[La Belle France24] This week in Italia an official decree paved the way for the creation of 11 more repatriation centres capable of housing 1,600 people pending deportation, on top of the four currently in operation.The country is sheltering more than 176,000 asylum-seekers, with about 45,000
To cope with the influx -- and to deter others from coming -- Interior Minister Marco Minniti pushed through parliament last month a plan to increase migrant housing and provide new resources for expelling those who have come only to seek work.
The plan includes creating fast-track asylum appeal courts for the roughly 60 percent of
Between January and April, Italia expelled 6,242 people who did not have the right to stay, an increase of 24 percent on the same period last year.
But the figures include more than just people rescued from the overcrowded boats coming daily from Libya who have failed in their asylum requests.
Many were sent home directly because of repatriation agreements, such as those with Tunisia, Egypt or Morocco, while others were expelled after overstaying their student or tourism visas.
But despite Italia's new efforts to deter migrant arrivals, many say they won't give up trying.
"If they expel me, I'll come back afterwards. I say this honestly -- there is nothing for me back there," said one woman at Ponte Galeria Repatriation Center.
For Luigi Manconi, a senator in the ruling Democratic Party, such centres have never functioned as well as intended, and often detain people who should not find themselves behind bars.
Many of the Nigerians at the centre, for example, were victims of prostitution networks. "They should be being helped, not incarcerated," he said.
| Had they not tried to get to Europe, they would not have been swept up by the black slavers, and so long as they are in Europe, they reman at risk. It appears the safest thing is to send them home. |
'Returning from Germany' online portal to boost number refugees leaving voluntarily
[DW] A report from the Office for Migration and Refugees has shown a significant decrease in the number of asylum-seekers leaving Germany voluntarily. A new online portal now aims to make returning "the better option."
According to IOM, 54,096 asylum-seekers voluntarily left Germany in 2016. By the end of April 2017, around 11,000 had left.
In a bid to increase the number of people choosing to leave Germany, the country's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and the IOM on Thursday launched www.returningfromgermany.de, a new online portal providing information for those interested in voluntarily returning to their home country.
As well as offering an insight into important factors such as medical provisions and the current labor market in the relevant home country, the Returning From Germany site also details both what financial schemes are offered to people of a particular nationality while in Germany as well as reintegration programs available in their homeland.
The site is currently in German and English but will be available in the coming weeks in the languages spoken in the main countries of origin, including Arabic, French and Balkan state languages.
With around 30,000 rejected asylum-seekers currently required to leave Germany, Berlin is keen to encourage more people to leave voluntarily - sometimes even before a ruling has been made on their applications to stay.
"Those who have no prospect of staying in Germany must leave as swiftly as possible," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.
Last year saw the deportation of 25,375 failed asylum-seekers, an increase of 21.5 percent compared to 2015. But paying
According to Schröder, however, in order for government efforts to encourage voluntary returns to succeed, "People who refuse to leave the country voluntarily must be consistently sent back to their home countries."
"Only then will voluntary return actually be the better option."