Milano Refugee Centers Full of Syrians and Eritreans
The Geneva daily, Tribute de Genève, reported on 21 July that the six refugee reception centers in Milan, Italy, are full of Eritreans and that local authorities are planning drastic changes on the situation.
Opened in October 2013, a few weeks after the Lampedusa tragedy, the Milan reception centers have so far received a total of 15,000 asylum seekers, most of them Syrians and Eritreans. Those who reach the centers in average stay five days and are always replaced by others. Their capacity is for 1,200 persons at a time but usually accommodate more than that number.
Mistreatment of refugees in Israel doesn't stop at border
Earlier this month, 21 Eritrean asylum seekers, including a 14-year-old child and two pregnant women, spent over a week trapped between fences on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Egyptian border. As the temperatures soared, one of the women reportedly miscarried. The group was not provided with any shelter; the "most moral army in the world" gave the refugees only small amounts of water and scraps of cloth to protect themselves from the sun.
Messages of Gratitude Reach WCC for its Support to Pastoral Letter from Asmara
It was learned in Geneva that the Secretary General of the World Council of Churches (WCC), a powerful global body with 349-member churches has been receiving messages of gratitude from important quarters for its strong statement in support of the pastoral letter of four Eritrean Catholic bishops issued in Asmara on 25 May 2014.
Libya allows 400 Eritreans to stay
TRIPOLI — Libya said on Thursday that it has granted some 400 Eritreans permission to stay after human rights group warnings that refugees and asylum seekers among them risked abuse if forcibly repatriated.
"The relevant authorities have begun taking steps to welcome and integrate these clandestine Eritrean immigrants to prevent them being exploited or put in danger by human traffickers," a foreign ministry statement said.
The ministry said Libya would "ensure them a decent life and access to employment suitable to their professional abilities."