Doc. 10424

25 January 2005

The arrival of migrants in Lampedusa (Italy) in October 2004

Written Declaration No 361

This written declaration commits only the members who have signed it

From 29 September to 6 October 2004, 1 787 migrants disembarked on the island of Lampedusa (Italy), travelling by sea from Libya and Tunisia. According to the Italian Minister of the Interior, 408 of them applied for asylum and were sent to appropriate reception centres, while 1153 were sent to Libya by military planes as of 8 October.

What happened in Lampedusa gives rise to serious concerns:

1. for 4 days days, UNHCR and NGOs were denied permission to visit these migrants on security grounds, to the detriment of the transparency of the procedures followed by the Italian authorities;

2. migrants were not informed of their rights nor were given access to legal assistance;

3. those removed were sent to Libya even if none of them was of Libyan nationality and without any consideration of the possible chain-refoulement or human rights violations to which they may be subjected in such a country.

The undersigned members of the Assembly express the deepest regret for the way in which this large-scale arrival was handled, as it may have resulted in a violation by Italy of the principle of non-refoulement as well as of rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and its additional Protocols.

Signed (see overleaf)

Signed: ¹

de ZULUETA, Tana, Italy, SOC

AKSELSEN, Olav, Norway, SOC

BRADFORD, Paul, Ireland, EPP/CD

BRAUN, Márton, Hungary, EPP/CD

ÇAVUŞOĞLU, Mevlüt, Turkey, EDG

CILEVIČS, Boriss, Latvia, SOC

CORTAJARENA ITURRIOZ, Elvira, Spain, SOC

EINARSSON, Mats, Sweden, UEL

HAGBERG, Michael, Sweden, SOC

HANCOCK, Michael, United Kingdom, LDR

IWIŃSKI, Tadeusz, Poland, SOC

JONKER, Corien W.A., Netherlands, EPP/CD

JUDD, United Kingdom, SOC

KROHN, Irina, Finland, SOC

LE GUEN, Jean-Marie, France, SOC

OLIN, Kalevi, Finland, SOC

REYMANN, Marc, France, EPP/CD

SALLES, Rudy, France, EPP/CD

STOISITS, Terezija, Austria, SOC

van THIJN, Ed, Netherlands, SOC

VERMOT-MANGOLD, Ruth-Gaby, Switzerland, SOC

WILKINSON, John, United Kingdom, EDG

ZAPFL-HELBLING, Rosmarie, Switzerland, EPP/CD

__________________________

Total = 23

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      LDR: Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group