Italy’s interior ministry decided this week to temporarily close a refugee detention centre, known as a “hotspot” in Lampedusa, a Mediterranean island between Sicily and Tunisia.
The decision follows protests and a fire that took place at the centre on March 8. The European Union set up five hotspots each in Italy and Greece, conceived as transit centres where migrants and refugees arriving on European coasts should be formally identified, registered, and channelled on to other centres shortly afterwards – normally within 48 hours – to either wait for deportation or continue with their asylum application.
Migrants and refugees protested the dire living conditions they are forced to endure as they are instead detained in the centre for weeks, and asked to be immediately transferred.
The authorities’ decision came after NGOs and civil society organisations sounded alarm bells about conditions in the centre, which has seen several similar protests in the past.
At the end of January, about 40 people had sewn their mouths with white thread, while a Tunisian man committed suicide after a month in detention.
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