| publié le 29 juin 2007 |
"Many more boats will probably arrive on Lampedusa over the summer with their desperate human cargo and we have to ensure we can adequately respond to their immediate needs," says Brunson McKinley. "This is why IOM will continue to work closely with the Italian government, the Italian Red Cross, UNHCR and other partners to provide appropriate humanitarian responses to irregular migrants and asylum seekers reaching the island".
IOM recently signed an agreement with the Italian Ministry of the Interior’s Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration, the Italian Red Cross and UNHCR which allows for better services at receptions centres for irregular migrants on the island of Lampedusa, and at Trapani, Calatanissetta and Siracusa on Sicily.
Since April 2006, IOM has been providing information and legal orientation to more than 20,000 mostly undocumented migrants in Lampedusa, where the authorities are currently building a new reception centre to double the capacity to more than 400 places.
To avoid overcrowding on Lampedusa, the migrants are usually transferred to other reception centres in Italy such as Crotone, Foggia or Bari. From there, the migrants may either request asylum and are then processed, or are repatriated or given an order to leave the country on their own. Forced returns from Lampedusa stopped in April 2006 when IOM opened its office at the centre.
Migrants arriving on Lampedusa represent a small percentage of the total number of irregular migrants entering or overstaying in Italy. Whilst numbers of migrants landing on Lampedusa and other Mediterranean islands are known, the numbers of those who drown at sea or who die in the deserts of North Africa are not.
Prior to his arrival in Lampedusa, Brunson McKinley met the Italian Minister of the Interior, Giuliano Amato, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Solidarity, Cristina De Luca and other senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
