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MILAN Just like how an awardwinning entry about migrants had sparked off reflection at a World Press Photo showcase held in Singapore recently, another exhibition in Milan is offering further fuel for debate.

It offers, through the lens of 65 photographers, an original look at the topic of immigration and the migrant crisis.

The Restless Earth, organised by the Nicola Trussardi foundation, is being presented by the Visual Arts Programme of Milan's Triennale, the title alluding to works by Caribbean poet Edouard Glissant, on how different cultures can live together.

The exhibition - with works from photographers from some 40 countries including Syria and Turkey - is an "exercise in empathy, understanding and intercultural dialogue" to facilitate "a future together", the foundation said.

The works are designed to not only show migrants' experiences, but also hint at perceptions of new arrivals amid the worst refugee crisis Europe has known since World War II.

Italy has been at the front line of the crisis, receiving tens of thousands of migrants attempting the dangerous sea crossing from Libya in vessels that are often barely seaworthy.

Included in the exhibition, which runs through Aug 20, are 26 powerful images taken by Agence FrancePresse photographer Aris Messinis depicting their hazardous journeys.

Another powerful exhibit is Syrian Manaf Halbouni's Nowhere Is Home, comprising a car crammed full of objects to symbolise the transient existence of refugees with nowhere to call their own.

Also throwing into stark relief the human cost of the migrant crisis is an exhibit of passports, damaged mobile phones and other personal items from African refugees.

Hundreds of them drowned off Lampedusa, an island near Sicily, when their vessels capsized in 2013.

Milan itself is an industrial economic hub in the north of Italy, where the anti-immigrant Northern League has sought to extract political capital from the migrant crisis, a divisive issue across the country.

In January, tensions boiled over as residents at a migrant reception centre near Venice set the facility ablaze after the death of a female refugee, which residents blamed on a long delay in getting her medical treatment.

More than 1,000 migrants are thought to have died making the dangerous voyage from Libya to Italy so far this year, according to the United Nation's refugee agency.

Nearly 37,000 have been rescued and brought to camps around the country.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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Milan exhibition highlights migrant crisis - The Straits Times

This week, Germany's Interior Ministry released its 2016 crime figures, showing a dramatic increase inviolent crime, including a 14.3% rise inmurder and manslaughter, a 12.7% rise inrape and sexual assaults, and a 9.9% increase inserious assaults overthe previous year. The figures showed that illegal immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers were suspected ofhaving committing 174,438 crimes, a whopping 52.7% increase overthe previous year.

AP Photo/ Martin Meissner

Germany watchers say there's a clear connection betweenthis increase incrime and Chancellor Angela Merkel's open door policy towardimmigrants. German media, meanwhile, is considering whether the statistics will affect her chances inSeptember's parliamentary elections.

AFP 2017/ Christof Stache

Migrants arrive at the first registration point for asylum seekers in Erding near Munich, southern Germany, on November 15, 2016

Commenting onthe migrant crisis facing Germany and the rest ofEurope, RIA Novosti contributor and Europe observer Igor Pshenichnikov recalled that "observing the situation withrefugees inEurope overthe last ten or fifteen years, it can be argued that the authorities ofEuropean countries did not set outto confront the influx ofimmigrants."

AP Photo/ Allauddin Khan

"The Europeans continued tooperate underthis paradigm even atthe moment, two years ago, when the flow ofmigrants suddenly turned intoa tsunami, inconnection withthe wars inLibya, Syria and Iraq. It took some time beforeGerman authorities, who showed the most favorable attitudes towardimmigrants, came torealize the mistake they made in2015, when they declared all migrants welcome."

But chalking it all downto some kind of' mistake' isn't correct, Pshenichnikov noted. Behind Berlin's logic were macroeconomic calculations which went beyondthe interests ofordinary Germans.

REUTERS/ Hannibal Hanschke

The report explained that Germany's current fertility rates 160 births per 100 women, was far belowthat which would be necessary toreproduce the population (which requires a fertility rate of210 children per 100 women). Accordingly, the German government calculated that the country 'needs' an estimated 300,000 migrants new migrants each year, inorder topreserve economic stability upto 2060.

AP Photo/ Frank Augstein

A man holds up a poster of German Chacellor Angela Merkel before starting a march out of Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Sept. 4, 2015

"It's obvious," Pshenichnikov noted, "that withoutlaborers the economy will not work."

"But it's not so difficult toimagine what this will all lead toby 2060, either. If Chancellor Merkel's macroeconomic calculations are correct, the German economy will not experience shortages toits working population." However, if the migration trends continue, bythe time 2060 rolls around, "there will be much fewer actual Germans, forwhom all this is all supposedly being calculated, thanthere are today."

AP Photo/ Maurizio Gambarini/dpa

Even the simplest calculation of300,000 migrants per year means over12 million new arrivals by2060 tocomplement Germany's population of81 million. "But this calculation does not consider the difference inbirthrates betweenGermans and migrants, nor the fact that in2015-2016 alone, Berlin had 'fulfilled its migration plan' fornearly a decade."

