maps — lines that have even today not yet been obscured by modern wars or the jockeying of nations for resources. Today, a newer set of walls, rising up on four continents, has the potential to remake the world yet again.
Rome prévoit une attaque sur les marchés en août
▻https://www.crashdebug.fr/international/15050-rome-prevoit-une-attaque-sur-les-marches-en-aout
Comme me l’indiquait ce soir Spartou en mail, ne pas oublier aussi que les banques françaises sont exposées à hauteur de 40 milliards en Turquie, et avec Commerzbank et la Deutsche Bank risquent ne plus faire partie du gotha des entreprises cotées à la rentrée, si tout s’enchaîne dans un scénario noir.... (Informations complémentaires), cela pourrait bien faire un cocktail assez explosif, relativement indigeste pour la France, le souci c’est que pour l’instant je n’ai pas de quoi réapprovisionné mes réserves de nourriture, sachez que je ne suis nullement défaitiste... Mais simplement prudent.... J’ai une famille derrière moi et quand ça va pêter (et ça péteras, ça, c’est une certitude... on ne sait simplement pas quand), à votre avis vers qui vont ils se tourner ?
ROME (...)
#En_vedette #Actualités_internationales #Actualités_Internationales
Jour après jour, voici la liste des agressions racistes en Italie - Page 1 | Mediapart
►https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/090818/jour-apres-jour-voici-la-liste-des-agressions-racistes-en-italie
Florence, 5 mars 2018, un mort. Le 5 mars, Roberto Pirrone, un homme de 65 ans, sort de son domicile, dans la capitale toscane. Armé d’un pistolet, il tue Idy Diene, un immigré sénégalais, vendeur ambulant, qui résidait légalement en Italie depuis vingt ans. L’homme a par la suite déclaré à la police qu’il souhaitait se suicider, mais n’en ayant pas trouvé le courage, il aurait décidé d’assassiner quelqu’un pour finir en prison. Roberto Pirrone a nié avoir choisi de faire feu sur Idy Diene pour des motivations raciales, mais le fait qu’il ait d’abord « écarté » d’autres victimes potentielles sur son passage, avant d’ouvrir le feu sur Diene, semble contredire sa version.
Vibo Valentia, 2 juin 2018, un mort et un blessé. C’est le premier incident ayant eu lieu après la formation du gouvernement d’extrême droite emmené par Giuseppe Conte. Dans la nuit du 2 au 3 juin, Sacko Soumayla, un Malien de 29 ans, est abattu par un coup de fusil alors qu’il est en train de dérober avec deux complices du matériel métallique dans une usine abandonnée. Madiheri Drame, lui, est blessé à la jambe. Les trois hommes cherchaient à prélever de vieilles tôles pour pouvoir se fabriquer un abri de fortune.
Le tireur est Antonio Pontoriero, neveu d’un des associés à qui appartenait l’usine par le passé. Sacko Soumayla était un activiste syndical qui défendait les droits des migrants travaillant dans l’agriculture en Calabre. Il possédait un permis de séjour pour résider régulièrement en Italie.
Sulmona, 12 juin 2018, un blessé. À la suite d’une dispute avec un migrant, deux Italiens, armés d’un faux pistolet et d’un petit couteau, pénètrent à l’intérieur d’un centre d’accueil à la recherche de l’homme avec qui a eu lieu l’altercation à Sulmona, dans les Abruzzes. Ils ne le trouvent pas, mais menacent les autres migrants. Une rixe éclate et un Gambien âgé de 23 ans est blessé par un coup de couteau.
Caserte, 11 juin 2018, un blessé. À Caserte, près de Naples, deux migrants maliens, Daby et Sekou, sont approchés par une voiture avec trois jeunes Italiens à l’intérieur. Les trois individus tirent alors sur les migrants avec un pistolet à air comprimé au cri de « Salvini ! Salvini ! », selon le récit des victimes. Un des deux Maliens a été légèrement blessé à l’abdomen. Les auteurs de cette attaque n’ont pas été identifiés.
Naples, 20 juin 2018, un blessé. Un cas très similaire s’est déroulé dans la capitale de la Campanie quelques jours plus tard. Konate Bouyagui, un Malien de 21 ans vivant en Italie depuis cinq ans et travaillant comme cuisinier, est approché par une voiture à sa sortie du travail en plein centre-ville de Naples. Deux hommes d’une trentaine d’années, armés d’une carabine à plomb, tirent sur Konate et le blessent à l’abdomen. Les agresseurs n’ont pas été identifiés à ce jour.
Forlì, les 2 et 6 juillet 2018, deux blessés. Deux cas d’agression en moins d’une semaine à Forlì, une ville de 110 000 habitants, située en Émilie-Romagne. Dans la nuit du 5 au 6 juillet, un Ivoirien de 33 ans a été blessé à l’abdomen par un tir de pistolet à air comprimé, effectué depuis une voiture qui s’était approchée alors qu’il roulait en vélo. Dans l’autre cas, qui s’est déroulé à Forlì quelques jours plus tôt, c’est une femme nigériane qui a reçu un tir de pistolet à air comprimé et s’est trouvée blessée au pied.
Latina, 11 juillet 2018, deux blessés. Encore un cas d’agression par pistolet à air comprimé à Latina, près de Rome. Le 11 juillet, deux demandeurs d’asile originaire du Nigeria sont pris pour cible par les passagers d’une voiture alors qu’ils attendent le bus. Âgés de 26 et 19 ans, les deux hommes ont été légèrement blessés aux jambes.
Rome, 17 juillet 2018, une blessée grave. Voici l’épisode, très médiatisé en Italie, qui a porté le président de la République à réagir. Une enfant de nationalité roumaine, âgée d’un an, est blessée au dos par une balle tirée d’une carabine à air comprimé, alors qu’elle était dans les bras de sa mère. La mère et l’enfant habitent un camp de Roms de la capitale.
L’auteur du tir est Marco Arezio, 59 ans, ancien employé du Sénat à la retraite qui a fait feu depuis son balcon. Les forces de l’ordre étudient l’hypothèse selon laquelle l’arme a été modifiée pour la rendre plus puissante. Marco Arezio, sans casier judiciaire jusqu’alors, a affirmé que le coup était « parti par erreur ». La petite fille n’est plus en danger de mort, mais elle risque de rester paralysée.
Vicenza, 26 juillet 2018, un blessé. Un autre tir de carabine à air comprimé depuis un balcon, un autre étranger blessé. L’épisode a eu lieu à Cassola, près de Vicenza en Vénétie. Lenny Delgado, un ouvrier originaire du Cap-Vert, âgé de 33 ans et résidant depuis dix-sept ans en Italie, a été pris pour cible et blessé au dos alors qu’il travaillait sur un échafaudage à sept mètres de hauteur. L’auteur du tir est un homme âgé de 40 ans, Cristian Damian, qui s’est défendu en affirmant qu’il visait un pigeon.
San Cipriano d’Aversa, 26 juillet 2018, un blessé. Dans la nuit du 26 au 27 juillet, à San Cipriano d’Aversa, en Campanie, un demandeur d’asile guinéen a été pris pour cible par deux personnes en moto, qui ont tiré sur lui avec un pistolet à air comprimé. Le migrant a été légèrement blessé au visage.
Naples, 2 août 2018, un blessé grave. Le dernier épisode en date est sans doute un des plus graves, car cette fois, le tir n’a pas été effectué avec une arme à air comprimé, mais bien avec un vrai pistolet. La victime de cet attentat est Cissé Elhadji Diebel, 22 ans, vendeur ambulant. L’homme, d’origine sénégalaise, qui réside légalement en Italie a été pris pour cible par deux personnes en scooter qui ont tiré trois coups de feu, dont un qui a atteint la jambe du migrant. L’épisode ayant eu lieu dans un quartier de Naples où la présence de la criminalité organisée est forte, les forces de l’ordre n’écartent pas, à ce stade, l’hypothèse que ce crime n’ait pas de caractère raciste.
Outre ces cas d’agression, d’autres épisodes, qui n’impliquent pas l’usage d’armes, sont à signaler. Il s’agit le plus souvent de rixes qui provoquent des blessés et dans lesquelles des insultes racistes sont entendues par des témoins. À Aprilia, près de Rome, le 29 juillet 2018, Hady Zaitouni, un Marocain de 43 ans, a même trouvé la mort.
