An association working on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, promoting solidarity between migrants and the local community, has denounced conditions in the migrant hotspot there. The association says that the hotspot has "inadequate hygiene and sanitary conditions," and lacks "the necessities to guarantee the basic well-being of people."
The association Forum Lampedusa Solidale said on December 5 that it has sent a letter to the authorities guaranteeing the rights of minors and detained people, the prefecture of Agrigento and the company managing the migrant hotspot on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa to denounce what it described as "inadequate conditions" for migrants residing in the facility.
The Forum said it is "aware of continuing inadequate hygienic-sanitary conditions in the island's hotspot and the frequent lack of basic necessities to guarantee the primary well-being of the person."
The association has worked since 2015 to promote solidarity and the respect of human rights for the most vulnerable categories of people.
'Inadequate spaces and limited access to services'
The letter was sent to the Italian authority for children and adolescents, the National guarantor for the rights of people deprived of personal freedom, the local prefecture of Agrigento, and to Gian Lorenzo Marinese, the president of the Treviso based company managing Lampedusa's hotspot.
The Forum stressed that "people are often forced into inadequate spaces, to sleep outside exposed to bad weather and have limited access to services for personal hygiene. A few dogs have been present at the facility for a while and some people, including minors, have been attacked, reporting injuries. These incidents have been reported in articles that have been recently published online."
Appeal to safeguard rights
The letter went on to say that the facility was often overcroweded and that as it had been built as a temporary measure, it should not have started to be seen as a semi-permanent solution, whose life-span was being constantly extended.
The association said that the hotspot was "inadequate to safeguard the rights and dignity of people, especially the most vulnerable." They said that there was an absence of proper hygiene and sanitary conditions, particularly regarding the toilets on the pier at Molo Favaloro, for which the company managing the hotspot is also responsible.
The Forum demanded that the managing company "comply with its duties and start thinking about the condition in which the most vulnerable, including minors are living, sometimes for long periods of time, on the island of Lampedusa."