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BARI, Italy (AP) — The year has gotten off to a slow start for a rescue ship that typically plies the Mediterranean Sea looking for migrants and refugees in distress. Italian maritime authorities now routinely assign privately operated rescue ships to ports in central and northern Italy, hundreds of miles and several days of navigation away from where they find boats in trouble. Political Cartoons View All 253 ImagesTo date, 13 or 14 charity-run rescue ships have been impounded for various violations. But she said the presence of charity-run ships in the Mediterranean must be limited and strictly regulated. Charity ships rescue only around 8% of the asylum-seekers who reach Italy, down from a peak of 41% in 2017.

Persons: Premier Giorgia Meloni, Alessandro Porro, ” Mary Finn, ” Sara Kelany, ”, Meloni, Enrico Mattei, haven't, Edi Rama Organizations: SOS Mediterranee, Premier, Authorities, SOS, Meloni’s Brothers, International Organization for Migration, ENI, Constitutional, Edi Locations: BARI, Italy, Europe, North Africa, Bari, Italian, Lampedusa, Africa, Tunisia, Albania, Balkan

☆ Albania to host no more than 3,000 migrants under deal with Italy
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An Italian Coast Guard vessel carrying migrants rescued at sea passes near a tourist boat, on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 18, 2023. The figure compares with the more than 145,000 sea migrants who have arrived in Italy so far this year, a sharp increase from 2022 which Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government is keen to contain. Announcing the deal with Albania on Monday, Meloni said as many as 36,000 migrants per year could pass through the Albanian camps, but hitting this target depends on how quickly Italy can process asylum applications. The protocol states that Italy will shield Albania from any costs from legal action against the initiative. The facilities are more than 1,000 kilometres from Lampedusa, the island where most Italy-bound sea migrants currently land.

Persons: Yara, Giorgia Meloni's, Meloni, repatriating, Alvise, Christina Fincher Organizations: Italian Coast Guard, REUTERS, Rights, Amnesty International, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Lampedusa, Italy, Albania, EU, Shëngjin

☆ Migrant’s drowning in Mediterranean prompts criticism of Malta's rescue policies
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Reade Levinson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +13 min

Details of the incident, described to Reuters by humanitarian groups MSF, Sea-Watch and Alarm Phone, haven’t previously been reported. By the next morning, June 23, survivors told MSF, they had run out of food and water. [1/5]Handout image obtained by Reuters, October 12, 2023 shows a Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) rescue boat near a rubber boat carrying migrants from the Middle East and Africa, in the Mediterranean Sea, June 24, 2023. At 12:46 p.m., Alarm Phone called the Malta Search and Rescue Coordination Centre to report that one person was in the water. The passengers told the men they were scared and didn’t want to remain on the boat, survivors told MSF.

Persons: Africa –, ’, Ainhoa Campàs Velasco, Sabrina Borg, “, ”, Tommaso Foti, Foti, Oliver Kulikowski, Neil Azzopardi Ferriggi, Skye McKee, Handout, Kulikowski, Byron Camilleri, Camilleri, Jean, Pierre Gauci, Reade Levinson, Janet Roberts Organizations: Reuters, Sea, MSF, Geo, University of Southampton, “, EU, REUTERS Acquire, Passengers, Coordination, Watch, Reuters ., Maltese, Armed Forces of, Armed Forces, -, United Nations, Refugees, Amnesty International, European, of Human Rights, Home Affairs, European Union, British Institute of International, Comparative, La Spezia, Thomson Locations: East, Africa, Malta, Maltese, Italy, Europe, Italian, “ Malta, Sirte, Libya, Syria, South Sudan, Sea, Armed Forces of Malta, Malta's, Laconia, Gabon, ”, London

