EU Mediterranean Summit
MSF calls on all participants to improve reception conditions for migrants arriving on European shores
07/11/2008
Brussels / Rome, July 11, 2008 -
At the launch of the 'Union for the Mediterranean " planned for Sunday in Paris at the Summit of the European Union, the medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) asks participants to urgently improve the reception conditions for migrants arriving on the southern shores of Europe.
Since 2000, MSF has provided medical humanitarian assistance and health monitoring of emergency landings of migrants who reach the European coast. MSF is very concerned about the conditions of these people and calls on all states concerned to ensure that they provide minimum standards of reception. MSF asks that Member States do not limit their cooperation with the Mediterranean partners for the sole control of the borders, but also improve reception conditions for migrants in accordance with international law and also to ensure access to asylum procedures, in addition to the provision of medical support.
"Increased controls and surveillance are not holding back those who are trying to reach Europe," said Antonio Virgilio, Head of Mission for MSF in Italy. "These people are fleeing from war, hunger and extreme hardship: the only option is to take that perilous journey. So now face greater risks, traveling in small boats and makeshift and for more days than in the past. In 2008 , our medical teams in Lampedusa have found that migrants need more medical care than ever before. Many arrive in a poor state of shock, with fever and burns to the sun, because of the harsh conditions in the long sea voyage. "
The MSF team in Morocco noted that the increase in border controls along the coasts of Morocco and Spain has had a significant impact on migration routes. As a result, are increasing travel aboard boats from southern Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary Islands and making their journey longer and more difficult.
To meet the needs health of migrants, MSF has developed in recent years emergency medical programs on the coasts of several countries: Spain (Tarifa, Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands), Italy (Brindisi, Lampedusa), Morocco and Greece. As the agency international medical aid, the need for MSF to be present at the entry points of Europe is a factor indicative of the lack of adequate medical care currently available for these migrants.
the Italian island of Lampedusa, MSF provides initial medical screening for those who arrive on boats. An average of 12-15 thousand people visiting the island each year, but the regional health authority does not guarantee any of these services.
This year, MSF medical teams in Lampedusa have been a significant increase in the number of people who arrived on the island. Between January and June 2008 there were 146 landings, compared to only 71 in the first half of 2007. The MSF teams in Lampedusa have also noted a change in the type of people addressing the trip by boat: there are more women (+11%) and children (+4.6%) and currently over 30% of people are coming from Horn of Africa, from countries at war such as Somalia.
Even for Greece may be confirmed by a significant increase in the flow of migrants than in years past. For example, in the detention center of the island of Lesvos, the number of cases recorded in the first five months of 2008 was more than double the total number of arrivals during 2004.
As in Italy, in the detention center near the port of Patras greek, the MSF medical team has new changes in the population of migrants coming: a predominantly Kurdish to almost exclusively Afghans.
The people who come from countries at war should be considered as potential asylum seekers and the arrival of migrants should also be provided to them proper information on asylum procedures. Last year, Greece alone received more than 112mila undocumented migrants. Yet, for a total of about 25 thousand asylum applications, only eight were granted refugee status.
http://www.medicisenzafrontiere.it
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