Migrants Protest Conditions in Italy
Migrants at an overcrowded reception center near Venice held a protest over poor conditions, which they blamed for a woman’s death, Reuters reported.
The 25-year-old woman from Ivory Coast died on January 2 from a pulmonary blood clot, Italian officials said. Fellow migrants said an ambulance took too long to reach her. Italian officials denied there had been any delays.
After her death, migrants disconnected the electricity and lit fires in the center, trapping staff inside. Police ended the protest a few hours later, and no one was hurt.
The center, a former military barracks in the town of Cona, was intended to house 15 migrants but now shelters some 1,500 people, including many living in tents.
Migrants in Verona also protested living conditions at their reception center on January 3, briefly blocking traffic in the Italian city.
More than 136,000 people are sheltering in temporary migrant reception centers in Italy. Around 180,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea last year.
Blackwater Founder: Private Security Will Solve Migrant Crisis
Erik Prince, the founder of private military firm Blackwater, urged the European Union to hire private security to stop the flow of migrants through Libya in an op-ed in the Financial Times.
Prince, who left Blackwater in 2009 and now runs a Chinese state-backed logistics firm operating in Africa, said private security companies could secure Libya’s borders and deter smugglers more cheaply and efficiently than current E.U. efforts.
He proposed setting up border posts on Libya’s frontiers, trained and led by “mentors with a European law enforcement background” and staffed by Libyans.
“All personnel would be armed and have agreed-upon rules of engagement and migrant detention and repatriation policy. Each base would have airborne surveillance and search and rescue as well as armed vehicle quick reaction forces,” he wrote.
The proposal is likely to be highly controversial given that Blackwater, which has since been renamed, became notorious for abuses during the U.S. war in Iraq and that Prince himself has been investigated for money laundering.
U.N. Refugee Agency Reports on Poor Conditions on Greek Islands
The U.N. refugee agency says a growing number of people are living in poor, overcrowded facilities on the Greek islands due to the slow pace of transfers to mainland Greece.
Conditions are particularly bad on the Greek island of Samos, UNHCR said. Around 1,730 people are living in one center with a capacity for 606. This has left more than 1,000 people sleeping in tents, including 300 who are camped out in an area that is without water, electricity or lighting and prone to landslides.
The agency said the situation in which dozens of unaccompanied children are living on the Greek island of Kos was “critical” after 43 children arrived in December. Some are sleeping in adult areas or sharing containers with other children. UNHCR warned that this is “contributing to increased tensions and even violence and increases the risks of abuse.”
UNHCR appealed for Greece to speed up transfers and make more room for asylum seekers on the mainland.
Recommended Reads
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- UNHCR: Far From Being Traumatized, Most Refugees are ‘Surprisingly Resilient’
- Waging Nonviolence: A Call Center Run by Refugees Fills a Void in Greece
- The Guardian: Dawit’s Story: How One Young Refugee’s Tragedy Could Spell Hope for Thousands