Tag: Italy-Libya memorandum ⁄ Open Migration

Libya, quarantine under the bombs

May 22, 2020 - Nancy Porsia

Relatively few coronavirus cases have been recorded in Libya, but the conflict between the two factions that keep fighting for control over the North African country does not seem to be scaling down: on the past 6th of April, the Al Khadra hospital – chosen by the Government of National Accord to treat Covid-19 patients – was bombed by Haftar’s troops. The country portrayed by Nancy Porsia in her second reportage is governed by militias and foreign players, and unity and efforts for collective health appear to be way less important than the conquest of power.

Migrants in Libya, trapped between war and Covid-19

May 5, 2020 - Nancy Porsia

Since the beginning of April, thousands of men, women and children trapped in Libya have been put at sea heading towards Europe. Estimations say that around 800 migrants left the Libyan shores in the second week of April alone. While the government in Tripoli sent thirty doctors to Italy to contribute to the fight against Covid-19, Italy and Malta declared their ports “unsafe” due to the health emergency, closing their borders to migrants on the Central Mediterranean route. Meanwhile, official detention centres refuse migrants, while dungeons run by militias have their doors wide open. Reporter Nancy Porsia describes what it means to be trapped in a country at war during a pandemic.

The 10 Best Articles on Refugees and Migration 20/2018

May 29, 2018 - Open Migration

An attempted escape from the notorious secret camp of Bani Walid left at least 15 dead after local militia opened fire on the detainees. While migrant rescue operations are still underway in the Mediterranean - with more than 2,000 rescued over the last few days - a project involving 13 Italian universities has identified many nameless dead.

The 10 Best Articles on Refugees and Migration 19/2018

May 22, 2018 - Open Migration

A two-year-old girl was killed in Mons after police opened fire on a van carrying migrants heading to the UK. The review commission of the Ragusa court has rejected the prosecution’s appeal against the decision to release the Open Arms rescue ship, and confirmed that Libya is not a safe harbour as defined by international law. More migrants and refugees are being held in the country’s detention centres.

The 10 Best Articles on Refugees and Migration 18/2018

May 15, 2018 - Open Migration

Supported by Forensic Architecture, some of the survivors from the November 6 2017 shipwreck have filed a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights against Italy, which had a role in the disaster that caused more than 20 deaths. Niger, one of the key partners to Italy and the EU, has sent 132 Sudanese refugees back to Libya. After a five-day odyssey, the 105 migrants rescued by the Astral have finally disembarked in Catania. DNA from Medhanie Tesfamariam Behre’s son shows that the man tried in Sicily for the 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck is not the “real” Mered.

The 10 Best Articles on Refugees and Migration 17/2018

May 8, 2018 - Open Migration

Tensions are still high in the Mediterranean between NGO vessels involved in rescue efforts and Libyan patrols intercepting them; meanwhile, the authorities are playing the blame game. In Zuwara, one of the camps is on the verge of collapse. In Italy, the exploitation of migrant labour is becoming a never-ending cycle with no durable solutions in sight.

The 10 Best Articles on Refugees and Migration 15/2018

April 24, 2018 - Open Migration

The Mediterranean is still a controversial place: new rescue operations have been successfully carried out by SeaWatch, SOS Méditerranée and EUNAVFORMED, the Pro Activa ship Open Arms has been released, while an appeal ruling in Italy confirmed that Jugend Rettet's ship Iuventa remains impounded (despite new evidence that might help clear the German NGO of all charges). Last Thursday, a European initiative called for a ban on the criminalisation of solidarity. Meanwhile, a new Refugees International report details the abuse on migrants detained in Libya, while Austria is threatening to seize refugees' mobile phones and demand cash. The UK has been hit by the scandal of the "Windrush generation", while people in France took to the streets for jobs and for migrants.