These trends threaten tobring withthem tectonic changes toGermany's ethnic, culture and religious traditions aswell, Pshenichnikov stressed. Today, the analyst recalled, likemost EU members, Germany is facing the lowest birthrates inits history. "One ofthe main reasons forthisis the radical change" that has been observed "in Europe's cultural and religious traditions, or rather, their dissolution intothe semi-official ideology ofurban individualism," he added.

Sputnik/ Valeriy Melnikov

The resulting clash betweenthe cultural, social and religious norms that these people bring withthem and those ofGermany's native population inevitably lead tomisunderstandings and conflicts, the analyst added.

"For instance, why did the immigrants show themselves insuch a striking manner duringlast year's New Year's Eve celebrations inGermany particularly inthe infamous Cologne 'night ofrape'? Because they were brought upin different, more severe traditions, and consider Europeans, withtheir gender freedoms, tobe [a civilization that is] 'finished', fromthe moral standpoint, and thus not deserving ofrespect."

AP Photo/ Juergen Schwarz

Right-wing demonstrators hold a sign "Rapefugees not welcome - !Stay away!" and a sign with a crossed out mosque as they march in Cologne, Germany

Pshenichnikov emphasized that it's "for the same reason that it doesn't seem likely that immigrants will mix significantly withthe Europeans: the gulf betweenthe cultures and religions ofthe East and Europe is simply too wide. The newcomers not only do not wish tobe integrated intothe local culture; they deeply despise it assomething decadent and declining."

AP Photo/ Armin Weigel/dpa

The question, Pshenichnikov laments, is "who will this economic capital be left to?"

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Germany's Migrant Crisis: 'By 2060 There Will Be No Germany as ... - Sputnik International

CAIRO // Religious fundamentalism will continue to flourish if poverty, disease and the needs of refugees are not addressed, the audience at the International Peace Conference in Cairo was told.

The gathering, co-organised by Al Azhar and the UAE-based Muslim Council of Elders, came three weeks after bombings on Coptic churches in Egypt killed at least 45 people.

Its purpose was to call upon followers of different faiths to trust each other and work together to denounce extremism and promote peace. The conference drew political and spiritual figures from around the world.

The overriding message of the two-day event, which began on Thursday, was that offering citizenship to refugees and tackling wealth inequality was essential in thwarting the appeal of extremism.

Dr Mostafa Hegazi, a former adviser to the interim Egyptian president, Adly Mansour, said that povertys ramifications were not only felt financially but also had profound effects on peoples rationality.

"It leads to a poverty of thought, imagination and capacity," said Dr Hegazi, who is also the founder of an Egyptian think tank focused on issues of justice.

The link between violent extremism and extreme poverty is well established and inclined individuals to become racist and nations to resort to war, he said.

"Isnt it high time we tackled this serious institutional problem," he said.

"People are not machines that are forced to produce. Its time we educate people before they become cogs in the employment machine."

Rev Olav Fykse, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, said that extending citizenship to those in need would serve to provide people with the protection and rights that all people deserved, regardless of their backgrounds.

"Different people should have the same basis of security for their lives and their childrens lives," he said.

"We need something solid and clear as a platform of our lives together."

Basic human needs such as food, water, security, health, education and freedom to believe were all needed to ensure harmonious communities, he said.

Bishop Bola, who was representing Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, called for further inclusion in communities.

"The colonial mentality worldwide has to end, such as is happening in Palestine," the bishop said.

The Coptic bishop appealed to countries to come to the aid of the oppressed and to narrow the gap between the rich and poor nations.

"I call on nations to address poverty because it is a fertile ground for violent environments," the bishop said.

The conference concluded yesterday with Pope Franciss visit to Al Azhar, the global seat of Sunni Muslim learning, the first visit there by a Roman Catholic pope.

tsubaihi@thenational.ae

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Tackle religious extremism by addressing migrant crisis, Egypt conference hears - The National

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The year 2016 has seen a new record in Italian immigration, with over 172,000 mostly African migrants arriving over the first eleven months of the year. Of these, the largest number (21 percent) are from Nigeria, lured into making the dangerous journey by a vigorous promotion campaign promising benefits and opportunities, as well as a free shuttle service provided by the Italian Coast Guard and a number of NGOs.

While most of the African migrants arriving in Italy are young men, a much higher percentage of the Nigerians are women. Currently, one out of every two prostitutes in Italy is Nigerian.

Arinze Orakwe, an official of the Nigerian anti-trafficking organization NAPTIP, fighting against the traffickers is an uphill battle, in part because of public opinion and propaganda about life in Europe. Everyone thinks that the streets of Europe are paved with gold, he said.

The human traffickers organizing the exodus from Africa into Italy include bands of Nigerian mafia gangs who force unsuspecting migrants into working for them as street beggars or prostitutes once they arrive in Italy.