Poursuivi par trois Italiens persuadés qu’il avait commis un vol, Hady Zaitouni a perdu le contrôle de son véhicule en tentant de s’échapper. Néanmoins, les causes de la mort du Marocain n’ont à ce jour toujours pas été éclaircies puisqu’on ne sait pas si Hady Zaitouni est décédé des conséquences de son accident ou à cause des coups que ses poursuivants lui auraient infligés.
Le cas de Daisy Osakue, enfin, a sûrement été le plus médiatisé – même si les séquelles physiques sont moindres. L’athlète italienne d’origine nigériane, spécialiste du lancer du disque, 22 ans, et qui participe ces jours-ci aux championnats d’Europe à Berlin, a été blessée au visage par un œuf lancé depuis une voiture, à Moncalieri, près de Turin, dans la nuit du 29 au 30 juillet. Ses agresseurs sont trois étudiants de 19 ans chacun. D’après l’enquête, ils avaient déjà lancé des œufs contre d’autres personnes – sans conséquence – durant les jours précédents.
L’Albanie, nouvel eldorado des Italiens ?
Pendant longtemps, les migrations trans-adriatiques entre Tirana et Rome n’allaient que dans un seul sens, d’est en ouest. Aujourd’hui, le balancier semble se rééquilibrer. #Patrons, #retraités et #étudiants italiens partent tenter leur chance en Albanie. Reportage.
▻https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/Albanie-nouvel-eldorado-Italiens
#Italie #émigration #Albanie #migrations #émigration_italienne #paywall
cc @albertocampiphoto
L’agression raciste d’une athlète noire choque l’Italie
▻https://www.20minutes.fr/monde/2315335-20180730-agression-raciste-athlete-noire-choque-italie
▻https://img.20mn.fr/guQcgJP2QQ65sAQ8oq0-eg/960x614_athlete-italienne-daisy-osakue-blessee-oeil-agression-raciste-29-ju
Une série d’agressions racistes choquent en Italie, où le ministre de l’Intérieur, Matteo Salvini, cite Mussolini et assure que sa priorité reste la lutte contre les migrants délinquants. Lundi, l’annonce de l’agression d’une jeune athlète italienne noire a provoqué une avalanche de réactions d’autant plus indignées qu’elle arrivait après un week-end tendu et la révélation par la presse d’une dizaine d’autres cas en moins de deux mois.
Daisy Osakue, une lanceuse de disque de 22 ans, née en Italie de parents nigérians, a été blessée à un oeil dimanche soir après avoir reçu un oeuf lancé depuis une voiture près de Turin. Souffrant d’une abrasion et de lésions à la cornée, elle risque de ne pas pouvoir participer aux championnats d’Europe la semaine prochaine à Berlin. Pour elle, il n’y a pas de doute : son ou ses agresseurs cherchaient une cible noire.
Dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche dans une petite ville au sud de Rome, le soupçon a coûté la vie à un Marocain de 43 ans, pris en chasse en voiture par des Italiens l’accusant d’être un cambrioleur. Après avoir percuté un muret, il a été frappé par ses poursuivants et il est mort à l’hôpital.
A Palerme, un Sénégalais de 19 ans qui se tenait devant un bar a été roué de coups par un groupe d’Italiens aux cris de « sale nègre ».
« Toute agression sera punie et condamnée, je serai toujours au côté de qui subit des violences », a réagi Matteo Salvini en souhaitant une guérison rapide à Daisy Osakue mais sans évoquer les autres affaires. En revanche, l’homme fort du nouveau gouvernement populiste, omniprésent et très populaire dirigeant de la Ligue (extrême droite), a assuré : « Alerte au racisme en Italie ? Ne disons pas de bêtises ! ».
Mais loin de chercher à apaiser les tensions, Matteo Salvini a poursuivi son offensive : « Je rappelle qu’il y a environ 700 délits commis chaque jour en Italie par des immigrés, soit près d’un tiers du total, et ceci est la seule vraie urgence pour laquelle je me bats en tant que ministre ». Son ministère a confirmé lundi : sur les quelque 857.000 personnes arrêtées et/ou dénoncées depuis le début de l’année, tous chefs confondus, 30 % étaient de nationalité étrangère, alors que les étrangers représentent 8,3 % de la population en Italie.
« Beaucoup d’ennemis, beaucoup d’honneur »
Les étrangers sont aussi très représentés dans les prisons italiennes : 33 % des détenus au 30 juin (pour plus de la moitié Marocains, Albanais, Roumains ou Tunisiens), même si cette proportion tient beaucoup au fait qu’ils réunissent rarement les conditions pour un aménagement de peine.
Le discours anti-migrants de Matteo Salvini lui vaut aussi les foudres catholiques, résumées par la une du magazine Famiglia Cristiana la semaine dernière : « Vade retro Salvini ». Mais l’intéressé, adepte des provocations constantes sur les réseaux sociaux, a répondu à ces critiques à sa manière : « Beaucoup d’ennemis, beaucoup d’honneur », a-t-il écrit dimanche matin, en ajoutant l’émoticône d’un baiser. Cette variante d’un slogan de Benito Mussolini très connu des Italiens, utilisée le jour de l’anniversaire de la naissance du Duce, a fait sensation
Flaminem, bouclier des espions français
▻https://lexpansion.lexpress.fr/high-tech/flaminem-bouclier-des-espions-francais_2025898.html
Une start-up hexagonale dirigée par un proche d’Emmanuel Macron veut proposer une alternative aux technologies américaines.<p>La guerre du futur se …
Edouard Tétreau (…) tente alors de soutenir une initiative hexagonale au travers d’une toute jeune pousse, Flaminem. Fondée en 2013 par Thomas Serval, un ancien de Google, et Matthieu Delporte, cofondateur de la start-up Baracoda, spécialiste des objets connectés, l’entreprise tire son nom de « flamines », des prêtres de la Rome antique attachés au culte d’un même dieu. (…) Guillaume Prunier, arrivé l’an dernier. Cet ancien conseiller d’Emmanuel Macron, chargé de l’innovation
#complexe_militaro-industriel_français #surveillance #fichage #espionnage #cocorico
Gros coup de mou chez Navires & Histoire, n° 109 août-septembre 2018…
Frédéric Stahl y tient (y tenait ?) sous le nom de Chronique du monde accidental une chronique bimestrielle des faits quotidiens maritimes avec une vision géopolitique indépendante. Charge de travail véritablement ahurissante, dont il s’est plaint à diverses reprises pour un résultat qui partageait son lectorat entre les fans, avides d’une source indépendante, et les râleurs qui trouvaient que la politique engagée (ie qui ne reproduit pas la doxa officielle) n’a pas sa place dans une revue d’histoire maritime, par ailleurs de haut niveau (bon, ok, il y a des chances que je caricature un peu…)
Bref, dans ce numéro, le lecteur a droit à Quelques actualités relatives
– à l’offensive (ratée) sur Hodeida (arrêt du fil au 5 juillet)
– au traitement (si l’on peut dire) des migrants par l’UE
– la liste des franchissements du Bosphore (dans les 2 sens) des navettes du Syrian express en mai et en juin
– et quelques brèves d’actualités.
Chapeau et fin de la partie de la chronique sur les migrants
.JPG)
Le silence de l’amer
Abandonnée par la Communauté européenne, l’Italie, par étapes, a peu à peu fermé la porte de la Méditerranée centrale aux migrants. Dans un tel contexte, il est devenu de plus en plus dur, puis quasiment impossible de trouver des informations fiables sur le drame des migrations à travers notre « Mare internum » , même et surtout depuis que le flux est devenu un filet d’eau avec des franchissements au compte-gouttes suite à l’accord passé entre les autorités de Rome et diverses milices de la région de Tripoli. Ici, celle de Misrata (Misurata), pompeusement appelée « garde-côtes » arme huit vedettes « Stan Patrol 1650 » Burdj, Sloug, Besher, Izreg, Talil, Famiens, Tukra et deux remorqueurs armés dont le Almergheb. Elle rivalise avec les « garde-côtes officiels » de Tripoli et de Zawiya soutenus par l’Italie. Le paradoxe, c’est que c’est au moment où la pression migratoire est la plus faible, puisqu’elle est tombée de 1 010 000 en 2015 à 172 000 en 2017 et à seulement 43 000 pour les six premiers mois de l’année 2018 (dont seulement 16 000 par la route italienne), que les arrivées de migrants génèrent une crise majeure pour l’Europe. C’est dans ce contexte que la route des colonnes d’Hercule, celle de l’Espagne (via le détroit de Gibraltar, la mer d’Arborant ou les Canaries) va être fréquentée par un grand nombre de petites embarcations et de dérisoires objets flottants.
