The arrival of immigrants to Italy through the central Mediterranean has increased in recent days. This Saturday alone, more than 539 castaways arrived in Lampedusa, traveling crammed aboard a battered fishing boat, rescued by the Italian Finance Guard. This is one of the largest landings that have occurred on the island, the southernmost in the country, in recent times. On the same day, about thirty people also arrived, who were on board two small boats. When all eyes are on the flight of thousands of Afghans after the arrival of the Taliban to power, the island's mayor appealed to the international community: “It is necessary to turn our eyes to the 'other Afghans' and guarantee corridors humanitarian (...) ”.
The situation of the shipwrecked, coming from the African coast, including a minor and three women, was so precarious that, fearing that the barge in which they were traveling would capsize, the rescuers had to transfer them to several boats to take them to the port.
The only reception center that the island has is once again overflowing.
With a capacity of just 250 people, it has accommodated more than a thousand guests.
Two boats with more than 100 people in total landed in Lampedusa on Friday.
And on Tuesday, more than 500 castaways arrived, traveling aboard more than twenty boats.
Although the transfer of immigrants to other centers in Sicily or the peninsula is constant, it is too slow and on occasions like this, when arrivals are chained, the first reception center in Lampedusa becomes congested.
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The island's mayor, Salvatore Martello, has once again protested to the central government about the situation. For years, and with different administrations in the Government, it has been regretting the improvisation with which each landing is managed and the lack of a fixed line of action to deal with these cases and prevent the first steps from falling only to Lampedusa, which for the other side has a large influx of tourists these days.
“It has been one of the biggest landings in recent times.
Once again, the island prepares to bear the burden of humanitarian reception alone.
I am the first to say that we must support, at all levels, the commitment of the international community to the drama that is being experienced in Afghanistan, but it is fair to remember that there are other territories and countries in which human rights are denied on a daily basis and fundamental rights such as health, education and food ”, he pointed out.
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Signs of violence
The councilor has also emphasized the need to implement humanitarian corridors, managed by international organizations, so that migrants can reach Europe safely. “It is necessary to turn our gaze to the 'other Afghans' and guarantee humanitarian corridors. I hope that Europe and its Member States will rethink the criteria that led them to draft the new Pact on migration and asylum, currently more focused on repatriation than on integration and reception, also taking up the contents of the Global Pact for Migration ”, has pointed out. He has also revealed that he has written numerous letters to the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, without, for the moment, having received a reply.
Doctors Without Borders, which offers humanitarian aid to migrants on the island, in collaboration with local authorities, has indicated that on board the precarious boat "packed to the brim" with more than 500 people, immigrants of different nationalities were traveling.
He has also pointed out that many of them have arrived with signs of violence, probably suffered during their stay in Libya, a hell for migrants waiting to reach Europe and in which the United Nations has documented serious and systematic violations of human rights.
So far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, about 55,000 people have reached Europe through the sea and more than 1,200 have died in the attempt or are missing in the Mediterranean.
In Italy, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior, as of August 27, 37,000 immigrants have arrived, about double the number who arrived last year in the same period.
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