Italy: Forcible return / fear of torture or other ill-treatment

Index Number: EUR 30/001/2009
Date Published: 5 February 2009
Categories: Italy

Over 1,600 migrants who have arrived over the past weeks on the island of Lampedusa are detained there, according to an official statement of 23 January 2009 by the Minister of Interior, who added that 150 migrants had already been returned from Lampedusa since 1 January. All those detained are at risk of being forcibly returned without access to a fair procedure for examining their asylum claims or the opportunity to challenge their deportation. If returned, they would be at risk of torture and other serious human rights violations.