[…]
Début juillet, au moment de remettre ce numéro à l’imprimeur, dans l’indifférence générale, d’autres naufrages faisant au moins 339 victimes sont signalés au large de la Libye… À partir du moment où les migrants meurent dans les eaux libyennes, cela n’est plus un sujet d’information.
Note : à la question qu’on pourrait légitimement se poser au vu de l’édito ci-dessus, celui-ci est surmonté d’un tampon rouge annonçant :
votre n°110 chez votre marchand de journaux le 28 septembre 2018 !
Hidalgo réfléchit à une police municipale armée, Béatrice Jérôme, LE MONDE | 17.07.2018
▻https://www.lemonde.fr/police-justice/article/2018/07/17/hidalgo-reflechit-a-une-police-municipale-armee_5332651_1653578.html
A moins de deux ans des municipales, la maire de Paris dit ne pas avoir de « tabous » sur ce sujet sensible.
Menace terroriste, protection des touristes, délinquance, cambriolages en hausse, tensions croissantes dans les quartiers populaires, théâtres de trafic de stupéfiant ou de rixes mortelles entre bandes… Face à l’insécurité à Paris, Anne Hidalgo ne veut pas rester l’arme au pied. Longtemps hostile à la création d’une police municipale, la maire de la capitale prépare un aggiornamento. « Pourquoi pas une police parisienne ? », a-t-elle confié, le 2 juillet, à quelques journalistes, avant d’ajouter : « Sur l’armement non plus, je n’ai pas de tabous ».
Un changement important dans cette capitale où la sécurité est avant tout de la responsabilité de la police nationale. Selon ses mots, la maire juge que « le dispositif est perfectible, tant en termes de moyens que de répartitions des compétences », à propos du partage des rôles entre policiers nationaux et agents de sécurité de la ville.
Lire aussi : Police municipale à Paris : un débat juridique épineux, dans un contexte particulier
▻https://lemonde.fr/police-justice/article/2018/07/17/police-municipale-a-paris-un-debat-juridique-epineux-dans-un-contexte-partic
Si elle préempte le débat à deux ans des municipales, elle se garde de le trancher. Une façon de ne pas braquer les écologistes et les communistes, qui, au sein de sa majorité, sont vent debout contre une police municipale, armée ou pas. Elle fera « des propositions » début 2019 au vu d’un audit indépendant commandé par la ville et qui sera rendu à la fin de l’année.
Futur sujet pour les municipales
Enlisée par ailleurs dans le fiasco de Vélib’ et critiquée sur la propreté de sa ville, Mme Hidalgo entend couper l’herbe sous le pied de ses adversaires qui ne manqueront pas de lui reprocher son bilan en matière de sécurité. Parmi ses concurrents éventuels en 2020, Pierre-Yves Bournazel, député (Agir) de Paris prône depuis longtemps la création d’une police municipale armée, à l’instar de la droite et de l’UDI-MoDem à Paris. Gaspard Gantzer, à la tête de son mouvement « Parisiennes, Parisiens », estime qu’« une police parisienne armée est une des toutes premières priorités pour Paris ». « Il faudra une police municipale armée à Paris, confie également Benjamin Griveaux, porte-parole du gouvernement qui se prépare à défier la maire sortante. Mais c’est bien beau de le dire. On fait comment ? Moi je consulte, j’y travaille. »
Elle a beau être à l’offensive, la maire de Paris sait que le terrain est miné. Et ce n’est pas le rapport confidentiel posé sur son bureau depuis mai qui devrait la rassurer. L’étude de 120 pages que Le Monde s’est procurée, commandée à un administrateur de la ville, Hervé Hulin, visait à répondre aux revendications des syndicats en faveur d’un armement renforcé des agents après la mort du policier Xavier Jugelé, en avril 2017, lors d’une attaque terroriste sur les Champs-Elysées. Consacré à l’armement des agents parisiens, le rapport estime que « le statu quo » paraît « difficile ». Mais il insiste sur « les risques et les dangers » d’une évolution et rappelle que leurs missions actuelles ne l’exigent pas.
En créant en 2016 la Direction de la prévention, de la sécurité et de la protection (DPSP), Mme Hidalgo lui a assigné la lutte contre les incivilités du quotidien. Les 1 200 agents de surveillance de Paris (ASP) transférés le 1er janvier 2018 à la DPSP, en passant de la tutelle du préfet à celle de la Ville, y sont uniquement chargés du stationnement gênant et de la régulation de la circulation. Quant aux 900 inspecteurs de sécurité de la Ville (ISVP), leur première mission est de sévir contre les atteintes à la propreté (jets de mégots, dépôts sauvages, épanchement d’urine, crottes de chien) et contre les nuisances sonores dans les lieux publics.
Baisse d’effectifs
Dans les faits, pourtant, les interventions des ISVP confinent à des opérations de maintien de l’ordre. Qu’il s’agisse de fermer certains parcs la nuit, de barrer les voitures sur les Champs-Elysées piétons une fois par mois ou de lutter contre les ventes à la sauvette dans le 18e arrondissement… « Le public rencontré est plus difficile. Les gens sont moins dans le dialogue, plus dans l’agressivité », observe Frédéric Frémont, représentant CGT au sein de la DPSP.
Les ISVP interviennent aussi de plus en plus aux côtés de la police nationale, de façon programmée ou imprévue, comme lors des attentats du 13 novembre 2015 ou de l’agression d’un militaire près du Louvre en février 2017. Avec leur uniforme bleu barré du mot « sécurité », ils sont souvent assimilés à des policiers municipaux, voire nationaux, sans avoir les mêmes armes. Outre une matraque et une bombe lacrymogène, comme les ASP, les ISVP sont dotés d’un bâton de défense, de type Tonfa.
Dans leurs rangs, la demande d’un armement plus offensif est pressante depuis les attentats terroristes. Tous les syndicats, hormis le Supap-FSU, réclament des pistolets électriques de type Taser ou des Flash-Ball. « Nous sommes des cibles potentielles en cas d’attaques, explique Laurent Zignone, président de l’Union des cadres de Paris (UCP) au sein de la DPSP. Nous armer nous permettrait de nous protéger et de pouvoir défendre les usagers ». La plupart des organisations – UNSA, CFTC, FO, UCP, CGT – sont favorables à des armes létales pour une partie des agents et dans certaines missions. Mais le rapport Hulin souligne « la complexité » qu’engendrerait une telle décision : risque d’accidents sur les agents, exigences d’une formation, d’une protection contre le vol des armes… Armer les 900 ISVP aurait un coût élevé, qu’il estime à 10,7 millions d’euros par an.
Plus largement, le rapport met en garde contre l’effet contre-productif d’un armement renforcé – létal ou non. Alors que la Mairie de Paris déplore la baisse régulière depuis des années des effectifs policiers à Paris, l’armement des personnels de la ville « entraînerait une restriction du nombre d’agents de police sur la voie publique », explique l’étude. A Lyon, Marseille ou Toulouse, après l’équipement de la police locale en armes létales, les effectifs de la police nationale sur le terrain ont diminué. Les agents parisiens armés devraient « assurer des missions de maintien de l’ordre qui ne sont pas de leur compétence », insiste le rapport.
Cette crainte se fait d’ores et déjà jour au sein de la DPSP. « Notre vocation n’est pas de devenir une variable d’ajustement de la police nationale, prévient Sylvie Borst, directrice adjointe de la DPSP. Aujourd’hui, lorsqu’ils sont sollicités par la police nationale pour prêter main-forte lors d’une opération Vigipirate, nos agents peuvent refuser au motif qu’ils ne sont pas armés. Armés, ils n’auront plus la possibilité d’invoquer cette raison. »
« Fragilité au niveau du droit »
Le rapport préconise du coup un scénario très circonscrit qui consisterait à armer de pistolet de type Taser la seule Brigade d’intervention de Paris, unité « volante » de la DPSP, qui compte 300 ISVP. M. Hulin reconnaît que ce scénario ne répond pas « aux inquiétudes des agents face au risque terroriste », contrairement aux armes à feu.
