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Johan Leman, 15 July 2020

July 1.  Croation border police brutality against migrants. A Bosnian volunteer has handed over 1,600 pages of media reports and personal testimonies to the Austrian Parliament documenting the brutality of Croatia’s border police against migrants attempting to cross the Croatian-Bosnian border irregularly. Sometimes Croation police took clothes and shoes from refugees. According to the report, 40% of those migrants  come from Pakistan and 10% from Afghanistan.  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/croatian-police-brutality-migrants-reported-austria-200630092905674.html

July 1.  UNHCR is concerned about asylum law in Hungary. The new law stipulates that each asylum seeker who wants to cross the border with Hungary will first be directed to a designated Hungarian Embassy of another country. Corona is invoked for this. https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2020/6/5efa0f914/access-asylum-further-stake-hungary-unhcr.html

July 1.  A boat with 60 migrants has sunk on the lake Van in Turkey. Actually, on the boat suitable for a maximum of 20 persons, 60 persons were put together.  So far, 6 bodies have been found. Cause of this disaster:  the excessive load and a thunderstorm. 11 people were arrested because of their responsibility in the disaster. The migrants, on their way to Europe, came from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Lake Van is located near the border with Iran. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/turkey-boat-carrying-60-refugees-sinks-lake-van-200701090214811.html

July 3.  Amendments to the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding of 2017/02/02. Libya guarantees a greater commitment to respect for human rights for migrants returned to Libya. http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/it/notizie/regioni/lazio/2020/06/25/migranti-tripoli-apre-allitalia-sul-memorandum_e804c9ca-3acd-491c-81e5-20ab6992e41d.html

July 4.  The NGO rescue vessel Ocean Viking with 180 rescued migrants on board, has already sent 5 requests to Italy and Malta over the past week asking for the boat to dock. In vain. The situation on board is deteriorating quickly and getting unbearable. The rescued people come from 13 countries. The merchant ship Talia also has 52 migrants on board and is asking for a place to let them go ashore. On the evening of July 4, it is announced that the refugees on the Ocean Viking will be tested for the Covid-19 virus in view of their transhipment scheduled for July 6, on the quarantine ship Moby Zaza in Italy. https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20200703_97478743 ; https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/07/04/news/migranti_ocean_viking_ancora_senza_porto_situazione_molto_tesa_aspettiamo_lo_psicologo_-260926854/?ref=RHPPTP-BH-I260843503-C12-P1-S8.4-T1; https://gds.it/articoli/cronaca/2020/07/04/in-libia-900-casi-di-coronavirus-caos-sulla-ocean-viking-a-noto-protesta-per-la-quarantena-dei-migranti-a0f0acef-7857-4fb5-af58-d0d6eeeacc78/

July 5.  Italy says it may take in the 180 migrants from the Ocean Viking, including 25 minors who are not accompanied by adults, and two women. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/italy-migrants-rescued-mediterranean-200705064105898.html

July 7. Off the coast near Izmir (Western Turkey), the Turkish coast guard has stopped a boat with a total of 276 asylum seekers on it attempting to reach Europe illegally. 8 suspects on board were arrested and charged with human trafficking. The asylum seekers included Afghan, Bengali, Syrian, Somali and Iranian nationals,63 minors, among them at least 46 women and 59 children. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/nearly-300-europe-bound-asylum-seekers-held-in-turkey/1901981

July 7.  Skopje. During routine checks at the Greek border last night, the police found 211 migrants in a van. 144 are from Bangladesh and 67 from Pakistan, among them 63 minors. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/police-find-211-migrants-crammed-truck-north-macedonia-200707141449133

July 7.  Greece transfers 25 unaccompanied minors aged between 15 and 17 to Portugal. On July 8, 25 will leave for Finland. On April 15, 12 have already flown to Luxembourg and a few days later 50 to Germany. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-portugal-migrants/portugal-to-take-up-to-60-unaccompanied-migrant-children-from-greek-camps-idUSKBN22L0T7

July 8.  Start of the German EU presidency and migration. Borell visited Malta to discuss the functioning of the Libyan Coast Guard.  There was already a video meeting between the EU’s interior ministers chaired by Seehofer (Germany) on July 5, on migration and a better burden-sharing (sharing the number of migrants). https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/25896/eu-focuses-on-migration-and-sea-rescue-in-the-mediterranean-across-several-official-meetings

July 9.  Italian Senate agrees to fund military mission to Libyan Coast Guard, which should be accompanied by better humanitarian relief for refugees in Libya itself, by granting international   NGO’s access to detention centres. https://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/italian-senate-approves-funding-military-mission-libya

July 9.  The German- flagged NGO ship Sea Watch 3, is kept administratively ashore at Porto Empedocle (Sicily), it didn’t comply with safety rules (technical and operative). This is the ship that received 211 migrants between June 17 and 19. Sea Watch itself is denouncing this Italian Government methodology to make rescue work impossible. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/italy-seizes-german-flagged-migrant-rescue-boat-safety-rules-200709100409610.html

July 13 and 14. A group of 60 Asiatic refugees disembarked at Pozzallo (Sicily). 19 migrants among them were positive on Covid. July 14 one tested 11 other refugees among them also as positive.     https://www.ansa.it/sicilia/notizie/2020/07/14/migranti-a-pozzallo-11-positivi-a-covid_248c5f48-a649-4ffa-a7f4-16742a13c9f1.html

July 14. Last days, hundreds of refugees, disembark in Sicily and Calabria, with many small ships. https://plus.lesoir.be/313262/article/2020-07-14/italie-les-migrants-debarquent-sur-le-littoral-par-centaines .

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