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Tag: detention centres

  • UN panel says Israel operating ‘de facto policy of torture’

    The United Nations committee on torture says there is evidence that Israel is operating a “de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture”.

    The committee regularly reviews the records of all countries which have signed the convention against torture, taking testimony from their governments, and from human rights groups.

    During Israel’s review both Israeli and Palestinian rights groups gave harrowing details about conditions in Israeli detention centres. It is alleged that thousands of Palestinians have been detained by Israel since the Hamas attacks of October 7th 2023.

    Under Israel’s laws on administrative detention and on Unlawful Combatants – suspects who cannot be classed as prisoner of war – they can be held for long periods without access to a lawyer or family members.

    Many Palestinian families say they have waited months to even find out that a loved has been detained, amounting, the UN committee said, to “enforced disappearance”.

    The committee was particularly critical of Israel’s reported use of the Unlawful Combatants law to detain whole groups of Palestinians, including children, pregnant women, and the elderly.

    But it is the reported conditions in detention which make the grimmest reading in the committee’s conclusions, published today.

    Palestinians, the evidence suggests, are regularly deprived of food and water, and subjected to severe beatings, attacks by dogs, electrocution, water boarding, and sexual violence. Some are allegedly permanently shackled, denied access to a toilet, and forced to wear diapers.

    The committee concluded that such treatment “amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity”. It said evidence of a “de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture” by Israel was one of the acts which constitute the crime of genocide under international law.

    Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

    One committee member, Peter Vedel Kessing of Denmark, said he and his colleagues were “deeply appalled” by what they heard. Committee members also said they were very concerned at the lack of investigations or prosecutions into allegations of torture. They called on Israel to launch independent investigations, and to ensure those responsible, including senior military officers, are held accountable.

    Israel, which has long accused the UN of bias against it, did not comment publicly today on the committee’s findings, but during the committee hearings its ambassador, Daniel Meron, described the allegations of torture as “disinformation”.

    He said that Israel was “committed to upholding its obligations in line with our moral values and principles, even in the face of the challenges posed by a terrorist organisation”.

    In its conclusions, the UN committee took care to unequivocally condemn the Hamas attack of October 2023, and acknowledged the security challenges Israel faces.

    But it also warned that violations of international law by one side did not justify the other side doing the same. Under the convention, to which Israel is a party, the prohibition on torture is absolute: it is not allowed under any circumstances.

    Israel’s domestic law is less clear however, suggesting that the convention only applies to Israeli territory, and not to the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank – an interpretation that many international lawyers dispute.

    The findings come amid increasing pressure on Israel over its human rights record. On Friday in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Office said the killing by Israeli soldiers of two Palestinians in the West Bank looked like a “summary execution”. Video of the killing showed the two men with their hands up, apparently surrendering to Israeli forces.

    And UN aid agencies say conditions for people in the Gaza strip remain dire, despite the ceasefire. Thousands of families are facing the winter cold and rain in tents, they warn, not enough aid supplies are getting in, and Israeli air strikes against what Israel says are Hamas targets continue.

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  • One year on, Italian migrant camps in Albania near-empty

    One year after Italy opened migrant camps in Albania intended to hold people intercepted at sea, the legally contested centres lie almost empty.

    Numerous NGOs have criticised living conditions inside the camps, and Italian courts have struck down several attempted deportations to Albania.

    But as the European Union discusses the possibility of creating its own “return hubs”, Italy’s far-right government appears committed to sending migrants to offshore detention centres in Albania.

    – ‘Very concerning’ –

    On October 16, 2024, two detention centres opened in the port of Shengjin and the village of Gjader, located in northern Albania but managed by Rome.

    That same day, dozens of cameras filmed the arrival of the first Italian naval ship carrying 16 men from Egypt and Bangladesh, arrested at sea as they tried to reach the EU.

    Their identities were first verified at the port. Then they were sent to the Gjader camp, where they could wait for an asylum claim to be processed if they lodged one.

    But very quickly, four of the men were identified as “vulnerable” and sent back to Italy.

    Within two days, the remaining 12 men would be sent back too, after an Italian court ruled against their detention.

    The court cited disagreements over the list of “safe” origin countries created by the Italian government, which included nations that do not meet European legal criteria.

    A year later, Italian judges have repeatedly rejected deportations, slowing plans to place up to 3,000 migrants in the camp.

    According to legal expert Gianfranco Schiavone, a report by Italian NGOs found that in all, 132 people were sent to the Albanian centres.

    Of them, only 32 have been repatriated, although details on how many were returned to Italy or sent to another country are unclear.

    It is also hard to obtain official confirmation about the programme details and camp conditions — the Albanian authorities referred AFP’s query to the Italians, who did not answer specific questions about the scheme.

    “The situation is very concerning due to the extreme difficulty for detainees to exercise their fundamental rights in general,” Schiavone said.

    According to a report by a group of NGOs, at least nine people have attempted suicide while being held in the camps, and there have been 21 cases of self-mutilation.

    – ‘The Italian experiment’ –

    Amid ongoing legal battles, Italy plans to use the camps as detention facilities for people awaiting deportation after already being deemed to be “illegal” migrants by Italian authorities.

    This repurposing will also likely be blocked by European courts, Schiavone said.

    “There is no provision for the administrative detention of foreigners awaiting expulsion in Italy to be carried out in a non-EU country.”

    But this could change in a few months if the “return regulation”, currently under debate in the European Parliament, is adopted: the framework would open the way to the creation of migrant centres outside the EU’s borders.

    Since her election in 2022, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has made fighting irregular immigration a key policy of her government.

    The legalisation of Meloni’s experiment would represent a significant political win for her far-right Fratelli d’Italia (FDI) party.

    But Filippo Furri from the Italian NGO ARCI said that he hopes the EU reconsiders this approach and instead deems it “illegal or economically unsustainable”.

    Meanwhile, the risk for people migrating is that “this Italian experiment spreads to other countries”, he said.

    During a visit to Albania in May, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed his desire to create “return hubs”.

    But his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama was reluctant to open another programme in his country and said the Italian model “takes time to test”.

    “If it works, it can be replicated. But not in Albania, elsewhere in the region,” Rama said.

    bme-as-cbo/al/cc

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  • Thousands of rejected Germany asylum seekers said to be in hiding

    Tens of thousands of planned deportations of rejected asylum seekers from Germany are being cancelled due to mass disappearances and the sudden presentation of medical certificates, according to the country’s top police officer.

    “Last year alone, we had about 53,800 deportations registered with us by the states. Around 33,600 of these measures were cancelled before the person was even handed over to us,” Dieter Romann told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, which was made available to media in advance on Saturday.

    Behind the cancellations, according to Romann, is the fact that many of those required to leave the country went into hiding on the day of departure or presented medical certificates at short notice that prevented their deportation.

    “Unfortunately, that is the reality: behind every number lies a huge amount of effort. And as long as so many measures have to be cancelled in advance, the gap between those required to leave the country and those who actually do so will remain large.”

    Romann is particularly critical of the lack of detention centres for deportees in Germany.

    “When there are 226,000 people required to leave the country but fewer than 800 detention centres, the state police and the federal police will continue to be unable to detain individuals when they are found, even if the legal requirements for doing so are met,” he said.

    This means that those affected are bound to go into hiding, the official added.

    In its coalition agreement, the government that took office in May committed itself to increasing the number of deportations of rejected asylum seekers.

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