Qu’il soit létal ou pas, un armement renforcé supposerait une nouvelle loi, assure le rapport. A la demande de M. Hulin, la direction des affaires juridique de la ville a conduit une expertise de la loi d’avril 1999 qui autorise les maires à armer les policiers municipaux. Dans sa note de novembre 2017, la Ville estime que la règle ne s’applique pas aux agents de sécurité de Paris car ils n’ont pas le statut de policiers municipaux et ne sont pas mentionnés dans le texte de loi. Selon le rapport Hulin, cette « fragilité au niveau du droit » « exposerait la Ville » en cas d’usage d’une arme par un de ses agents à des « recours » ou des « contentieux ».
Le débat sur la nécessité d’armer les agents de la municipalité est loin d’être clos. Interrogé par Le Monde, le préfet de police de Paris, Michel Delpuech, voit en tout cas plutôt d’un bon œil cette possibilité. Selon son cabinet, le cadre juridique actuel permet aux agents de la Ville chargés d’un service de police de détenir une arme de poing. « L’amélioration de la sécurité à Paris suppose une complémentarité et la coordination entre les agents de la Ville et les policiers. C’est le sens de la première convention que j’ai signée, en mars, avec Mme Hidalgo », estime le préfet.
La préfecture considère que, dans la capitale comme ailleurs, le maire peut prendre l’initiative d’armer ses agents et l’Etat valide par un arrêté ministériel. En clair, Mme Hidalgo aurait, selon le préfet de police, non seulement le choix des armes mais aussi celui de créer – ou non – une police municipale. Si la balle est dans son camp, le dilemme est plus cruel encore.
En 1978, Paris Maquis, « inventer la liberté »
►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW-peug4e8s
Comme pendant la commune de Paris ? A non... des gens de métier... contrôlables.
Plus il y aura d’armes en circulation, plus il y en a qui se perdront , c’est mathématique.
« L’heure est venue de créer une police municipale parisienne », Tribune Le Monde
Deux élus parisiens, Benjamin Djiane, apparenté PS, et Vincent Baladi, divers droite, appellent, dans une tribune au « Monde », à dépasser les clivages partisans afin de lutter efficacement contre l’insécurité dans la capitale.
Tribune. Contrairement à ce qui a pu être dit ici ou là, le dernier Conseil de Paris des 2,3 et 4 juillet n’a rien tranché d’une épineuse question. Au contraire, il a écrit une nouvelle page de cette sempiternelle « saga », celle de la création d’une police municipale. Alors que la question lui était posée, la majorité municipale vient, à nouveau, de rejeter cette idée, préférant – comme toujours dans les situations où l’on ne veut pas décider – lancer un « grand audit » de la sécurité des Parisiens, c’est-à-dire élever une immense montagne qui, on peut le craindre, accouchera d’une souris.
C’est une perte de temps. Une de plus. Un manque de courage également. Car l’heure est venue de créer une police municipale parisienne, sans tergiverser, en dépassant toutes les réticences dogmatiques, en allant également au-delà des clivages partisans, comme nous nous efforçons ici de le faire en cosignant ce texte. Nous devons avoir pour ambition une large adhésion, à droite comme à gauche, parce qu’une telle réforme engage la Ville de Paris, non pas pour une mandature, mais vers un changement structurel, lourd budgétairement, mais indispensable.
Les policiers nationaux font déjà énormément
Nous sommes en effet passés, ces dernières années, au rythme des transferts réguliers de compétences, d’une situation où la préfecture de police faisait tout, à une situation où la Ville de Paris doit remplir davantage de missions – circulation et stationnement, salubrité publique, bruits de voisinage, occupation illicite de l’espace public, prévention et répression des incivilités – sans pour autant s’être dotée des moyens humains adaptés. Si bien que nous nous trouvons dans la pire des configurations : l’entre-deux, c’est-à-dire moins de missions pour la police nationale (en tout cas sur le papier) et pas de police municipale, pour autant, pour prendre véritablement le relais. La conséquence ? Une dégradation de la tranquillité et de la sécurité des habitants. C’est vrai dans le centre de Paris. C’est vrai malheureusement partout, depuis la porte de Vanves (au sud de la capitale) jusqu’à celle de La Chapelle (au nord).
Comme de nombreux élus d’arrondissement chargés de ces questions, nous sommes las de devoir toujours répondre aux habitants, qui légitimement nous interpellent, « ceci n’est pas de ma compétence » alors que ces derniers attendent justement de leurs élus locaux de régler leurs problèmes, d’avoir prise sur ce qui pourrit la vie de tous les jours : confiscation de l’espace public, vendeurs à la sauvette, noctambules bruyants ou en état d’ébriété, altercations, actes de vandalisme… La liste est longue.
Nous dénonçons ce confort qui consiste à toujours tout renvoyer vers le préfet de police, à charger la barque, tout en s’en lavant les mains. Les policiers nationaux font déjà énormément, avec énormément de courage. Les Parisiens voient notamment combien ils sont mobilisés face à la menace terroriste. Il s’agit à un moment pour la capitale et ses élus d’assumer leurs responsabilités.
Une force de soutien
Berlin, Madrid, Rome ont leur police municipale. Paris, de manière paradoxale, toujours pas ! De manière d’autant plus paradoxale quand on sait que la préfecture de police a compétence sur l’ensemble de l’agglomération parisienne. Ce qui veut dire que dans de nombreuses communes de la périphérie directe de Paris, dans les Hauts-de-Seine, la Seine-Saint-Denis, le Val-de-Marne (par exemple à Nanterre, Courbevoie, au Raincy, aux Lilas, à Nogent-sur-Marne ou Ivry-sur-Seine), la police nationale – la même qui intervient dans les arrondissements parisiens – est épaulée par des policiers municipaux. Paris intramuros, pourtant soumis aux mêmes phénomènes, fait exception. Le seul principe d’efficacité justifierait le contraire.
Le principe de réalité aussi. C’est une certitude : les effectifs de la police nationale ne sont pas appelés à augmenter au cours des prochaines années. Et la fameuse Police de sécurité du quotidien [lancée par Gérard Collomb, le ministre de l’intérieur, en février 2018], sans effectifs supplémentaires, ne suffira pas à régler tous les problèmes. Il appartiendra donc, de plus en plus, aux maires d’assurer la sécurité publique, même si rien ne remplacera jamais la police nationale. Coupons court à tous les fantasmes : il ne s’agit pas de se substituer à cette dernière. Elle doit conserver ses missions essentielles : lutte contre la criminalité et la délinquance, maintien de l’ordre public, en particulier en cas de troubles graves, sécurisation des grandes réunions et manifestations. L’objectif est bien de créer une force de soutien intervenant dans un cadre précis.
Dans toutes les communes de France ayant une police municipale, des conventions, établies sous l’autorité des préfets, précisent la nature, l’amplitude horaire et les lieux d’intervention des agents municipaux. Elles déterminent également les modalités de coordination avec les forces de police ou de gendarmerie, notamment en matière d’opérations de maintien de l’ordre public. Cette démarche devra être menée à Paris pour établir un périmètre des compétences adapté qui prenne bien en compte les zones intéressant l’Etat, celles liées à sa mission exclusive de protection du siège des institutions de la République et des représentations diplomatiques.
Des négociations sont également possibles en matière judiciaire. Les policiers municipaux n’ont aucun pouvoir d’enquête ou d’interrogatoire, mais en cas de flagrant délit, ils peuvent bien évidemment intervenir, constater, entamer des procédures. On pourra également envisager un état-major et une salle de commandement communs.
Plan de recrutement
Toutes ces questions réclament sérieux et volonté d’aboutir. Il ne suffit pas de petites déclarations politiques opportunes, qui viennent d’ailleurs pour certaines contredire les positions constantes du passé. Il faut de vrais engagements mutuels, durables, entre la Ville de Paris et la préfecture de police pour continuer d’avancer dans un climat de confiance, vital pour la bonne entente sur le terrain. Et donc pour protéger les Parisiens. Concrètement, il faut, pour la Ville de Paris, s’engager sur un plan d’action qui couvrira au moins la durée d’une mandature, car on ne crée pas une police municipale d’un claquement de doigts, en partant de rien.