☆ EU states try to seal migration deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Migrants arrive on an Italian Coast Guard vessel after being rescued at sea, near the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 18, 2023. Envoys were meeting at 0730 GMT on an amended text of the tentative agreement proposed by Spain, which chairs EU talks until the end of the year, sources said. The meeting is the last chance to seal a deal before the bloc's 27 national leaders meet in Spain's Granada on Thursday and Friday, where they are due to discuss irregular migration amid increased arrivals across the Mediterranean, including to the Italian island of Lampedusa. A dispute over NGOs picking up people in the sea prevented an deal among the EU's migration ministers last week but the bloc is still keen to get it done ahead of key elections in Germany, Poland and a pan-European parliamentary vote in 2024. Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; editing by Bart MeijerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Yara, Gabriela Baczynska, Bart Meijer Organizations: Italian Coast Guard, REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Lampedusa, Italy, Rights BRUSSELS, Brussels, Rome, Berlin, Spain, Granada, Germany, Poland, Hungary, East, Africa

☆ EU talks migration as Italy, Germany worry over increased arrivals
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Gabriela Baczynska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] An Italian Coast Guard vessel carrying migrants rescued at sea passes near a tourist boat, on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 18, 2023. REUTERS/Yara Nardi Acquire Licensing Rightsサマリー Higher arrivals, looming elections put migration high on agendaFocus on whether Berlin backs proposed new EU 'crisis mechanism'Some propose Egypt for next migration deal after TunisiaBRUSSELS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The European Union's migration ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday to discuss how to handle migrants arriving by sea as Italy and Germany worry over increased immigration, with Berlin launching border controls inside Europe's zone of open travel. "There is a lot of unrest in (the) direct neighbourhood of Europe," said one senior EU diplomat. The EU has been pushing tougher anti-immigration policies since more than a million people reached its southern shores in 2015, catching the bloc by surprise and overwhelming security and reception capacities in countries including Italy. The 27-member governments have since struggled to modernise their shared asylum and migration rules - including the "crisis mechanism" - especially as they want to look in control for their voters ahead of a pan-EU parliamentary election in 2024.

Persons: Yara, Giorgia Meloni, Nancy Faeser, Faeser, Gabriela Baczynska, Emelia Sithole Organizations: Italian Coast Guard, REUTERS, Berlin, Italy's, EU Locations: Lampedusa, Italy, Egypt, Tunisia BRUSSELS, Brussels, Germany, Berlin, Tunisia, Europe, EU, Poland, Czech Republic, Bavaria, East, Africa, Asia

☆ Asylum seekers in Italy told to pay to avoid detention
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] An Italian Coast Guard vessel carrying migrants rescued at sea passes between tourist boats, on Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 18, 2023. REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsROME, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Asylum seekers in Italy will have to pay 4,938 euros ($5,259) to avoid detention while their request for protection is being processed, the government said on Friday, in a measure apparently aimed at deterring migrants. "They are looking to make detention for migrants the norm, but it is hard to see how they can do that," she told Reuters. At present there are 10 repatriation centres in Italy, which have a current capacity of just 619. In 2022 Italy reviewed 52,625 asylum requests, rejecting 53.5% of them, according to official data.

Persons: Yara, Giorgia Meloni's, Anna Brambilla, Meloni, Luca Zaia, Crispian Balmer, Alex Richardson Organizations: Italian Coast Guard, REUTERS, Rights, Association, Immigration, Reuters, League, Thomson Locations: Lampedusa, Italy, Veneto, Rome, Africa, Europe

☆ Analysis: EU, Italy talk tough on migration but action won't be easy
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Alvise Armellini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/5] An Italian Coast Guard vessel carrying migrants rescued at sea passes between tourist boats, on Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy. Well over 10,000 migrants reached the Italian island - whose permanent population is about 6,000 - last week. Lampedusa sits in the Mediterranean between Tunisia, Malta and the larger Italian island of Sicily and is a first port of call for many migrants seeking to reach the EU. In 2020, it was discontinued as other EU nations balked at Italian requests to have them redistributed around the bloc. Other EU states have not commented publicly on the idea of a naval blockade, which Italy says would also need the consent of North African states.

