Refugees
The rescue ship "Ocean Viking" is allowed to bring more than 370 boat migrants rescued from distress at sea to Augusta in Sicily. This was announced by the operator organization SOS Mediterranee on Sunday evening. Italy had assigned the crew the port near Syracuse. A heavily pregnant woman had reportedly been flown to the island of Lampedusa earlier by Italian authorities.
After that, there were still 373 people on board who had been rescued by four inflatable boats off Libya in recent days, he said. The crew had appealed to Malta and Italy to take them in. The arrival is expected for Monday.
A migrant boat with 45 people sank off the Tunisia coast on Thursday. At least 20 people died, five people were rescued by the coastguard and the coastguard is still looking for about 20 people.
"The boat sank about six miles from the coast of Sfax. Twenty bodies were recovered, five others were rescued, and all are from sub-Saharan Africa," the security official, Ali Ayari, said.
The Spanish Ministry of Migration announces the plan to urgently create refugee camps with 6,000 places on Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and Fuerteventura to accommodate the immigrants who are now spread over 17 tourist complexes.
Minister José Luis Escrivá's plan includes using Gran Canaria as a place where refugees will arrive in the style of Lesbos or Lampedusa. New arrivals are won't be transferred to the mainland but await deportation in a center set up for this purpose.
The European Commission has presented plans for faster asylum procedures at the external borders, more deportations and the appointment of a "repatriation coordinator".
In case of high refugee numbers, all member states are to be obliged to show "solidarity" with the countries of arrival - be it through the reception of refugees or through assistance with deportations. At the same time, the Commission is planning more legal possibilities for immigration.
The spokesperson of the German government Steffen Seibert has announced that 1553 people, that have already been granted a protective status by the Greek government, will be allowed to come to Germany from the multiple Greek islands.
In addition, unaccompanied minors and children in need of medical treatment as well as their families will be allowed into Germany and receive asylum and help. In total 2750 people will be allowed into the country.
The government states that in addition to this measure it aims to find a European solution for the help of refugees.
The refugee camp Moria has heavily suffered from multiple fires that were fanned by strong winds. Many of the 12,000 migrants and refugees living in the camp have fled to surrounding areas or started making their way to Mytilini, the capital of the island Lesbos.
Trying to reach the Canary Islands by boat has claimed the lives of 21 migrants in less than 48 hours. In addition to the 15 bodies rescued on Wednesday from a cayuco (canoe), six other people travelling in a cayuco with 10 survivors were rescued on Thursday afternoon.
Two of the 11 living migrants were taken in a Civil Guard helicopter to a health centre, in which one of them died. The other nine travelled to the port of Arguineguín (in the south of Gran Canaria).
In 2019 a YouTube video had surfaced in which a violent attack by security forces on asylum seekers could be seen. It had been filmed at the Central Contact Point for refugees in Saxony-Anhalt and the public prosecutor has now charged the security forces with bodily harm.
The video showed that security forces first separated two quarreling refugees, but then kicked them lying on the floor.
The proceedings will be conducted before the Halberstadt District Court.
In Karlsruhe, Germany a Senegalese asylum seeker and his lawyer lodged a constitutional complaint with the aim that the Bamberg public prosecutor's office would be obliged to resume the investigation. The background to this is an end of proceedings against several security forces at the Bamberg asylum accommodation, who allegedly have repeatedly attacked the applicant in September 2017.
However, the police then detained him and a friend. The case against the security forces had been closed for lack of evidence.
Thousands of people have taken part in Black Lives Matter protests across Australia. Health officials and leaders in Australia have warned that mass gatherings in support of racial equality risk inadvertently re-sparking the virus. A protester who attended a Black Lives Matter rally in Melbourne last weekend tested positive for the coronavirus, according to state authorities.
A separate series of protests were held in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne against the treatment of refugees being held in detention centres. The Sydney event -- organized by the Refugee Action Coalition -- took place despite a court ban.
Gruesome reports and photographs have surfaced of migrant and asylum-seekers abuse by Croatian special police. Massimo Moratti, Amnesty International’s Deputy Europe Director, calls for the European Commission to investigate.
There have been reports of abuse at the Croatian border since late 2017.