Ce plan d’action, c’est d’abord un plan de recrutement, pour faire venir des cadres issus de la police et de la gendarmerie nationales ou d’autres polices municipales. L’intégration de ces compétences est indispensable pour aider à bâtir une force crédible. A ces recrutements doit s’ajouter un plan de formation massif. On ne fait pas, du jour au lendemain, des agents actuels de la direction de la prévention, de la sécurité et de la protection (DPSP) des policiers municipaux. Il faut développer les aptitudes, les bons réflexes, les conditions physiques. Il faut enfin un plan d’équipement ambitieux intégrant le développement de la vidéoprotection, les nouvelles technologies, en particulier l’Internet des objets qui est un appui précieux pour la sécurisation bâtimentaire, la bonne coordination des équipages ou bien encore l’objectivation en temps réel des nuisances.
Ce plan d’équipement doit intégrer les questions de l’armement. Dans ce domaine, il convient de lever un tabou. Oui, les policiers municipaux à Paris devront, comme la législation le permet, être équipés d’#armes_létales. Mais pas n’importe comment ! Et surtout pas tous d’un coup. Dire le contraire, c’est être candide. On peut envisager que, dans un premier temps, seuls les anciens policiers ou gendarmes pourraient porter une arme à feu. Puis, au fur et à mesure des montées en compétence des personnels, ce type d’armement pourrait être étendu.
Quoi qu’il en soit, la question des équipements ne doit pas précéder la réflexion sur leur finalité. L’enjeu, c’est surtout de donner à l’ensemble des personnels des moyens matériels (Taser, matraques tonfa, gilets pare-balles, véhicules automobiles performants…) permettant d’être réactifs, dissuasifs et garantissant un haut niveau de protection pour tous. Ce qui jouera notamment sur le ressenti de la population.
Voilà en quelques lignes, sans démagogie, l’immense chantier qui pourrait être devant nous. On peut regretter qu’il n’ait pas été entamé plus tôt, tant dans les grandes villes françaises la complémentarité entre les forces de sécurité a permis des améliorations très sensibles des conditions de vie des habitants. Il faudra, à partir de 2020, avancer une bonne fois pour toutes. Et avec des idées très claires.
Benjamin Djiane, adjoint au maire du 3e arrondissement de Paris, chargé de la sécurité (apparenté PS) et Vincent Baladi, adjoint au maire du 8e arrondissement de Paris, chargé de la sécurité (divers droite).
►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBEUGfo3AKI
Vidéo : Total War:Rome II renaît grâce à une énorme mise à jour
▻https://www.tomshardware.fr/articles/wargame-gaming-graphismes-visuel-maj,1-68003.html#xtor=RSS-5
Beaucoup plus beau, moins de bugs et un gameplay amélioré
▻https://img.purch.com/rc/120x90/aHR0cDovL21lZGlhLmJlc3RvZm1pY3JvLmNvbS9CL00vNzg0NDk4L29yaWdpbmFsL0ZhbWlse
Notes sur le sommet du New Normal
▻http://www.dedefensa.org/article/notes-sur-le-sommet-dunew-normal
Notes sur le sommet du New Normal
13 juillet 2018 – Selon notre connaissance des choses officieuses ou semi-officielles, c’est la seconde fois qu’un président US “menace”, au nom de son pays, de quitter l’OTAN, – ou tout comme, sans bien entendu que la chose soit actée officieusement... La première fois, c’était au sommet de Rome de novembre 1991, en séance restreinte. Le débat portait là encore sur les contributions des autres alliés, mais également sur la place prépondérante occupée par les USA dans les commandements militaires (ce qui allait déboucher sur la pseudo-crise, ou simulacre de crise, en 1995-1997, avec la France tentant sans succès, pour prix de son rapprochement de l’Organisation intégrée, d’obtenir le commandement de la zone Sud de l’OTAN, dont le quartier-général de Naples est dans les (...)
Un responsable à l’ambassade du Maroc à Rome rançonne les Marocains de Malte
▻https://www.emouaten.com/Un-responsable-a-l-ambassade-du-Maroc-a-Rome-ranconne-les-Marocains-de-Mal
Kiosque36...
▻http://www.jeudepaume.org/?page=article&idArt=3001
Je ne saurais trop recommander l’exposition de Bouchra Khalili que j’ai découverte ce dimanche au Jeu de Paume à Paris, en allant voir l’exposition de Gordon Matta-Clark, par ailleurs somptueuse, mais c’est une autre histoire. Il y a notamment ces vidéos remarquables où l’on voit la main d’une personne réfugiée dessiner sur une carte le parcours souvent remarquable de complexité et de longueur (il peut falloir cinq ans pour aller du Bangladesh à Rome, surtout en passant par le Mali) et les récits des personnes qui commentent leur propre odyssée sont d’une incroyable puissance (surtout dans un Italien parfait quand on est né à Dhaka).
Quant au film Twenty-Two Hours c’est peu dire qu’il est à la fois émouvant et édifiant.
cc @cdb_77
Naturellement l’exposition de Gordon Matta-Clark, elle vaut aussi largement la peine d’être vue
Incidemment, quand on voit les images pour le moins fragiles et pas toutes faciles à regarder tellement elles sont médiocres des performances de Gordon Matta-Clark, on peut se poser la question aujourd’hui du rapport entre le nombre et la fréquence des captations versus la qualité des interventions, il doit être l’exact inverse que pour Matta-Clark. Je ne sais pas si je me fais bien comprendre.
Bangladesh c’est bien aussi (ou encore bang la dêche !).
On trouve écrit en deux mots comme tu l’as fait : c’est le titre de la chanson écrite par George Harrison en soutien aux victimes de la guerre d’indépendance entre le Bangladesh et le Pakistan et qui a donné lieu à un grand concert de charité.
▻http://desordre.net/bloc/ursula/2014/sons/harrison.mp3
Toute mon enfance ! Du coup, oui, je pense qu’entre l’Anglais et le souvenir impérissable de cette chanson (pourtant périssable), je me suis gouré
ah bien, j’avais oublié de mettre le lien vers la chanson :) Et oui, souvenir d’enfance pour moi aussi.
En anglais c’est aussi en un seul mot.
Ah ce Harrison, ha ces bons sentiments, ah ces gigos événements, de quoi devenir punk :)
Sinon, une variation antérieure
« Chaque soir, dans les murs du foyer, deux cartes se rejoignent et se superposent : celle des trajets faits de milliers de kilomètres et celle des parcours quotidiens dans Paris et sa banlieue. Comme s’il s’agissait d’une seule et même carte, décrivant un seul et même « pays ». Celui de tous ceux qui sont un jour partis et ne sont pas vraiment arrivés quelque part. »
de quoi devenir punk :)
Indeed !
#Bouchra_Khalili rules, extraordinaire artiste, merci @philippe_de_jonckheere
Palestine : en manque de fonds, l’UNRWA pourrait devoir fermer 700 écoles
Par RFI Publié le 26-06-2018 – Avec notre correspondante à New York,Marie Bourreau
▻http://www.rfi.fr/moyen-orient/20180626-onu-etats-unis-palestine-unwra-baisse-aide-refugies-ecoles
L’agence d’aide aux réfugiés palestiniens de l’ONU (UNRWA, en anglais) fait toujours face à une situation financière dramatique et menace d’arrêter certains de ses services dès le mois d’août. L’agence onusienne cherche toujours 250 millions de dollars de toute urgence pour combler la réduction drastique de la contribution américaine. Une conférence des donateurs, qui s’est tenue lundi 25 juin au siège de l’organisation à New York, n’a pas permis de combler ce déficit et a exposé un peu plus la fatigue des pays donateurs.
Pas de bilan chiffré à l’issue de cette troisième conférence pour recueillir des fonds pour l’Office de secours et de travaux des Nations unies pour les réfugiés de Palestine dans le Proche-Orient (UNRWA). Le résultat est médiocre et très loin des 250 millions de dollars (214,49 millions d’euros) que l’agence onusienne estime nécessaires pour poursuivre ses services essentiels.
