ITALY: NGO Condemns Abuse of Migration-related Detention and ‘Punitive Conditions’ in Detention Centres ― Another Search and Rescue Ship Detained for Changing Port of Debarkation ― Judge Frees Search and Rescue Ship and Dismisses Legitimacy of Libyan C…

• Amnesty International has issued a statement in which it denounces the abuse of migration-related detention and conditions in detention centres that it claims deprive people of liberty and dignity.
• The NGO search and rescue ship the MV Louise Michel has been impounded by the authorities for allegedly ignoring an order about the port of disembarkation.
• A judge has ruled that the detention of the Humanity 1 ship was unlawful and that neither the Libyan Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre nor the Libyan Coast Guard can be considered as legitimate search and rescue actors in the Mediterranean.
• The Ministry of the Interior has reported a 60% decrease in the number of irregular arrivals in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, while NGOs have renewed their concerns about the ‘Shelter and Integration System’ (SAI).
• Police have freed 33 Indian farmworkers from slave-like working conditions and are searching for a truck driver who was recorded attacking a group of women who had smuggled aboard his truck.

A new statement by Amnesty International has highlighted the lack of dignity and liberty that exists for people seeking asylum in Italy. The organisation has also criticised conditions in detention centres in the country for falling below international standards. “These conditions violate people’s right to dignity and must be improved by the Italian authorities. Plans to build new centers in Italy, combined with the introduction of mandatory border procedures under the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and the upcoming implementation of the Italy-Albania agreement, make action ever more urgent to prevent further violations of international law that will affect an increasing number of people,” it noted. “Detention should be a measure of last resort. However, at the centers we visited, we met individuals who should never have been detained: those with serious mental issues or seeking asylum due to their sexual orientation or political activism, but who come from countries Italy has arbitrarily defined as safe,” said Deputy Regional Director for Europe, Dinushika Dissanayake.

The NGO search and rescue (SAR) ship the MV Louise Michel has been impounded by Italian authorities. The ship, which was funded by the UK artist Banksy, was impounded on 3 July after rescuing 37 people from the Mediterranean. In a statement on Instagram, Banksy noted that 17 of the people who were rescued were unaccompanied children and he described the Italian authorities’ action as “vile and unacceptable”. The 20-day detention resulted from a decision to change the port of disembarkation. According to the ship’s crew, they were originally ordered to take their passengers to the port of Pozzallo on the island of Sicily. However, as poor weather had been forecast, they decided to seek shelter overnight near to the island of Lampedusa and, during the night, they were given permission to disembark their passengers there. However, they were later informed that the ship would be detained for failure to comply with the original order to sail to Sicily. “Everybody has the right to a safe place. And nobody’s safety should be compromised for political games or strategies,” the NGO said in a statement posted on X.

Elsewhere, the detention of the Humanity 1 SAR ship was permanently cancelled by a judge in Crotone. In March, Humanity 1, which is operated by the German NGO SOS Humanity, was intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard and detained in Italy for ignoring its instructions. The judge also found that the Libyan Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre and the Libyan Coast Guard could not be considered as legitimate SAR actors in the Mediterranean. “For years we have seen a continuous criminalisation of the activities of non-governmental search and rescue organisations and a profound manipulation of the facts. Instead, the judgement based on the events of March confirms that the Libyan authorities are not carrying out search and rescue operations,” said SOS Humanity’s lawyer, Cristina Laura Cecchini.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, irregular arrivals in Italy fell by 60% in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 (approximately 25,000 down from more than 62,000). Commenting on the reduction, Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi said that it was “certainly due to the government’s action to combat shameful migrant trafficking while enforcing stricter migration rules, complemented by encouraging data on the forced repatriation of those who have no right to stay in Italy”.

In its latest report on the ‘Shelter and Integration System’ (SAI), the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI) has revealed that it had more than 54,000 beneficiaries in 2023. According to the latest update to the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) country report on Italy, access to the SAI is only granted to asylum seekers who have been identified as vulnerable, and to those who have entered Italy through resettlement or humanitarian admission programmes. The report’s authors also noted that SAI projects are implemented at the discretion of local municipalities and unevenly distributed throughout the country. “As a direct consequence, the number of places in the ordinary reception system is largely insufficient when compared to the existing needs, therefore access to the reception system for all those entitled to it, is a utopia,” they wrote.

On 13 July, police freed 33 Indian farmworkers from slave-like conditions in Verona province and arrested several gangmasters. According to the police, the alleged abusers brought their fellow countrymen to Italy on seasonal work permits for which they were charged € 17,000. The farmworkers were reportedly working seven days a week for 10-12 hours a day for just € 4 per hour. On 11 July, two other arrests were made in relation to the exploitation of and violence against foreign farm workers in the vineyards of the Langhe area (Piedmont). Video evidence shows one of the accused threatening workers with an iron rod. These latest arrests follow the death of another Indian farmworker, Satnam Sign, who died on 19 June after he was mutilated by machinery in a field near Latina (Lazio) and left on the street by his employers.

Police are looking for a man who was recorded beating a group of women who he had found hidden aboard his truck. The women were reportedly attempting to cross the Italian-French border close to Ventimiglia and had been loaded onto the truck by smugglers while the driver was taking a break. In the video, the driver is seen to be removing women from the truck and hitting them “with the hardware end of a cargo strap”.

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