REFUGEES-EUROPE: Call for Cannons Finds an Echo

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ernesto Ferrini

MILAN, Aug 1 2003 (IPS) - Italy has asked for long-term measures to deal with illegal immigration after another 200 migrants landed recently on the tiny island Lampedusa.

The Italian island has become one of the main gateways into Europe from Africa and the Middle East.

Immigration flows usually rise during summer, when Mediterranean weather conditions are most favourable.

In June more than 2,500 immigrants landed at Lampedusa, only 120 km from the African coast. But not all ships complete the ‘Journey of Hope’ as Italians call the risky voyage. Two ships carrying immigrants sank in the Mediterranean over the past two months. Thirty were known dead, and 200 reported missing.

Despite the new arrivals, illegal immigration in the January-June period dropped by almost half compared to last year. But reforms minister Umberto Bossi, leader of the right-wing Northern League, is not satisfied.

Bossi, an inflexible enemy of illegal immigration, was quoted by the newspaper ‘Corriere della Sera’ last month as saying that boats carrying illegal migrants should be shot out of the water. "After the second or third warning, boom…the cannon roars.the cannon that blows everyone out of the water," Bossi was quoted as saying. "Otherwise this business will never end."

Bossi’s remark created a storm among government officials and opposition leaders.

Defence minister Antonio Martino said the Italian navy would not use force. Mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni said it was regrettable that a minister was asking for cannons to roar against immigrants.

"One thing is trying to limit the flow of migrants, a very different one is wishing for cannons to shoot at people fleeing from desperate situations," Veltroni said.

But Bossi’s cannon remark had some effect. Interior minister Giuseppe Pisanu asked the European Union (EU) to consider a proposal to grant work permits to residents of countries that collaborate with the EU in curbing illegal immigration and in fighting organised crime that goes with illegal trafficking.

Shortly after Bossi’s remark, Pisanu moved to implement a new law on immigration that had been approved in July last year. A specific decree was signed to make operative the fight against immigrant boats at sea, before landing occurs.

The decree does not authorise use of force against vessels carrying immigrants, but it allows Italian officials to board boats suspected of carrying illegal immigrants, and arresting those supporting such migration.

Pisanu, accused by Bossi of delaying a new immigration law, had said earlier that migrants were a resource for the country. He argued that industries have estimated they will need 200,000 immigrant workers by 2004 to satisfy the labour force demand.

The new law is much tougher on migrants than the earlier legislation. It provides for fingerprinting of all foreigners who ask for a work permit. It provides that only foreigners with a work contract will be given a work permit, up to a period of two years.

An illegal immigrant who re-enters Italy after being expelled can be imprisoned for "clandestine entry". Migrants who disobey orders to leave the country can also be imprisoned.

Several opposition leaders say the law is unconstitutional, and violates human rights. Some judges have suspended procedures against migrants, and submitted the cases to the Constitutional Court. More than 250 such cases are pending.

Judges particularly oppose Article 13 of the law, under which a foreigner who has received an expulsion order can be imprisoned from six months to a year for overstaying.

With the start of the six-month Italian presidency of the EU this month, Pisanu wants to involve EU member states in a common fight against illegal immigration and organised crime. Pisanu has already discussed the issue with interior ministers of Spain, France, Britain, Malta, Cyprus, and Greece.

Pisanu has asked for common patrolling of the Mediterranean, and sharing of the burden of dealing with illegal immigrants.

Pisanu is seeking a long-term strategy based on three elements: supporting development in home countries of immigrants, regulation of the legal immigration with source countries, and shared management of EU borders, with a common fight against trafficking of human beings.

Member states had agreed at the meeting of the European Council in Thessaloniki in Greece last month to the development of a common policy on illegal immigration, external borders, the return of illegal migrants and cooperation with third countries. Pisanu wants to take that agreement forward into specific actions.

Like the politicians, the people too are divided over immigration. Many Italians fear a loss of identity. They are unsure about new cultures, and tend to equate immigration with criminality.

But many others recognise that migrants frequently escape from desperate living conditions such as famine and war. Some see also that migrants can be a valuable resource in a country with an ageing population.

The Italian immigrant population of 2.4 million makes it one of the smallest in the EU. Italian immigrants are 4.2 percent of the population compared to the EU average of 5.2 percent.