At least 41 immigrants drowned On a new shipwreck near the Italian island of Lampedusa. This new tragedy, announced this Wednesday, confirms that 2023 is a critical time. Mediterrenianespecially dangerous middle way connecting the shores Tunisia And Libya with those Italy. “This year is particularly disastrous, with an explosive increase in the number of fatalities and shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. Only on the central route anyway more than 1,800 deadFabienne Lassalle, deputy director general of the French NGO, warned this Wednesday, “between January and early August SOS MediterraneanIn his statements to the French channel France 2.
In less than seven and a half months, the total death toll has already surpassed the 1,418 migrants and refugees who drowned in the same region in 2022. “These are numbers we haven’t seen since 2016 or 2017, which is horrendous in terms of the number of shipwrecks,” Lassalle said. If the current trend continues, 2023 is on track to surpass 3,231 migrant deaths in the Mediterranean in 2021. And that would make it the deadliest year since the immigration crisis of the past decade.
Transits from Tunisia do not stop
“There have been a lot of departures from Tunisia while I was from Libya before,” said the deputy director general of SOS Méditerranée. xenophobia of the Tunisian president, Kays Saidand its policies towards sub-Saharan migrants supported this increase in crossings in the central Mediterranean. With the coup in Niger, this situation may worsen. Regime change in Niamey threatens to destabilize a key country. border externalization policy of the European Union
The situation for migrants and refugees in Italy worsened after Giorgia Meloni came to power in Rome last fall. The landings don’t end with lampMore than 1,500 people currently live in very dangerous conditions in the 300-person reception centre.
hot returns
In addition, immigrants face violence and degrading treatment in the region after surviving the dangerous central route. Franco-Italian border. According to a recent report Doctors Without Borders (MSF)Among the 1,004 people cared for by this organization, which has a reception center in the Italian border town ventimiglia80% said they had “tryed to cross into France before, making multiple attempts before being turned back at the French border”. Vulnerable persons such as minors, pregnant women and new mothers, the elderly or seriously ill are not exempt from this practice. Blocked at the French-Italian border.
MSF also condemned hot returns It was carried out by the French police. According to the report, more than a third of the 48 unaccompanied children cared for by this NGO were allegedly sent back to Italy. “People are extremely sensitive “Those who are indiscriminately rejected by the French police without adequate consideration of their individual situation and then remain on Italian soil without adequate assistance from the institutions,” criticizes Sergio Dato, MSF coordinator in Ventimiglia.
Transport management usually Diplomatic tension between Paris and Rome. The latest episode of this happened when the Italian Foreign Minister canceled a trip to France in May. Antonio Tajani, after the French Executive Committee criticized the Italian Government’s inefficiency in stopping migrant crossings. Despite this friction, Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron met at the Élysée in June to put things right. They both agreed on their desire to manage together. good hand the secret arrival of immigrants. A policy that cannot prevent 2023 from being one of the most tragic years in the Mediterranean.