Seule la Belgique a promis un nouvel apport de 4 millions d’euros et le Mexique une participation de 500 000 dollars (environ 428 980 euros). À titre de comparaison, 200 millions de dollars (environ 171,59 millions d’euros) avaient été promis en mars et en mai 2018, lors des conférences de Rome et d’Amman, grâce notamment à l’Arabie Saoudite, au Qatar et aux Émirats arabes unis.
Beaucoup a déjà été publié sur seenthis sur l’#externalisation des frontières.
Sur ce fil, je réunis surtout les documents de la politique de #Macron au sujet de tentative de l’externalisation de la #procédure_d'asile dans des #pays_tiers.
Il s’agit de messages que j’ai ajoutés à des messages d’autres personnes (pour éviter que si jamais l’auteur du message original quitte seenthis et efface son compte, moi je ne perds pas mes informations —> je vais faire cela assez systématiquement, quand j’ai le temps, dans les prochains mois = paranoïa de perte de données).
Voir aussi ce fil de discussion, que je ne vais pas "rapatrier" ici :
Emmanuel #Macron veut créer des « hotspots » pour gérer les demandes d’asile en #Libye
►https://seenthis.net/messages/618133
Par contre, pour celui-ci, je vais copier les messages ci-dessous, car le fil de discussion n’a pas été initié par moi :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/625374
#France
#frontières #contrôles_frontaliers #frontières #asile #migrations #réfugiés #procédure_d'asile
–—
voir la métaliste sur les tentatives d’externalisation de la procédure d’asile de différents pays européens dans l’histoire :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/900122
cc @isskein
Macron veut « identifier » les demandeurs d’asile au #Tchad et au Niger
Lors d’un mini-sommet organisé à l’Élysée lundi 28 août, Paris, Berlin, Madrid et Rome ont proposé l’envoi de « missions de protection » au Niger et au Tchad dans le but d’identifier en amont les migrants éligibles à l’asile. Une initiative qui pose plus de questions qu’elle n’en résout.
À l’issue d’un mini-sommet organisé à Paris le 28 août, les chefs d’État ou de gouvernement de sept pays européens et africains – la France, l’Allemagne, l’Espagne et l’Italie, d’un côté de la Méditerranée, le Tchad, le Niger et la Libye, de l’autre – se sont mis d’accord autour d’une « feuille de route » visant à « contrôler les flux migratoires » entre les deux continents.
Réunis avec les présidents du Tchad, Idriss Déby, et du Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, ainsi qu’avec le premier ministre libyen du gouvernement d’union nationale, Fayez al-Sarraj, le président français, Emmanuel Macron, la chancelière allemande, Angela Merkel, le premier ministre espagnol, Mariano Rajoy, et le président du Conseil italien, Paolo Gentiloni, ont ainsi proposé l’envoi de « missions de protection » au Niger et au Tchad, dans le but d’identifier en amont les migrants éligibles à l’asile (retrouver ici et là les déclarations conjointes).
« Nous avons acté, je m’y étais engagé à Orléans au début de l’été, d’avoir un traitement humanitaire à la hauteur de nos exigences et de pouvoir, dans des zones identifiées, pleinement sûres, au Niger et au Tchad, sous la supervision du HCR [Haut Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés – ndlr], identifier les ressortissants qui ont le droit à l’asile, pouvoir les mettre en sécurité le plus rapidement », a expliqué le président français lors de la conférence de presse.
Le 27 juillet, ce dernier avait créé la polémique en affirmant, en marge d’une visite dans un centre d’hébergement de réfugiés à Orléans, vouloir créer des « hot spots », ces centres chargés de trier les candidats à l’asile en France, « dès cet été », pour maîtriser l’arrivée des migrants venus de Libye et, avait-il ajouté, pour « éviter aux gens de prendre des risques fous alors qu’ils ne sont pas tous éligibles à l’asile ». Quelques heures plus tard, son entourage avait fait machine arrière en expliquant que, pour l’heure, seuls le Tchad et le Niger devraient être concernés. Après la visite, dans un discours à la préfecture du Loiret, le président avait d’ailleurs rectifié le tir en se contentant d’évoquer l’envoi de missions de l’Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides (Ofpra) « sur le sol africain ».
La feuille de route du 28 août, qui substitue l’idée de « missions de protection » à celle de « hot spots », prévoit que l’identification des demandeurs d’asile se fera par le HCR, avec l’aval des autorités du pays de premier accueil et le soutien d’équipes européennes spécialistes de l’asile. Les personnes sélectionnées entreraient dans le programme dit de réinstallation du HCR « sur des listes fermées », c’est-à-dire listant les migrants d’ores et déjà identifiés par le HCR, et « selon des critères fixés en commun », non communiqués pour l’instant.
Les migrants ne répondant pas à ces conditions devraient être reconduits « dans leur pays d’origine, dans la sécurité, l’ordre et la dignité, de préférence sur une base volontaire, en tenant compte de la législation nationale et dans le respect du droit international ».
Sur le papier, l’idée pourrait paraître séduisante, puisqu’elle se donne comme objectif d’« ouvrir une voie légale pour les personnes ayant besoin d’une protection conformément au droit international et européen, en particulier pour les personnes les plus vulnérables selon les procédures du HCR relatives à la détermination de la qualité de réfugié, et qui sont susceptibles de migrer vers l’Europe ». Le but serait ainsi de leur éviter l’enfer libyen, où il est de notoriété publique que les migrants subissent les pires sévices, mais aussi les dangers de la traversée de la Méditerranée sur des canots pneumatiques. Depuis le début de l’année, près de 98 000 personnes sont arrivées par cette route maritime centrale, et près de 2 250 ont péri en mer, selon les chiffres de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations.
Mais derrière cette intention louable, se cache surtout le projet de réduire au maximum l’arrivée sur le Vieux Continent de personnes perçues par les dirigeants européens comme des « migrants économiques », pour lesquels aucun accueil n’est envisagé. L’objectif est ainsi de décourager les départs le plus en amont possible. Cette politique n’est pas nouvelle : voilà une vingtaine d’années que Bruxelles multiplie les accords avec les pays d’origine et de transit, par des campagnes d’affichage et des bureaux d’information, à coups de dizaines de millions d’euros, afin de convaincre les migrants de rester chez eux.
Avec ces nouveaux guichets de pré-examen de la demande d’asile, il s’agit d’aller plus loin, car il est fort à parier que le nombre de personnes retenues par le HCR et in fine réinstallées en Europe sera extrêmement réduit. Dans les pays de l’UE, les demandeurs d’asile originaires d’Afrique subsaharienne obtiennent rarement le statut de réfugié. Les ONG sont donc particulièrement sceptiques à l’égard de ce genre d’initiatives, qu’elles considèrent comme une manière déguisée de sous-traiter la demande d’asile à des pays tiers, aussi éloignés que possible du continent européen. « On repousse la frontière européenne dans des pays de plus en plus lointains », a ainsi affirmé à l’AFP Eva Ottavy, de la Cimade, pour qui, « sous couvert de sauver des vies, on bloque l’accès au territoire ».
Par ailleurs, le dispositif de réinstallation mis en place dans le monde par le HCR est décrié par ces mêmes associations de défense des droits des étrangers qui estiment que les critères mis en œuvre sont trop restrictifs et les procédures trop peu transparentes.
Quand on sait que le système de relocalisation organisé par l’Union européenne pour répartir les réfugiés arrivés en Grèce ne fonctionne pas, alors même que ces exilés sont des ressortissants de pays susceptibles d’obtenir l’asile (Syrie, Afghanistan, Irak et Iran principalement), on peut s’interroger sur le nombre d’Africains subsahariens qui pourront effectivement bénéficier de cette « voie légale » pour arriver en Europe.
Enfin, la décision de Paris, Berlin, Madrid et Rome d’« améliorer la coopération économique avec les communautés locales se trouvant sur les routes migratoires en Libye, afin de créer des sources de revenu alternatives, d’accroître leur résilience et de les rendre indépendantes de la traite des êtres humains » a de quoi laisser dubitatif. En effet, Reuters a récemment révélé l’existence sur les côtes libyennes, à Sabratah, principale ville de départ des migrants, d’une milice armée qui empêcherait violemment les embarcations de partir et détiendrait les candidats au passage dans des conditions dégradantes (lire notre article). Or, d’après de nombreux témoignages, il semble que ce groupe mafieux soit, en partie au moins, financé par le gouvernement d’union nationale de Tripoli, lui-même soutenu par les fonds européens.
