Tag Archives: Italy
10 July 2014
In a meeting with EU interior ministers in Milan on 8 July, Italy and other European Union states discussed sharing responsibility for rescuing migrants from North Africa, who cross the Mediterranean Sea in packed boats. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), this year over 63,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea, and more than 500 have died in their attempt to make the dangerous sea crossing. (more…)
Source: Reuters | Italy in talks with EU to share responsibility for boat migrants
1 June 2013
The European Court of Human Rights declared inadmissible a complaint brought against Italy and the Netherlands of an asylum seeker whose transfer to Italy was ordered by the Dutch authorities pursuant to the EU Dublin Regulation (Mohammed Hussein a.o. v the Netherlands and Italy). The Court’s rigorous scrutiny of the treatment of asylum seekers in Italy suggests that it aimed to set a standard for similar cases.
After the European Court had declared the intra-EU transfer of an asylum seeker to Greece in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights in January 2011 (the case of M.S.S., see also here), litigation in several Member States shifted to other allegedly unsafe countries for asylum seekers, in particular Italy. Some NGOs highlighted failures in the Italian protection system and advised to refrain from deporting asylum seekers to Italy (see here and here). (more…)
30 January 2013
Italy’s highest criminal court has ruled that Italian radar systems did not adequately protect jets from stray missiles, and that Italy must compensate the victims’ families. It held that there was “abundantly” clear evidence that a stray missile caused an Italian passenger jet to crash into the Mediterranean Sea in 1980, resulting in the death of all 81 people aboard.
It remains unclear who fired the missile. One theory is that the jet was caught in the crossfire of a military aerial fight, with a Libyan plane possibly the target. French, U.S. and NATO officials have denied military activity in the skies that night.
Source: The Washington Post | Italian court: Missile caused 1980 Mediterranean plane crash; Italy must pay compensation
28 January 2013
The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has submitted a Congressionally mandated report identifying ten nations whose fishing vessels engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in 2011 or 2012. The 10 states are Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Italy, Mexico, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Tanzania, and Venezuela. All ten nations identified in this year’s report had vessels that did not comply in 2011 and/or 2012 with conservation and management measures required under a regional fishery management organisation to which the US is a party. The report is part of the efforts of the United States to ensure that the US fishing industry is not undermined by unsustainable or illegal activities. The US will soon start consultations with each of the 10 nations to encourage them to take action to address IUU fishing and by-catch by their fishermen.
Source: Merco Press | US NOAA identifies 10 countries that conducted IUU fishing in 2011-12
20 September 2012
On Wednesday 19 September, an Italian judge convicted 23 US secret agents over the 2003 abduction of Egyptian imam Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street in an extraordinary rendition by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Abu Omar alleged that, after his seizure in Milan, he was taken to a US air force base in northeastern Italy, then flown to the US base in Ramstein, Germany, and on to Cairo. The operation was allegedly co-ordinated by the CIA and Italy’s military intelligence service. He was released after four years in prison without being charged, and currently lives in Egypt.
Source: New York Times | Italy Convicts 23 Americans for C.I.A. Renditions
Source: Al Jazeera | Italy convicts CIA rendition agents