One 24-year-old Nigerian woman named Gloria Erobaga recounted the harrowing experience of forced prostitution on Italian streets, after she had been promised honest work by the mafia traffickers who arranged her passage to Italy.

They would continually check up on us to collect our money and they killed the girls who didnt pay, she said. I know of Nigerian women in Italy who were killed, cut up and thrown into black garbage bags, like trash, she added.

According to reports in the Italian media, Nigerian traffickers are exploiting Europes migrant crisis to take girls to Libya and then across the Mediterranean into Italy. In the past two years more than 12,000 girls and young women have arrived in Italysix times as many as in the preceding two years. Of these, four out of five have wound up in prostitution.

Before organizing their journey through Libyan contacts, traffickers have the girls sign a contract to finance their trip, imposing debts of up to $30,000, which can only be paid back after years of working.

Many of the young women are taken to a priest of Voodoo, who conducts rituals called juju that supposedly bind them spiritually to their traffickers and insure the payment of the debt. These rites instill terror in their victims, convinced that they or their loved ones could fall ill or die if they were to disobey the traffickers, go to the police or fail to pay their debts.

Once in Italy, the women are placed together in common dwellings and given a madam to coordinate their work as prostitutes.

Fabio Sorgoni, an official with a charity that helps prostitutes in Italy, said Italian men are attracted by the youth and low price of the women and often dont realize they are sex slaves.

Appealing to men who pay Nigerians for sex, Sorgoni said: If you go to a prostitute, try to understand if they are a minor and whether they are doing this work of their own free will.

Meanwhile, African immigrants continue to stream into Italy by the hundreds and thousands every day. They are usually picked up several miles off the coast of Libya by waiting rescue vessels of the Italian Coast Guard or a number of organizations that assist migrants, who then take them across the Strait of Sicily to Italian ports.

What many well-meaning NGOs and pro-immigration groups dont realize, is that by assisting migrants in their passage from North Africa to Italy, they are also abetting organized crime and condemning thousands of women to forced prostitution.

Anna, a woman forced into prostitution after being told by traffickers she would pick fruit in Italy, wishes she had never made it here.

My message to girls back in Nigeria is, Dont come, she said.

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More than 40,000 people have made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean from Africa and the Middle East, largely landing in either Greece or Italy, already this year, while 1,089 have died trying. Auditors concluded that the EU must do more to quickly process and care for those that do survive the journey.

Since May 2015, the EU has implemented a so-called hotspot approach to help countries on the frontline of the refugee and migrant crisis cope with the extraordinary numbers of people arriving on their shores.

This saw centres set up to quickly register and move on migrants from the main points of arrival and over 1.5bn in EU funding pledged to Greece and Italy, although less than half of this has been delivered so far.

But auditors found that, despite considerable EU support, it took too long for the centres to be set up, and they remain unable to either handle or properly care for the number of people arriving at them.

They identified issues of overcrowding, a failure to provide basic necessities like water and an inability to care for high numbers of children arriving alone

Hans Gustaf Wessberg, one of the two members of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the report, said the issue needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

At the time of the audit in July 2016, auditors found the hotspots in Italy could accommodate 1,600 people, which auditors said was clearly not enough to cover arrivals of 2,000 or more per day.

Italian authorities have conceded that, for the first seven months of 2016, some 70% of migrants arrived in Italy outside of the hotspot facilities. Two more centres, and a separate strategy in line with the hotspot approach but not requiring physical facilities, have been planned but are yet to be put in place.

Meanwhile in Greece, since March last year, an agreement between the EU and Turkey has meant migrants can no longer leave the Greek islands to lodge their asylum applications. This must instead be done at the hotspot centres, where previously migrants would spend only a few days.

Now migrants typically stay at the hotspot centres for months. Auditors said centres are seriously overcrowded as a result: all five hotspots can accommodate a total of 7,450 people, but the migrant population on the countrys islands had hit 16,250 by early November last year.

Auditors also noted that NGOs and others had criticised the quality of food and lack of blankets, medical care and water. Privacy, they continued, was also in short supply, with no separate areas for men, women, families or minors.

As of September 2016, around 2,500 children were living alone on Greeces islands, with none being cared for in accordance with international standards, auditors added.

Many unaccompanied minors have been held for long periods at the hotspots in inappropriate conditions, despite the law requiring they be prioritised, the report noted.

European Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said the EUs executive pointed out that the report also highlighted that the hotspot approach had helped improve the management of migration flows in very challenging and constantly changing circumstances.

But, she continued, the commission also welcomes its conclusion that there is still more to be done something the commission itself has been stressing for some time.

She said the commission stands ready to provide additional support to Greece and Italy, which are ultimately responsible for their own border control and asylum processing, in line with the reports recommendations.

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Auditors highlight failings of EU response to migration crisis - Public Finance International