BBC News | Migrant crisis: Spain arrivals triple compared with 2016 BBC News Three times as many migrants have arrived in Spain so far this year compared to the same period in 2016, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says. It means the number of sea arrivals in Spain - at 8,385 - could overtake Greece, which has ... |
Read the original here:
Migrant crisis: Spain arrivals triple compared with 2016 - BBC News
GETTY
In a hard-hitting plea socialist leader Gianni Pittella called on EU leaders to start taking the situation in his home country more seriously or it could grow to threaten the whole future of the bloc.
He said Eastern European countries point blank refusal to take in refugees under the clubs quota scheme was unacceptable and backed calls to strip them of their Brussels funding.
And the Italian MEP, president of the Socialist and Democrat grouping in the EU parliament, warned that unless the migration issue is sorted it will simply harden divisions and rip the bloc apart.
The EU has been grown into chaos by the recent upsurge in arrivals to Italy, which has exposed stark differences within the different member states over how to deal with mass migration.
Eastern European countries like Hungary and Poland have predictably refused to take in any asylum seekers, but Rome has been alarmed at the extent to which it has also been abandoned to its fate by key players like France and Germany.
With newly elected Emmanuel Macron keen to strike a tough tone on migration as he looks to win over supporters of Marine Le Pen, and Angela Merkel facing her own election battle in September, little help has been on offer.
GETTY
Austrian, meanwhile, even threatened to deploy its armed forces to the Alpine border with Italy in order to seal it off if there was a fresh jump in the number of arrivals over the summer.
As a result Italy has been forced to take things into its own hands, with Rome threatening to shut its ports to migrant boats and targeting NGO rescue vessels it accuses of colluding with people smugglers to aid illegal migration.
Mr Pittella said that despite warnings from the Italian government, most EU member state continue to ignore the situation and said the political will to act on migration had disappeared with the front page headlines.
Writing for EUobserver, he warned: Hundreds of thousands of migrants that have been rescued by the Italian navy and are now waiting in reception centres or being housed by local authorities, many of which are stretched to their limits."
We are reaching another tipping point
Gianni Pittella
He told EU leaders: Ultimately, if we do not adapt the rules and structures of our migration policy, so that all member states share responsibility and have an interest in addressing the issue, then divisions will harden between those that face the brunt of the crisis and those who ignore it.
We are reaching another tipping point. If we continue with the failed approach of the last two years then this could become a systemic crisis that threatens the EU itself.
Mr Pittella said it was simply not acceptable that EU leaders have put off a special summit on the issue of migration until the Autumn, saying it shows they are not taking the problem seriously.
And he called for radical reform including a centralised European asylum policy that allocates refugees, but also so-called economic migrants, in a fair and transparent way.
Such a system would make the relocation system permanent, with sanctions for member states that refuse to take their fair share of refugees but would be vociferously opposed especially by Eastern Europe.
1 of 10
The Italian MEP wrote: Demographic changes, continuing instability in the Middle East and North Africa, and long-term issues such as poverty and climate change mean that large-scale migration to Europe is going to be a fact for decades to come.
We are a continent of 500 million people and one of the richest regions of the planet the arrival of a few hundred thousand refugees and migrants is manageable if we organise ourselves effectively.
It is clear this is the only viable option, yet certain national governments are still actively undermining any attempts to fix the system.
This is most evident in Hungary, where prime minister Victor Orban is demonising migrants and the EU to try and bolster his flagging poll numbers. We cannot allow this to continue.
More than 100,000 people have arrived in Italy already this year, with EU leaders and officials saying that the vast majority are economic migrants who will not qualify for asylum.
Eurocrats and leaders including Angela Merkel have promised to speed up the rate of deportations to tackle the crisis, whilst plans are also being floated for the establishment of EU camps within Libya.
See more here:
Migrant crisis - Italian MEP warns refugee arrivals threaten EU's ... - Express.co.uk
Three Spanish civil guards and dozens of police officers were left injured as they tried to stop the arrival of an estimated 1,000 sub-Saharans migrants.
The violent clashes came as migrants attempted to storm the borders of Spain's two enclaves in northern Africa, Ceuta and Melilla.
It comes a day after more than 100 migrants ran through one gate in the fence usually used as a border control.
REUTERS
And on Tuesday, dozens of sub-Saharan immigrants launched an assault on the border perimeter separating the autonomous city of Ceuta from Morocco at 6 am.
On this occasion, Moroccan authorities ensured that only around 300 immigrants managed to reach the border fence, where they were stopped by agents of the Civil Guard.
The Civil Guard Command of Ceuta reported large groups of sub-Saharan migrants throwing rocks and sticks in frustration in a bid to cross the border.
Getty Images
1 of 10
Aid workers help migrants up the shore after making the crossing from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos on November 16, 2015 in Sikaminias, Greece
REUTERS
They were also reportedly armed with rudimentary spears and sharp objects.
The fresh attempt comes just 24 hours after 187 migrants reached Spanish territory following a rush across the border.
EPA
Many migrants try to enter Spain as a means of reaching other parts of Europe.
Arrivals through Ceuta and Melilla, as well as the number of migrants attempting to cross into Spain by sea from North Africa has risen this year, although the route between Libya and Italy remains the most popular.
