- Title: ITALY: Medicines Sans Frontiers criticises conditions on Lampedusa
- Date: 2nd April 2011
- Summary: LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (APRIL 1, 2011) (REUTERS) MAKESHIFT TENT CAMP ON HILLSIDE LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (MARCH 27, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEW MIGRANTS ARRIVING ON GUARDIA DI FINANZA POLICE VESSEL AFTER THEIR BOAT WAS INTERCEPTED LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (APRIL 1, 2011) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS BY MAKESHIFT TENTS MIGRANTS IN TENT ENCAMPMENT MIGRANTS SITTING NEXT TO IMPROVISED TENTS ON HILLSIDE WIND BLOWING SMOKE OVER HILLSIDE MIGRANTS IN TENT CAMP LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (MARCH 31, 2011) (REUTERS) MIGRANT SWIMMING NEXT TO PIER CROWDED WITH MIGRANTS MIGRANTS SITTING ON PIER LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (APRIL 1, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TWO MEN IN PROTECTIVE SUITS CLEANING PIER PLASTIC BAGS FLOATING ON SURFACE OF WATER VARIOUS OF RUBBISH BEING PICKED UP FROM WATER LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (MARCH 31, 2011) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS SITTING ON PIER LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (APRIL 1, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEDICINES SANS FRONTIERS ITALY GENERAL DIRECTOR, KOSTAS MOSCHOCHORITIS, SAYING "It's clear that the conditions of the reception of the migrants in the island of Lampedusa are unacceptable and are of course not conditions that you could meet in a G8 country. The hygienic conditions are completely out of standard even for a refugee camp in Africa the standards are much higher, like having one latrine for every twenty persons, here we have 16 latrines in this port for 2,000 - 3,000 migrants. So it's clear the conditions of water and sanitation, hygiene and also of course the fact that people are living, as you can see, around outside and it's cold, it's humid, it's not possible to continue like that." LAMPEDUSA'S PROTECTED COASTLINE RUBBISH WASHED UP ON SHORE TWO PEOPLE SUNBATHING ON BEACH MIGRANTS SLEEPING ON PIER MIGRANTS GATHERED ON PIER NEXT TO FENCE LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (MARCH 31, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) TUNISIAN MIGRANT, SAYING "We are sleeping on the ground. We don't eat well, the cigarettes are not good, we are tired. We're stressed, it's a lot of stress." (ANOTHER MIGRANT SAYING:) "Three days at sea and ten days here…it's, there's nothing here, there's nothing to eat, there is no water, look, just this for three days, three days this (water)." LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (APRIL 1, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PASSENGER FERRY NEAR THE SHORE OF LAMPEDUSA SEEN THROUGH FENCE WITH MIGRANTS CLOTHES HUNG TO DRY
- Embargoed: 17th April 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Italy, Italy
- Country: Italy
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA1S1UV58GW3NMF4OPREXFMM46B
- Story Text: Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF - Doctors Without Borders) on Friday (April 1) denounced the sanitary conditions on Lampedusa, saying they were unacceptable and that the Italian government needed to do more to guarantee adequate conditions for the thousands of migrants on the island.
About 20,000 immigrants, mainly from Tunisia, have reached the Italian island in recent weeks. Progress in transferring them elsewhere in Italy has been slow, leaving thousands stranded in camps with makeshift tents and dismal sanitary conditions.
The medical charity said there were just 16 chemical toilets for a migrant population which has regularly outnumbered Lampedusa's normal population of 5,000.
The migrants receive just 1.5 litres of water per person per day, compared with recommended standards for refugee camps of 20 litres, it said in a statement.
The organisation's Italy branch general director Kostas Moschochoritis said the conditions on the island were worse than those of refugee camps in Africa, which manage hundreds of thousands of migrants.
"It's clear that the conditions of the reception of the migrants in the island of Lampedusa are unacceptable and are of course not conditions that you could meet in a G8 country. The hygienic conditions are completely out of standard even for a refugee camp in Africa the standards are much higher, like having one latrine for every twenty persons, here we have 16 latrines in this port for 2,000 - 3,000 migrants. So it's clear the conditions of water and sanitation, hygiene and also of course the fact that people are living, as you can see, around outside and it's cold, it's humid, it's not possible to continue like that," he said.
A quiet tourist and fishing port, Lampedusa, about 225 km from Tunisia's coast, has been transformed into a garbage-strewn encampment where hundreds of migrants from Tunisia have disembarked from overloaded fishing boats virtually every day.
A strong smell of unwashed bodies hangs over the port where the mainly young male migrants, immediately recognisable in their unwashed jeans and short jackets, kill time, wandering around the streets and hillsides of the island.
According to the MSF, some 3,000 migrants remained on the island on Friday.
In recent days the migrants have organised protests in the centre of the island, demanding to be transferred to other parts of Italy.
Many are getting sick from lack of proper food and from sleeping outside on the windy hills and streets, they say.
"We are sleeping on the ground. We don't eat well, the cigarettes are not good, we are tired. We're stressed, it's a lot of stress," one migrant said.
"Three days at sea and ten days here…it's, there's nothing here, there's nothing to eat, there is no water, look, just this for three days, three days this (water)," another one added.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi visited the island on Wednesday (March 30) and promised to "liberate" it within 60 hours by shipping the migrants to centres elsewhere in Italy, but he told reporters on Friday rough seas were hampering the plan.
Strong winds and rough seas were preventing government-deployed ferries from docking on the island on Thursday (March 31) and Friday.
Berlusconi has blamed Tunisia for failing to block migrants leaving its shores and says Italy is alone in facing what should be a European problem.
Berlusconi will visit Tunisia on Monday (April 4) with Interior Minister Roberto Maroni and he said he would demand that its government accept migrants sent back by Italy and do more to stop them leaving its shores.
Maroni lamented the "total refusal to cooperate" by Italy's neighbours and the European Union and said Rome may make it easier for immigrants to reach France and Germany.
The government is considering giving immigrants temporary permits and setting up centres near Italy's borders so they can easily cross into other countries, Maroni and Berlusconi said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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