Persons: Yara, Sophia, Giorgia Meloni, Lampedusa, Meloni, Ursula von der Leyen, Ferruccio Pastore, Pastore, von der Leyen, Maurizio Ambrosini, Jan Strupczewski, Gavin Jones, Janet Lawrence Organizations: Italian Coast Guard, EU, European Union, European, International, European Forum, Research, Immigration, Human, Reuters, Dublin, University of Milan, Thomson Locations: Lampedusa, Italy, North Africa, ROME, Tunisia, Malta, Sicily, Europe, Albania, Italian, Rome, Tirana, France, Austria, Dublin, EU, Germany, Brussels, repatriations

☆ Newborn Baby Found Dead on Migrant Boat off Italy's Lampedusa - ANSA
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN (Reuters) - The Italian Coast Guard found a newborn baby dead on a boat carrying migrants to the Italian island of Lampedusa during a rescue operation, ANSA news agency reported on Saturday. The baby was born during the trip and died soon after birth, ANSA reported, adding that around 40 migrants were on the boat. Earlier this week, a five-month-old baby boy drowned during a rescue operation off Lampedusa after a boat carrying migrants across the sea from North Africa capsized. Nearly 126,000 migrants have arrived in Italy this year, almost double the figure by the same date in 2022. In a video message posted on social media, Meloni promised strict action in response to a surge in migrant arrivals this week.

Persons: ANSA, Lampedusa, Giorgia Meloni, Meloni, Gianluca Semeraro, Toby Chopra Organizations: MILAN, Italian Coast Guard, European Union Locations: Lampedusa, North Africa, Italy, Italian

☆ Germany says it will keep taking in migrants from Italy after all
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A view of shadows of migrants boarding a ship to be transferred to the mainland, on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Yara Nardi Acquire Licensing RightsFRANKFURT, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Germany has decided to keep taking in migrants and refugees arriving in Italy, the interior minister said late on Friday, two days after it announced the suspension of a voluntary agreement with Rome to receive new arrivals. Under an European Union solidarity scheme, Germany had pledged to help member states such as Italy that are particularly overwhelmed by migrants by taking in 3,500 people, but it announced the suspension of the accord on Wednesday. But interior minister Nancy Faeser said the recent arrival of thousand of migrants in the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa meant Germany would take in people after all. The Italian Coast Guard found a newborn baby dead on a boat carrying migrants to the island during a rescue operation, ANSA news agency reported on Saturday.

Persons: Yara, Nancy Faeser, Faeser, Giorgia Meloni, Ludwig Burger, Helen Popper Our Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, ARD, Italian, EU, Italian Coast Guard, Thomson Locations: Lampedusa, Italy, Germany, Rome, Union, Dublin, EU, German, North Africa

☆ EU chief to visit Italy's Lampedusa amid protests over migrant numbers
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Yara Nardi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/7] A child looks on as migrants are seen inside the hotspot, on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 16, 2023. Nearly 126,000 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year, almost double the figure by the same date in 2022. Lampedusa has recently borne the brunt, with thousands of landings this week, more than the island's permanent population. ISLANDERS' PROTESTDozens of Lampedusa residents held protests on Saturday against a plan to build new tent camps to host migrants. Earlier this week, a five-month-old baby boy drowned off Lampedusa after a boat carrying migrants across the sea from North Africa capsized.

Persons: Yara, Ursula von der, Giorgia Meloni, Lampedusa, Von der, Eric Mamer, Gerald Darmanin, Nancy Faeser, Elisabeth Borne, BFM, Emmanuel Macron, Gianluca Semeraro, Ludwig Burger, Jan Strupczewski, Gus Trompiz, Toby Chopra, Mike Harrison Organizations: REUTERS, Italy's, European Union, EU, Twitter, ISLANDERS, Italian Coast Guard, Thomson Locations: Lampedusa, Italy, Italian, North Africa, France, Germany, Rome, Europe, Milan, Frankfurt, Brussels, Paris

