Friday

29th Mar 2024

Italy asylum conditions spark EU threat of legal action

  • Thousands have died in their attempt to cross the Mediterranean and desert to reach Europe this year (Photo: noborder network)

Poor detention conditions for asylum seekers in Italy sparked threats of legal action by the European Commission on Wednesday (18 December).

A covert video circulated earlier in the week shows Italian authorities hosing down naked asylum seekers outside in the cold at a centre in Lampedusa.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

“The images we have seen from the detention centre in Lampedusa are appalling and unacceptable,” said EU commissioner for home affairs Cecilia Malmstrom.

Malmstrom said the commission would not hesitate to take Italy to court if condition standards do not meet EU norms. She noted other detention centres in Italy are also on the commission’s radar for possible abuse.

The images were first broadcast on Italian television channel RAI on Monday.

The footage, taken on a Syrian refugee's phone, shows staff telling around dozen men to strip naked.

The men are then hosed down with powerful jets of water, ostensibly to protect the migrants against scabies, a skin disease.

EU ministers and Italian authorities had earlier called for greater action to protect the welfare and safety of migrants when some 350 drowned off the Lamepadusa coast in early October.

Many, including Syrian refugees, disembark in overcrowded boats from the North African coastline and risk their lives to get Europe.

Thousands of migrants have perished in the attempt this year alone, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

The issue is up for discussion at the two-day EU summit in Brussels.

Preliminary draft conclusions note that long-term decisions and “strategic guidelines for further legislative” planning on asylum and migration will not be taken until June next year.

Instead, EU leaders are set to repeat their commitments to prevent another Lampedusa tragedy from happening and will discuss commission proposals on how to best reduce the risks.

The commission plans include better resettlement procedures for Syrian refugees and boosting search and rescue operations out at a sea in order to reduce deaths by drowning.

Some member states, including Denmark, Luxembourg, Greece and Spain, say the extra rescue ships may act as a pull factor, reports the Guardian.

One priority, according to the draft conclusions, is to set up and improve relations with ‘third countries’ like Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Lebanon to help reduce the flow.

“Information campaigns, regional protection programmes and mobility partnerships are important components of this comprehensive approach,” notes the draft.

But conditions for EU-bound refugees in some of the third countries have drawn criticism too.

Amnesty International, in a report out in October, said authorities in Egypt have taken a severe stance towards refugees from Syria.

It says conditions in the country are another incentive for the asylum seekers to risk the dangerous journey to EU.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us