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Johan Leman, 16 August 2020

1 August.  Lamorgese, Italy’s interior minister, faced with another arrival of 250 migrants in Lampedusa, says that those who enter Italy in this way, will be returned without their application being processed. https://www.corriere.it/cronache/20_agosto_01/migranti-sindaco-lampedusa-conte-il-centro-accoglienza-sta-scoppiando-6f3d3c52-d3d7-11ea-9996-35f9c99cd908_preview.shtml?reason=unauthenticated&cat=1&cid=5x7_Kzee&pids=FR&credits=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.corriere.it%2Fcronache%2F20_agosto_01%2Fmigranti-sindaco-lampedusa-conte-il-centro-accoglienza-sta-scoppiando-6f3d3c52-d3d7-11ea-9996-35f9c99cd908.shtml

August 2.  Lamorgese and Di Maio are working on an agreement whereby Tunisia will no longer let boats leave and that taking back the migrants after expulsion to Tunisia, will be done quickly. Conte wants accelerated repatriations so as not to reverse the Covid- efforts made by the Italians. https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/generale/2020/08/01/news/migranti_linea_dura_di_di_maio_e_del_governo_bloccare_le_partenze_-263475612/?ref=RHPPTP-BH-I263484197-C8-P10-S2.5-T1 ; https://bari.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/08/03/news/conte_e_azzolina_in_puglia-263588016/?ref=RHPPTP-BH-I263356306-C12-P1-S1.12-T1 ; https://www.corriere.it/politica/20_agosto_03/migranti-conte-non-tolleriamo-ingressi-irregolari-lampedusa-barchini-nave-la-quarantena-af552f64-d57d-11ea-9379-bda036273e46_preview.shtml?reason=unauthenticated&cat=1&cid=1ejV7JUI&pids=FR&credits=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.corriere.it%2Fpolitica%2F20_agosto_03%2Fmigranti-conte-non-tolleriamo-ingressi-irregolari-lampedusa-barchini-nave-la-quarantena-af552f64-d57d-11ea-9379-bda036273e46.shtml ; https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/26401/lampedusa-runs-out-of-room-to-quarantine-new-migrants-as-politicians-start-to-blame-each-other

August 3.  After visiting the port cities of Sfax and Mahdia, the Tunisian president announced that the fight against people smugglers will be intensified. https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2020/08/03/news/tunisia_il_presidente_contro_i_trafficanti_non_tolleriamo_le_traversate_illegali_-263594833/?ref=RHPPTP-BH-I263356306-C12-P1-S3.4-T1

August 4.  De Maio (Italy Foreign Affairs) and Josep Borrell (EU Foreign Policy) discuss migration, Libya and the Near East. Since 24 July, 5.327 migrants in Italy came from Tunisia, among whom 4.000 Tunisians. https://www.esteri.it/mae/it/sala_stampa/archivionotizie/comunicati/2020/08/colloquio-del-ministro-di-maio-con-l-alto-rappresentante-ue-per-la-politica-estera-e-di-sicurezza-josep-borrell-fontelles.html

August 4.  A decrease is observed in the number of migrant arrivals from Turkey. The two causes referred to: increased and harder controls and the corona pandemic. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-greece/greece-sees-fewer-migrant-arrivals-from-turkey-partly-due-to-pandemic-minister-says-idUSKCN250161

August 5. From August 10 on, Italy will start up its charter flight repatriations, twice a week, each time with 40 irregular migrants from Tunisia. https://www.interno.gov.it/it/notizie/rimpatri-tunisia-dal-16-luglio-ripresi-i-voli-charter-bisettimanali-dal-10-agosto-40-tunisini-trasferimento

August 6.  Greece begins with a first voluntary migrant repatriation flight for irregularly arrived migrants on 6 August. The program is funded by the EU. The first flight concerns 134 Iraqis. 5.000 migrants are offered 2.000 euros per person to return home voluntarily. Applicants however must have crossed into Greece before January 1, 2020 and still be located on one of the following islands: Leros, Samos, Lesbos, Kos or Chios. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/greece-begins-voluntary-migrant-repatriation-flights-200806105439003.html

August 7.  The UNHCR publishes an overview of the migrations in the past month of July. According the UNHCR, 10.360 migrants have entered Europe. If one takes a closer look at migrations from January 1 to the end of July 2020, we count 39.309 arrivals, of which 35.402 by sea and 3.907 by land. 385 deaths at sea were recorded. For the same 7 months, it means that 14.288 people reached Italy (which is 10.000 more than in July 2019), 11.500 arrived in Spain and 11.000 in Greece, 2.000 in Malta and 500 in Cyprus. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean ; see also https://missingmigrants.iom.int/region/mediterranean

August 8. UK asks UK Armed Forces to help stop boats arriving from France, carrying migrants across the Channel at Dover. The crossing is 33 km. 235 migrants arrived on the English coast on August 6, including children and women. On August 7, they were 130 and on August 8, migrants arrived again. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-migrants/uk-minister-says-france-must-tackle-channel-migrant-crossings-idUKKCN25337S?il=0

August 10.  Since the beginning of 2020, more than 4.000 migrants have crossed the English Channel (33km) in more than 300 small boats towards Dover. In July they were more than 1.100. The last three days with very good weather, they were 500. The UK appointed a “Clandestine Channel Threat Commander” to coordinate the pushback of the boats. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/09/number-migrants-crossing-channel-uk-passes-4000-this-year ; https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20200809_97616313

August 10. In the fight against irregular migration, a plane of the R.A.F. from the UK flies over the Channel in order to signal boats carrying refugees. https://apnews.com/a8f4d0cb21f3fb96a5d58ffcd97979f0

August 12. Italian government decides to ask the army to control the respect for mesures of quarantine in some reception centres. https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/26608/italy-sends-army-to-migrant-centers-after-more-covid-cases

August 14. The Guardian informs that August 12, 14 migrants who have arrived in irregular way in the UK by small boats, have been sent back with a charter to Germany and France. From another migrant one becomes informed that UK authorities tried to send him also back despite a decision in another sense by a Judge. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/14/officers-tried-to-force-asylum-seeker-on-plane-despite-uk-high-court-action

August 14. La Repubblica informs us that France and Germany are the 2 countries that support Italy most in the reinstallation of newly  arrived migrants , and also some small countries as Luxemburg. https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/generale/2020/08/14/news/migranti_la_mappa_dei_ricollocamenti_in_europa_francia_e_germania_le_piu_solidali_con_l_italiai-264654995/?ref=RHPPTP-BH-I264669199-C12-P7-S3.4-T1

August 14. In Sicily there are 36 new cases of coronavirus, among  whom 21 are migrants. https://gds.it/articoli/cronaca/2020/08/14/coronavirus-bollettino-del-14-agosto-salgono-ancora-i-casi-in-italia-trentasei-nuovi-contagi-in-sicilia-21-sono-migranti-7183f212-77dc-43e0-9272-d769e919c86a/

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