☆ Italy's tiny Lampedusa island struggles with spike in migrant arrivals
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/22]Migrants arrive on an Italian Coast Guard vessel after being rescued at sea, on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 15. The small Italian island of Lampedusa is being overwhelmed by the number of migrants arriving on its shores, its mayor said on Thursday, after thousands of people landed from North Africa on flimsy boats over the past two days. REUTERS/Yara NardiLAMPEDUSA, Italy

Organizations: Italian Coast Guard, REUTERS Locations: Lampedusa, Italy, North Africa, LAMPEDUSA

ROME, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Italian authorities on Wednesday said forty-one migrants are thought to have died in a shipwreck last week in the central Mediterranean, according to accounts by survivors who have been taken to the island of Lampedusa. Local public prosecutor Salvatore Vella confirmed media reports that four people who survived the shipwreck told rescuers they were on a boat carrying 45 people, including three children. They were then transferred onto an Italian coast guard vessel and disembarked in Lampedusa, where they shared their story. The Italian coast guard did not respond to a request for comment. A source with knowledge of the matter said it was unlikely that the shipwreck experienced by the survivors was one of two the coast guard had reported on Sunday.

Persons: Salvatore Vella, Tunisia's, Vella, Federico Maccioni, Federica, Keith Weir, Crispian Balmer, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Watch, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Lampedusa . Local, Italian, Lampedusa, Sfax, Italy, Europe

☆ 41 dead in migrant shipwreck in central Mediterranean
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Rome CNN —Forty-one people reportedly died in a migrant shipwreck near the Italian island of Lampedusa, survivors say, the latest tragedy amid a spike in efforts in people making the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa to Europe. The survivors told the Red Cross that the migrant boat left Sfax, Tunisia several days ago. They said they were wearing life jackets and were able to crawl on a remnants of a different shipwrecked boat, according to the Red Cross. Lampedusa, not far from Sicily and the closest Italian island to Africa, is a major destination for migrants seeking to enter European Union countries. On Sunday, three bodies were recovered, including a 3-year-old child and a pregnant woman, and at least 30 people were missing after two migrant boats sank off the Italian island, the Italian Coast Guard said in a statement.

Persons: Rome, Rome CNN —, Giorgia Meloni Organizations: Rome CNN, Italian Coast Guard, CNN, European Union Locations: Lampedusa, North Africa, Europe, Sfax, Tunisia, Italy, Sicily, Africa

[1/5] Migrants wait to be rescued by Italian Coast Guard off the coast of Italy, April 10, 2023. The fact that Meloni, a figurehead of the new right, has not carried through on her pledges underscores how intractable the problem is. NORTH AFRICAIn the run-up to the 2022 election, Meloni said she would impose a naval blockade to prevent boats leaving north Africa. Meloni visited Tunisia twice last month, seeking progress in unblocking loans that she says are needed to avoid a financial crisis that might trigger a tsunami of departures. However, a review of migrant flows through Europe over the past decade suggests Italy might not benefit in the way Meloni hopes.

Persons: Meloni, King Canute, Giorgia Meloni, Mattia Diletti, Matteo Piantedosi, Matteo Villa, Ursula von der Leyen, Mark Rutte, ISPI's Villa, COVID, Michelangelo Agrusti, Crispian Balmer, Angelo Amante, Alex Richardson Organizations: Italian Coast Guard, REUTERS, Rome's Sapienza University . Immigration, Ministry, European, Dutch, European Commission, EU, Business, Thomson Locations: Italy, Tunisia, Libya, ROME, Europe, Lampedusa, AFRICA, Africa, North Africa, Tripoli, Brussels, Poland, Hungary, Rome

☆ Migrants to Spain's Canary Islands surge, three new boatloads rescued Thursday
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Borja Suarez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Canary Islands officials said on Thursday that during the night emergency services had assisted 114 migrants in two boats. At least 559 people - including 22 children - died in 2022 in attempts to reach the Canary Islands, according to data from the U.N.'s International Organisation for Migration. JUNE SURGEThere has been a rise in arrivals in the Canary Islands this month. Only in June, close to 2,000 people have arrived," said Canary Islands migration lawyer Loueila Mint El Mamy. Spanish government data showed 5,914 people arrived in the Canary Islands between January and mid-June this year, a 31.5% drop compared to the same period last year.

