The odyssey of asylum-seekers and the failure of EU regulations
Less than 24 hours after setting foot on the pier of a southern Italian port, 60 people who’d survived a perilous boat journey from Libya were served with expulsion orders.
Some came from Bangladesh, others from Syria and Egypt. They’d been at sea for 10 hours in two dangerously overcrowded boats, carrying 258 people in all, when they were picked up by a rescue ship operated by the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Libyan coast, on Oct. 6.
Once on dry ground in Salerno, just south of Naples, they were taken to a migrant processing center and asked to sign papers. Now they gathered in front of the train station, tired and bewildered.
“Did you know what you were signing?” asked a volunteer from the Catholic charity Caritas. “No, no,” they replied in unison.
“Did somebody ask you if you want to apply for international protection?” the volunteer asked. Again they replied, “No.”
LACK OF INFORMATION
The situation is common for