Read more here:
MIGRANT CRISIS: 1000 storm Spanish border fence in second day of chaos - Express.co.uk
African migrant workers harvest tomatoes in farmlands in Puglia. Analysts said the risk of labour exploitation is likely to worsen in Italy over the next year, with agriculture a key sector of concern. Photograph: ROPI/Alamy
The migrant crisis has increased the risk of slavery and forced labour tainting supply chains in three-quarters of EU countries over the past year, researchers have found.
Romania, Italy, Cyprus and Bulgaria all key entry points into Europe for migrants vulnerable to exploitation were identified by risk analysts as particularly vulnerable to slavery and forced labour.
The annual modern slavery index, produced by Verisk Maplecroft, assessed the conditions that make labour exploitation more likely. Areas covered by the index include national legal frameworks and the severity, and frequency, of violations.
Countries outside Europe, such as North Korea and South Sudan, were judged to be at the greatest risk of modern slavery, but the researchers said the EU showed the largest increase in risk of any region over the past year.
In the past, the slavery story has been in supply chains in countries far away, like Thailand and Bangladesh, said Dr Alexandra Channer, a human rights analyst at Verisk Maplecroft. But it is now far closer to home and it is something that consumers, governments and businesses in the EU have to look out for. With the arrival of migrants, who are often trapped in modern slavery before they enter the workplace, the vulnerable population is expanding.
The International Labour Organisation estimates that 21 million people worldwide are subject to some form of slavery.
The biggest global increase in the risk of slavery was in Romania, which rose 56 places in the index and is the only EU country classified as high risk.
Turkey came a close second, moving up 52 places, from medium risk to high risk. The influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing war, combined with Turkeys restrictive work permit system, has led to thousands of refugees becoming part of an informal workforce, said the study.
The government, which is focused on political crackdown, does not prioritise labour violations, further adding to the risk. Over the past year, several large brands from Turkish textile factories have been associated with child labour and slavery.
The picture in Romania is more complex, researchers said. The countrys high risk category reflects more severe and frequent instances of modern slavery, but also reflects a greater number of criminal investigations in Romania, usually in collaboration with EU enforcement authorities.
Both Romania and Italy, which rose 17 places, have the worst reported violations in the EU, including severe forms of forced labour such as servitude and trafficking, the study said.
The EU, on average, remains at medium risk of modern slavery, the index said.
It found that even the EUs largest economies were not immune. The UK, which introduced the Modern Slavery Act in 2016, has experienced a slight negative shift in its scores, moving from low risk to medium.
It is marginal change, but the driver in the UK is [lack of] enforcement, said Channer.
She said that while there have been positive changes in the UK, such as the expanded powers and remit of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, new data revealed gaps in the UKs labour inspectorate. In Germany, which has also experienced an upward shift in its score, there was an increase in recorded trafficking and servitude violations.
A Guardian report this week revealed that the modern-day slave trade has taken root in Britain, with multiple trials exposing how Sports Direct had unwittingly used slave labour.
More than 100,000 migrants entered Europe by sea in the first seven months of 2017, 82% of whom landed in Italy, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Arrivals in Greece have fallen since the EU-Turkey deal, but the country is host to significant numbers of migrants. It rose 16 places in the index.
Due to the geographical shift in migrant sea arrivals, analysts expect the risk of modern slavery to worsen in Italy over the next year, with agriculture a major sector of concern.
The five worst countries globally, rated at extreme risk of modern slavery, were North Korea, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The chief manufacturing hubs of Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand all featured in the extreme or high risk categories. However, India and Thailand have improved their scores, due to better efforts to enforce slavery-related laws.
See the rest here:
Migrant crisis triggers heightened risk of slavery in EU supply chains ... - The Guardian
The migrants scramble onto a packed beach and pull a black inflatable dinghy onto the sand.
The serenity of the stretch of beach is suddenly broken as sunbathers are jarred from their day in the sun. Moments later, the migrants scatter.
The footage, recorded Wednesday in Playa de los Alemanes in Cdiz province, Spain, is a reminder of the large number of refugees and migrants making their way into Europe, even as the everyday life of vacationers goes on.
Though attention has turned from the European refugee and migrant crisis, thousands of people are still making the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa into Europe, often smuggled by human traffickers on inflatable dinghies or old fishing vessels. The crossing is often deadly. Since January, more than 2,405 people have drowned in the Mediterranean while attempting it.
Nearly 117,000 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea so far this year, according to a recent report from the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency. The vast majority almost 83 percent arrived in Italy, while the rest were divided among Greece, Cyprus and Spain.
While the overall number of arrivals is down from this time last year, Spain saw a surge in migration in 2017. Earlier this week, the Spanish Red Cross said it had treated 186 migrants who stormed a border post at Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast. They entered the heavily policed border area from Morocco and clashed with officers at the border. Thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan attempt the crossing each year in a bid to enter Europe.
On Thursday, 700 migrants tried to enter Ceuta, with some attempting to climb the 20-foot tall barbed wire fence at the border. None made it across, according to a report from The Associated Press that cited the Interior Ministrys Office.
Go here to read the rest:
Watch: Sunbathers Look On as Migrants Arrive on Spanish Beach - New York Times