►https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/290817/macron-veut-identifier-les-demandeurs-d-asile-au-tchad-et-au-niger
#hotspots #externalisation #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Macron #Tchad #Niger
v. aussi : ►https://seenthis.net/messages/618133
Et ce magnifique titre de l’opération :
#missions_de_protection
Juste pour rappeler que Macron n’a rien inventé, mais qu’il surfe sur la vague...
Voici l’extrait d’un article qui date de 2009...
Les tendances et mesures amorcées dans les récentes prises de position politiques ne servent qu’à confirmer la direction prise depuis la fin des années quatre-vingt-dix et indiquent clairement une réalité politique qui accentue certains aspects : la présence policière, la surveillance des frontières et l’endiguement, au détriment des autres. D’abord, les orientations prises conjointement pour limiter l’accès aux demandeurs d’asile, aux réfugiés et aux familles des travailleurs, à travers une série de directives et de règlements (c’est-à-dire des populations ayant droit à l’accès) et le développement croissant d’une politique d’immigration sélective des travailleurs, ont contribué à créer une étape de plus dans l’externalisation. Cette étape a été franchie en 2003 et 2004 avec deux propositions, l’une émanant des Britanniques sur les “#Transit_Processing_Centres” (#TPCs) et l’autre des Italiens et des Allemands, pour mettre en place des bureaux d’immigration en Afrique du Nord.
Tiré de :
Dimension extérieure de la politique d’immigration de l’Union européenne
▻https://hommesmigrations.revues.org/342
#Italie #Allemagne #UK #Angleterre
Au Niger, la frontière invisible de l’Europe
L’enquête des « Jours » sur la trace des migrants morts en mer passe par le Niger, nouveau pays de transit pour les candidats à l’exil.
Depuis l’été 2016 et la mise en œuvre de la loi via le « #plan_Bazoum », du nom du ministre de l’Intérieur Mohamed Bazoum, toute personne transportant des étrangers dans le désert, au nord de l’axe Arlit-Dirkou (consulter notre carte des Disparus), est considéré comme étant en infraction avec la loi. D’ailleurs, à proximité de la gare de Rimbo, une pancarte affichant les logos de l’Union européenne et de l’Agence nationale de lutte contre la traite des personnes (ANLTP) du Niger le rappelle : « Transporter illégalement des migrants vous expose à une peine d’amende de 1 000 000 à 3 000 000 CFA [1 525 à 4 575 euros, ndlr]. »
v. aussi : ▻https://seenthis.net/messages/605400
« Dans cette histoire de migration, rien n’est ni noir, ni blanc. C’est un sujet tellement complexe qu’on ne peut pas le résumer en quelques vérités », dit Kirsi Henriksson, au volant de son 4x4, dans les rues de Niamey. Kirsi Henriksson dirige Eucap Sahel au Niger, une opération civile de l’Union européenne créée en 2012, après la chute de Kadhafi, pour lutter contre le terrorisme et la criminalité organisée dans la région. Quand Henriksson a pris son poste en août 2016, le mandat de l’opération venait d’être élargi à la lutte contre l’immigration irrégulière. Le moment était parfait pour l’Union européenne : le plan Bazoum venait d’être mis en application. Désormais, des policiers et des gendarmes européens conseillent et forment leurs homologues nigériens à des techniques de contrôle et renseignement visant à intercepter les trafics de drogues et d’armes, mais aussi ceux d’êtres humains. « Nous n’avons pas de mandat exécutif, nous n’arrêtons personne. Mais nous formons les autorités nigériennes à arrêter les gens. Pour beaucoup, nous sommes les méchants de cette histoire. »
Avant le Niger, Kirsi Henriksson a travaillé pour des missions similaires de l’Union européenne au Mali, en Libye et en Irak. Universitaire de formation, elle s’est spécialisée dans les études sur la paix et les conflits avant de partir « construire la paix dans la vraie vie ». « Je dois avouer que les résultats n’ont pas toujours été à la hauteur de l’ambition », elle sourit. En 2014, elle a été évacuée de la Libye avec le reste de la mission européenne. Les organisations internationales sont parties elles aussi. Aujourd’hui, elles sont toutes au Niger, de même que les armées étrangères. « Une industrie de la paix », comme le qualifie la cheffe de mission.
« Le Niger est the new place to be. Tout le monde est ici : l’armée française avec l’#opération_Barkhane, l’armée allemande qui ravitaille ses troupes au Mali depuis le Niger, l’armée américaine qui construit une base de #drones à Agadez. » À la fin de l’année 2017, l’#Italie a annoncé à son tour l’envoi de troupes – une information que les autorités nigériennes ont démentie par la suite. « Tout le monde vient parce que dans la région du Sahel, le Niger assure une certaine stabilité. Et préserver cette stabilité est dans l’intérêt de toute l’Europe. »
Mais la migration est-elle une menace pour la stabilité du Sahel ? Paradoxalement, avec l’augmentation des contrôles et la criminalisation du trafic, elle est peut-être en train de le devenir. Le #trafic_d’êtres_humains est passé des mains des transporteurs ordinaires à celles de #réseaux_criminels transfrontaliers qui gèrent aussi d’autres trafics : la #drogue – surtout du #Tramadol, un antalgique dérivé de l’#opium –, qui arrive depuis le Nigeria vers la Libye, et les #armes, qui descendent de la Libye vers le sud.
Seulement, pour le moment, l’aide européenne promise arrive lentement et souvent sans consultation des populations concernées. Le #Fonds_fiduciaire officiellement destiné à l’aide au #développement vise en réalité à produire du contrôle, reconnaît Kirsi Henriksson. C’est également le but de l’#opération_Eucap_Sahel. La cheffe de mission trace avec son index les nouvelles routes que le contrôle renforcé a dessinées dans le désert : directement depuis #Diffa, situé à la frontière nigériane, vers #Séguédine dans le nord, en traversant le #Ténéré, de #Gao au Mali vers #Assamaka à la frontière algérienne, qu’on longera ensuite pour arriver en Libye. Ces nouvelles routes sont plus dangereuses.
#Eucap #routes_migratoires #parcours_migratoires
« Davantage de personnes meurent dans le désert. Et c’est vraiment malheureux. » C’est la première fois que j’entends cette affirmation pendant mon voyage. Je ne cesserai de l’entendre par la suite. À chacun, je demanderai combien. Combien mouraient avant, combien meurent maintenant ? Personne ne sait. Personne ne semble savoir qui pourrait savoir.
►https://lesjours.fr/obsessions/migrants/ep6-niger
#Agadez #gardes-frontière #frontières #contrôles_frontaliers
At French Outpost in African Migrant Hub, Asylum for a Select Few
In a bare suite of prefab offices, inside a compound off a dirt road, French bureaucrats are pushing France’s borders thousands of miles into Africa, hoping to head off would-be migrants.
All day long, in a grassy courtyard, they interview asylum seekers, as the African reality they want to escape swirls outside — donkey carts and dust, joblessness and poverty, and, in special cases, political persecution.
If the French answer is yes to asylum, they are given plane tickets to France and spared the risky journey through the desert and on the deadly boats across the Mediterranean that have brought millions of desperate migrants to Europe in recent years, transforming its politics and societies.
“We’re here to stop people from dying in the Mediterranean,” said Sylvie Bergier-Diallo, the deputy chief of the French mission in Niger.
But very few are actually approved, and so the French delegation is also there to send a message to other would-be migrants: Stay home, and do not risk a perilous journey for an asylum claim that would ultimately be denied in France.
The French outpost is part of a new forward defense in Europe’s struggle to hold off migration from Africa; it is a small, relatively benign piece of a larger strategy that otherwise threatens to subvert Europe’s humanitarian ideals.
After years of being buffeted by uncontrolled migration, Europe is striking out. Italy is suspected of quietly cutting deals with Libyan warlords who control the migration route. The European Union has sent delegations to African capitals, waving aid and incentives for leaders to keep their people at home. Now come the French.
“There’s a much more active approach to see that the immigrant stays as far away as possible from Europe, and this is completely to the detriment of those concerned,” said Philippe Dam of Human Rights Watch.
The French mission was “positive,” he said, “but it’s too late and too small.”
It is also the flip side of a fast-toughening stance by France against migrants, as President Emmanuel Macron began his push this month for what critics say is a draconian new law aimed at sending many of those who have already arrived back home.