Persons: Borja Suarez ARGUINEGUIN, Aita Mari, SMH, Nadir, Emma Pinedo, Corina Rodriguez, Aislinn Laing, Frances Kerry Organizations: Gran Canaria, REUTERS, Maritimo, Italian Coast Guard, for Migration, Loueila, Islands, Reuters, Inti, Thomson Locations: Spanish, Arguineguin, Gran, Spain, Islands, West Africa, Moroccan, Morocco, Lanzarote, Lampedusa, Saharan Africa, Canary Islands

☆ At least 29 African migrants die when two boats sink off Tunisia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Tarek Amara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TUNIS, March 26 (Reuters) - At least 29 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa died when their two boats sank off the coast of Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, the Tunisian coast guard said on Sunday. Houssem Jebabli, a senior official in the national guard told Reuters that the Tunisian coast guard had also rescued 11 people off the coast of Mahdia, further north. The coast guard said it had stopped about 80 boats heading for Italy in the past four days and detained more than 3,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries. According to U.N. data, at least 12,000 migrants who reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period of 2022. The Italian coast guard said on Thursday it had rescued about 750 migrants in two operations off the southern Italian coast.

☆ Nineteen African migrants die when another boat sinks off Tunisia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Tarek Amara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TUNIS, March 26 (Reuters) - At least 19 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa died when their boat sank off the Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, a human rights group said on Sunday, the latest migrant boat disaster off Tunisia. The coast guard said it had stopped about 80 boats heading for Italy in past four days and detained more than 3,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries. According to U.N. data, at least 12,000 migrants who reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period of 2022. The Italian coast guard said on Thursday it had rescued about 750 migrants in two operations off the southern Italian coast. Meloni called on the IMF and some countries to help Tunisia quickly to avoid its collapse.

☆ Dozens of Migrants Drown in Shipwreck Off Italian Coast
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Eric Sylvers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Italian firefighters and Red Cross personnel gather at the scene where bodies of migrants washed ashore. At least 43 migrants died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa after their ship broke apart Sunday in stormy weather near the southern Italian coast, according to Italian authorities, spotlighting the European Union’s continued struggles to resolve the issue of illegal immigration. There were at least 120 people on board the boat when it ran into rocks near the coast, the Italian Coast Guard said. Eighty survivors have been found on the beach and in the sea.

☆ Migrant boat breaks apart off Italy; dozens are dead, 80 survive
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Rescuers recover a body after a migrant boat broke apart in rough seas, at a beach near Cutro, southern Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. Rescue officials say an undetermined number of migrants have died and dozens have been rescued after their boat broke apart off southern Italy. The Italian Coast Guard said at least 80 people were found alive, "some of whom succeeded in reaching the shore after the shipwreck." One survivor was taken into custody for questioning after survivors indicated he was a trafficker, Rai state TV said. "It's an enormous tragedy," Crotone Mayor Vincenzo Voce told RAI state TV.

☆ At least 33 dead in southern Italy after migrant shipwreck - ANSA
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Alvise Armellini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME, Feb 26 (Reuters) - At least 33 people have died after a migrant shipwreck off the eastern coast of Italy's Calabria region, ANSA and other Italian news agencies reported on Sunday. "Several dead are reported among the migrants, (and) about 40 survivors," the national firefighters' department wrote on the Telegram messaging app, adding the migrants' ship had run aground by the coast. The Italian coast guard, reported to be on the scene with firefighters and other police forces, was not immediately reachable for comment. Italy is one of the main landing points for migrants trying to enter Europe by sea. According to the International Organization for Migration's Missing Migrants Project, 20,333 people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean since 2014.

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