ROME (Reuters) – Migrants attempting to cross from Italy to France at the Ventimiglia border point along the Mediterranean coast are being mistreated by French police and offered little assistance by Italian authorities, according to a report by the charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday.
Migration has historically caused tension in Franco-Italian relations, particularly as part of a broader political dispute within the European Union on how to address individuals attempting to reach the region, and with increasing arrivals from North Africa.
The Italian interior ministry declined to provide a comment regarding the report, titled “Denied Passage”, while the French interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters via email.
The MSF report stated that French law enforcement “systematically” returns migrants who have entered illegally back to Italy, often using violent tactics, inhumane treatment, and arbitrary detention.
It further highlighted that migrants are forcibly returned without consideration of their individual circumstances and that “vulnerable individuals such as minors, pregnant women, new mothers, the elderly, or severely ill individuals are not exempt from this practice”.
In the town of Ventimiglia, located near the French border, where hundreds, if not thousands, of migrants pass through each month, most of them sleep on the streets or in makeshift shelters.
MSF noted that access to adequate shelter, healthcare, clean water, and sanitary facilities is severely limited, adding that only two out of the four promised government accommodation facilities for migrants are currently operational.
MSF operates a mobile clinic in Ventimiglia.
Some migrants have resorted to sleeping in the town’s cemetery and utilizing its water fountains, but Ventimiglia’s rightist mayor, Flavio Di Muro, recently hired security guards to evict them from the premises.
(Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander in Paris and Angelo Amante in Rome; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Credit: The Star : News Feed
