REPORTING. In Lampedusa, migrants are parked in camps, in “unlivable” conditions, according to a local church volunteer

Sunday, April 9 for the feast of Easter, Pope Francis will give his blessing and his Urbi et Orbi message. He will call again for peace in Ukraine, without forgetting the refugees of the whole world and in particular those who are locked up in camps and die in the Mediterranean Sea. The Italian island of Lampedusa is the first gateway to Europe. Located some 130 kilometers from the Tunisian coast, it has become an ultra-militarized zone where migrants are parked in a camp.

The army keeps watch and keeps watch in Lampedusa. Soldiers are even on duty with their truck on the rocks overlooking the refugee center, in case a migrant tries to escape from the camp. At the entrance, we are asked for our papers, but it will be impossible to obtain authorization to enter. Even volunteers leaving the camp are not allowed to speak, otherwise their NGOs will no longer be allowed to work there. Enzo Riso is a fisherman, he is a volunteer for the Church of Lampedusa and therefore knows the camp well. “It’s unlivable inside, unlivable”he says. “Their excuse is that there are 3,000 people in this camp instead of 300. But it’s completely dilapidated: the toilets, everything… They sleep outside. It’s indescribable, and nothing works !”

“I can’t even understand how we can do this: these people come here and we lock them up. They are under arrest!”

Enzo Riso, volunteer for the Church of Lampedusa

franceinfo

The only refugees we can approach are in the day hospital. Among them, there is this young Cameroonian, three months pregnant. She discovers her baby’s heart on an ultrasound. With her, another 17-year-old Cameroonian translates to her what the Italian doctor says. He has a scar that still hurts him. However, it dates from two years ago when he passed through Niger to reach Europe and was attacked in a camp. But stop, it is forbidden to speak to them.

Law enforcement is everywhere on the island. The parish priest of Lampedusa, Don Carmelo, even counted them. “You know, in Lampedusa we are about 6,000 inhabitants”he explains, “But here between the army, the riflemen and the police, there are about 1,000 men on duty. They rotate every 15 days because what they see here is too anxiety-provoking. But so of the 6,000 that we are on the island, 1,000 are law enforcement!” And Don Carmello recalls the message of the Pope who came to Lampedusa just ten years ago: to see the other not as a stranger, but as a brother.