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Lampedusa descends into chaos. The reason: the record number of refugees who have arrived in Lampedusa in recent days: more than 7,000 in just 48 hours, according to official figures on Friday. Mayor Filippo Mannino (40) has declared a state of emergency and locals are warning of a collapse. The most important answers to the current exceptional situation.
1
What is currently happening in Lampedusa?
Thousands of refugees are currently arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa, mainly from Tunisia. As a result, the island’s population quickly doubled. “The situation is tragic, dramatic and apocalyptic,” said Mayor Mannino.
The reception center in Lampedusa is designed for fewer than 400 people. There were more than 6,000 people in the hotspot Lampedusa on Thursday morning, including many families with minors.
2
How bad is the situation?
This all sounds very dramatic. There are also photos on social media of crowds on the beach and in the cities. It can easily give the impression that the current situation is particularly bad. As a reminder, aid organizations say more than 2,000 people have died crossing the Mediterranean since the beginning of this year.
According to the spokesperson of the International Organization for Migration for Italy, Flavio Di Giacomo, the situation in Lampedusa is quite similar to the major refugee crisis of 2015 and 2016, he explained to “Watson.de”. At that time, approximately 9,440 refugees reached the Italian island in a very short time.
However, the situation cannot be compared with other European migration crises. According to the UN, more than half a million migrants reached mainland Greece and the surrounding islands in 2015. Since Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees have reached Western Europe.
It should also be emphasized that although many refugees are currently arriving in Lampedusa, according to authorities, previously there had been no arrivals for weeks. So this is an acute emergency, and not a new status quo.
3
Why is this happening in Lampedusa?
Lampedusa is a popular destination for human trafficking networks in Tunisia and Libya. According to expert Di Giacomo, the island can be reached by boat in eight to ten hours. The government crisis in Tunisia has made Italy the number one destination for refugees for the first time.
And: In the past, one rescue operation from a large boat from Libya could save 250 people, but nowadays many ‘mini boats’ sail from Tunisia. “To save 250 people, five to six rescue operations are needed. Operationally, everything is much more complicated,” says Di Giacomo.
4
How does the Italian government respond?
For the right-wing government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (46), the arrivals of refugees are a problem. The large number of refugees is putting her under enormous pressure – especially since her Fratelli d’Italia party came to power promising to take effective action against illegal immigration from Africa.
According to official figures, around 124,000 migrants have landed on Italian coasts since the start of the year – twice as many as in the previous year. Nearly 85,000 of them went ashore on their own boats, while 39,000 were picked up by rescuers. So far, Meloni has not been able to fulfill her election promise.
5
How does Europe respond?
Europe has not yet responded to the current crisis in Lampedusa. Shortly before the exceptional situation arose on the Italian island, several European states terminated their refugee agreements with Italy.
Germany has suspended a program to voluntarily accept migrants from Italy. The federal government had promised to accept 3,500 asylum seekers. These recordings have been stopped because Italy has been opposing the Dublin procedure for takeovers since the end of 2022. France also stopped the recordings and even announced that it would arm the French-Italian border.
Deputy Prime Minister and Lega leader Matteo Salvini (50) described this decision on Wednesday evening as an “act of war”: “I believe that there is an organized criminal system behind the landings, which we must respond to with all available resources. We will have to talk about it within the government.”
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (64) will travel to Italy next Saturday. In Rome she will meet Prime Minister Meloni for the first time, a spokesperson for Von der Leyen told the German Press Agency this morning on the sidelines of an event in Hanau. Meloni and von der Leyen then wanted to visit Lampedusa together, the spokesperson said.
6
What does this mean for Switzerland?
The crisis in Lampedusa will not affect Switzerland for the time being. The Secretariat of State for Migration SEM told “20 Minutes”: “From January to August, approximately 13,000 Guineans and approximately 12,500 citizens of Ivory Coast landed in Italy. However, the total number of asylum applications in Switzerland from people from these two countries in the same period is only about 350.”
Moreover, none of the main countries of origin of asylum seekers in Switzerland, such as Turkey, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Algeria and Morocco, are on the list of the top 10 countries of migrants who have ended up in southern Italy.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
