POSITION STATEMENT THE- LAMPEDUSA DISASTER

STATEMENT | Umangat-Migrante, Rome, Italy

BOAT PEOPLE - Boatload of illegal immigrants seen near the coast of Lampedusa Island, 2010

A boat laden with about 500 men, women and children migrants from Somalia, Eritrea, Egypt and Syria caught fire and sunk near the coast of Lampedusa Island, Italy the early morning of Thursday, 3 October 2013. The inhabitants of the island helped saving the victims. Of the more than 500 imigrants aboard the boat, more than a hundred and fifty reached the shore by swimming for 3 hours before they were met and saved by the local inhabitants. The rest of the immigrants are missing and presumed dead.


Reports revealed that a number of Italian fishing boats has passed the scene of disaster but was prevented from giving assistance to the survivors by the fear of incrimination under the provisions of the Bossi-Fini Law and Security Package that prohibit the taking illegal immigrants into Italian territory.


Again, criticisms against the much hated Bossi-Fini law and the amending Security Package that criminalized illegal immigration was aired in the dailies, radio and tv networks by several anti-racism groups and politicians. This should has been stopped years ago, but the extreme right politicians have used the issue of illegal migration to sow fears among the population in order to harvest votes from the panicked citizens. Most of the immigrants are in fact refugees from political repressions, war, poverty and hunger.


Along with various migrant and anti-racist organizations in Italy, with the Mayor of Lamèpedusa, the Ugnayan ng Manggagawang Migrante Tungo sa Pag-unlad and allied organizations call for the abrogation of racist and discriminatory laws and regulations and to end the criminalization of the immigrants and refugees.




NO TO RACIAL DISCRIMINATION!!!

STOP THE CRIMINALIZATION OF MIGRANTS!!!

NO TO FORTRESS EUROPE!!!



Reference:


Ugnayan ng Manggagawang Migrante Tungo sa Pag-unlad (UMANGAT)
E-mail: umangatmigrante@gmail.com

Migrante Partylist Rome 

E-mail : migranteplrome@gmail.com

Patriotic Order of the Supremo Andres Bonifacio                                             E-mail : posab.rome@gmail.com