Nearly 1,000 people missing in the Mediterranean in just a few days in the second half of January. ---- This is yet another terrible massacre at Europe's borders. It occurred during Cyclone Harry, the extreme storm that reached its peak in the central Mediterranean between January 20th and 21st. Eyewitnesses speak of entire convoys being swallowed up by the waves. But the causes of this massacre are not natural, not only because the particularly violent nature of this storm, as some analyses indicate, is attributable to the effects of climate change, but also because of the border closure policies of Italy and the European Union.
Foreign Minister Tajani reportedly told the press on February 2nd: "Human traffickers are murderous criminals. You don't send a boat out into a stormy sea knowing it's sending them to certain death." But the Italian state is among the main perpetrators of this massacre, because it is the border closure policies it implements together with the EU that force people to undertake such risky journeys. In recent years, the government has imposed ever-increasing restrictions on NGOs conducting search and rescue operations at sea, with an openly repressive policy that has removed both essential lifesaving equipment and inconvenient witnesses of pushback and pullback from the most dangerous areas of the sea. As if that weren't enough, the Italian state supports the governments of some North African states in their racist and violent policies, aimed at terrorizing those, especially those from sub-Saharan countries, who live on the coasts and in cities awaiting embarkation for Europe. These acts of violence, often carried out by police forces trained and funded by the EU itself, put the lives and safety of thousands of people at risk, forcing them to leave even in the most desperate conditions.
According to the NGO Mediterranea, it was Tunisian police forces who forced departures from Tunisia in those days, with raids and the destruction of informal camps near Sfax. Since the 2023 memorandum, Italy and the EU have directly supported the Tunisian police force and coast guard with significant resources and funding. Furthermore, Italy has maintained a bilateral military mission in Tunisia since 2019. The conditions for massacres to occur are set by governments, and sea conditions are increasing the number of deaths and missing.
The Italian government's approval of a new immigration bill on February 11, while the missing persons from this latest massacre are still being counted, sounds like the government's vindication of this murderous border policy.
Let's be clear: this isn't Meloni's anomaly in government, nor is it a useless propaganda move, as the opposition likes to claim-apparently hoping for more effective and efficient racist policies. The bill, the text of which is not yet known because it hasn't yet been submitted to Parliament, implements the new European Pact for Asylum approved by the EU Parliament in May 2024. This European reform is a development of the repressive and racist policies already present in the EU asylum system. Of course, a fascist government can implement this reform by further forcing its implementation in a racist manner. This is the gist of the statement issued by the Council of Ministers after the bill's approval. It discusses the closure of territorial waters in crisis management, already called a "naval blockade" by the press of all stripes that like to please the government. The point isn't propaganda. This point of the bill will materially reinforce the policy of death being waged in the central Mediterranean. One of the key aspects of the European reform is strengthening the management of asylum procedures at the border or directly outside the border in external countries. This will have a direct impact on Italy and will lead to a further increase in violence at the EU's borders. The asylum system as we know it is expected to radically change, creating clearly separate channels. Based on border screening, those submitting an asylum application deemed "unfounded" or asylum seekers from countries with an asylum acceptance rate for their own citizens of less than 20% will be assigned to an accelerated procedure. This criterion would also include people from Nigeria, Somalia, Sierra Leone, and Sierra Leone.
https://umanitanova.org/strage-nel-mediterraneo-nuova-legge-frontiere-piu-chiuse/
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Link: (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #5-26 - Mediterranean Massacre. New Law, Closer Borders (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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