Even if some of Europe’s new methods are questionable, the results have been evident: Last year, for the first time since the crisis began several years ago, the migration flow was reversed, according to Giuseppe Loprete, head of the United Nations migration agency office in Niger.
About 100,000 would-be migrants returned through Niger from Libya, compared with 60,000 who traversed the vast and impoverished desert country heading toward Europe.
As the hub for West African migration, Niger had long been under pressure from Europe to crack down on the migrant flow. And something has shifted.
The bus stations in Niamey, once packed with West Africans trying to get to Agadez, the last city before Libya, are now empty. The police sternly check identity documents.
When I visited Agadez three years ago, migrants packed what locals called “ghettos” at the edge of town, hanging out for weeks in the courtyards of unfinished villas waiting for a chance to cross the desert.
Migration officials say there are many fewer now. The Nigerien government has impounded dozens of the pickups formerly used by smugglers at Agadez, they say.
“Lot less, lot less than before,” said a bus agent, who declined to give his name, at the open-air Sonef station in Niamey, drowsing and empty in the late-afternoon heat. “It’s not like it was. Before it was full.”
The tile floor was once crowded with migrants. No more. A sign outside bears the European Union flag and warns passengers not to travel without papers.
In itself, the so-called French filtration effort here is so small that it is not responsible for the drop, nor is it expected to have much effect on the overall migration flow.
It began well after the drop was underway. Only a handful of such missions to interview asylum seekers have embarked since Mr. Macron announced the policy last summer, staying for about a week at a time.
Meager as it is, however, the French effort has already helped shift the process of sifting some asylum claims to Africa and out of Europe, where many of those who are denied asylum tend to stay illegally.
For Mr. Macron, a chief aim is to defuse the political pressures at home from the far right that have escalated with the migrant crisis.
The French hope that the greater visibility of a formal, front-end system will discourage those without credible claims of asylum from risking their lives with smugglers.
The process is also intended to send a potentially important message: that those with legitimate claims of persecution do have a chance for safe passage.
“Politically it’s huge,” said Mr. Loprete. “But in terms of numbers it is very low.”
In a recent week, 85 people were interviewed by the four officials from the French refugee agency, known as Ofpra.
The selective scale is in line with Mr. Macron’s determination to keep out economic migrants. “We can’t welcome everybody,” he said in his New Year’s speech.
On the other hand, “we must welcome the men and women fleeing their country because they are under threat,” Mr. Macron said. They have a “right to asylum,” he said.
Critics of the plan say that it amounts to only a token effort, and that the real goal is to keep potential migrants at arms’ length.
“Macron’s policy is to divide migrants and refugees, but how can we do so? What is the ethical principle behind this choice?” said Mauro Armanino, an Italian priest at the cathedral in Niamey who has long worked with migrants in African nations. “It is a policy without heart.”
Still, the French have been the first to undertake this kind of outreach, working closely with the United Nations, out of its refugee agency’s compound in Niamey.
The United Nations International Office for Migration does a first vetting for the French in Libya, Niger’s northern neighbor, where human smuggling networks have thrived in the chaotic collapse of the country.
In Libya, the smugglers herd the Africans together, beat them, sometimes rape them and extort money. Some are even sold into slavery before being loaded onto rickety boats for the Mediterranean crossing.
Some of the Libyan camps are run by smugglers and their associated militias, and others by the government, such as it is. But regardless of who runs them, they are essentially concentration camps, officials say, and there is no distinction made between political refugees and migrants.
United Nations officials are allowed to enter the government-run camps to look for potential asylum cases — principally Eritreans and Somalis, whose flight from political persecution and chaos might qualify them. From lists supplied by the United Nations, the French choose whom they will interview.
“The idea is to protect people who might have a right to asylum,” said Pascal Brice, the head of Ofpra, the French refugee agency. “And to bypass the horrors of Libya and the Mediterranean.”
“It is limited,” Mr. Brice acknowledged. “But the president has said he wants to cut back on the sea crossings,” he added, referring to Mr. Macron.
Bénédicte Jeannerod, who heads the French office of Human Rights Watch, was less a critic of the program itself than of its scale. “I’ve told Pascal Brice that as long as it works, make it bigger,” he said.
But the potential difficulties of making the program larger were evident in a day of interviews at the sweltering United Nations center in Niamey.
One recent Saturday night, 136 Eritreans and Somalis were flown to Niamey by the United Nations, all potential candidates for asylum interviews with the French.
The dozens of asylum seekers already there waited pensively, looking resigned as they sat on benches, betraying no sign of the import of what the French deputy chief of the mission had to offer.
“If you are chosen, you will soon be in France,” Ms. Bergier-Diallo told them, pronouncing the words slowly and deliberately. “And we are delighted.”
Indeed, if the refugees pass muster, the rewards are enormous: a free plane ticket to France, free housing, hassle-free residence papers and free French lessons.
The French agents, stiff and formal in their questioning that could last well over an hour, inquired relentlessly about the refugees’ family ties, uninterested in establishing the narrative of their escape and suffering.
The idea was to “establish the family context,” in an effort to confirm the authenticity of the refugees’ origins, said one French official, Lucie.
(Sensitive to security, the French authorities asked that the last names of their agents and those of the refugees not be published.)
Shewit, a diminutive, bespectacled 26-year-old Eritrean woman, was asked whether she ever phoned her family, and if so what they talked about.
“Only about my health,” Shewit said. “I never tell them where I am.”
Mariam, 27, told the French agent she had been raped and ostracized in her village and feared going back because “the people who raped me are still there.”
“They could rape me again,” said Mariam, an illiterate animal herder from Somaliland.
Even if she finds safety in France, integrating her into society will be a challenge. Mariam had never attended any school and looked bewildered when the French agent told her to remove her head scarf.
Wearing the scarf “is not possible in the French administration, or in schools,” Emoline, the agent, said gently to Mariam in English, through an interpreter.
Then there was Welella, an 18-year-old Eritrean girl who, before being rescued from neighboring Libya, had spent time in a refugee camp in Sudan, where she endured what she simply called “punishments.”
Her father is a soldier, her siblings had all been drafted into Eritrea’s compulsory military service, and she risked the same.
“Why is military service compulsory in Eritrea?” Lucie asked the girl, seated opposite her. “I don’t know,” Welella answered mechanically.
She had long planned on fleeing. “One day I succeeded,” she said simply.
“What could happen to you in Eritrea if you returned?” Lucie asked.
“I suffered a lot leaving Eritrea,” Welella said slowly. “If I return, they will put me underground.”
She was questioned over and over about the names of her siblings in Eritrea, and why one had traveled to a particular town.
After nearly two hours of questioning, a hint of the French agent’s verdict finally came — in English. It was rote, but the message clear: France was one step away from welcoming Welella.
“You will have the right to enter France legally,” Lucie told her. “You will be granted a residence permit, you will be given your own accommodations, you will have the right to work …”
Welella smiled, barely.
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A French Processing Centre in Niger: The first step towards extraterritorial processing of asylum claims or (just) good old resettlement?
When The New York Times made headlines in the migration world with its recent article “At French Outpost in African Migrant Hub, Asylum for a Select Few” about the French refugee agency’s role in the UNHCR humanitarian evacuation scheme, it was not long before the magical concept of “extraterritorial processing” resurfaced. Mostly defined as the processing of asylum requests outside the country of destination, this proposal, repeatedly raised by European Union member states and academics alike since the beginning of the 2000s, has regularly been turned down by EU officials as being mere politically-driven hot air. Often confused with resettlement or other legal access channels, it has been praised as the panacea of the migration and asylum challenges by some, while being criticized as outsourcing and shady responsibility shifting by others.
Les migrants paient le prix fort de la coopération entre l’UE et les #gardes-côtes_libyens
Nombre de dirigeants européens appellent à une « coopération » renforcée avec les #garde-côtes_libyens. Mais une fois interceptés en mer, ces migrants sont renvoyés dans des centres de détention indignes et risquent de retomber aux mains de trafiquants.
▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/280618/les-migrants-paient-le-prix-fort-de-la-cooperation-entre-lue-et-les-garde-
En 2019, c’est au tour de #Seehofer, donc de l’#Allemagne, de proposer la même chose...
►https://seenthis.net/messages/808684