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ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has deeply affected the configuration of border regimes worldwide, resulting in further selective restrictions to individual cross border mobilities. The Mediterranean space, where sea-crossings have been a structural part of migration for over two decades, has been targeted by multidimensional and transversal re-bordering policies: from externalization to search and rescue, from asylum to detention. The “unsafe harbour strategy” and the resulting implementation of offshore isolation, de facto detention, on quarantine ships were key components of these re-bordering policies. These strategies have prevented a number of potential refugees from accessing asylum, thereby reinforcing the so-called hotspot approach. Combining traditional qualitative research methods with digital ethnographic research on “quarantine ships” in Italy, this paper explores migrants' reactions and responses to border enforcement via offshore isolation. By focusing on the voices emerging from quarantine ships, and on the subsequent interlocution between different actors and stakeholders, we highlight the emergence of various forms, tools and strategies of debordering. These are the outcome of the ongoing interaction between confined migrants, civil society stakeholders and the “onshore” world. We eventually discuss the implications of these interlocutions for research on the interplay between bordering and de-bordering in migration management and control.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 See also https://frontex.europa.eu.
2 The estimated cost of Euro 36,000 per day for each ship, and Euro 25 euro per migrant, coupled with a total capacity of up to 900 persons, is remarkably high, compared with the ordinary reception system on land. See Nicolosi (Citation2021).
3 Joint ministerial decree no. 150: www.immigrazione.biz/legge.php?id=1005.
4 Head of Civil Protection Decree no. 1287: www.latrexentaonline.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/attività-emergenziali-sorveglianza-sanitaria-migranti.pdf.
5 ‘Quarantine ships’ were provided by the following companies: Tirrenia (Rubattino, Moby Zaza), Grandi Navi Veloci – GNV (Azzurra, Allegra, Excellent, Rhapsody, Splendid, Suprema ships) and Società di Navigazione Alta Velocità – SNAV (Aurelia, Adriatico ships).
6 See Creta (Citation2020).
7 Progetto In Limine (ASGI), Risposta ricevuta da prefettura di Agrigento in data 4.5.2021, in relazione all’Istanza di accesso civico a informazioni relative al centro Hotspot di Lampedusa e ai cittadini stranieri ivi presenti, https://inlimine.asgi.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Questura-di-Agrigento-Hotspot-di-Lampedusa-gennaio-marzo-2021.pdf.
8 Following this source, the 2021 distribution by national group is as follows: Tunisia (23%), Egypt (12%), Bangladesh (12%), Iran (6%), Ivory Coast (6%), Iraq (4%), Guinea Conakry (4%), Eritrea (4%), Syria (3%), Morocco (3%). See http://www.libertaciviliimmigrazione.dlci.interno.gov.it/it/documentazione/statistica/cruscotto-statistico-giornaliero.
9 UNHCR data about sea arrivals to Italy at https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean/location/5205.
10 Interview with T.P, Protection Officer in Sicily, September 2021.
11 These included the Italian Ombudsman for the Rights of Detainees, the UNHCR, the Italian Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, ASGI (Association of Juridical Studies on Migration), Borderline Sicily, LasciateciEntrare Campaign, ARCI “Porco Rosso.”
12 According to international maritime law, a rescue operation is concluded only after the disembarkation of survivors in a Place of Safety.
14 On a European Court of Human Rights’ webinar on ‘Detention during Pandemic’ (May 2021), Mariniello critically assessed the impact of state measures to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on the fundamental rights of detainees. These include quarantine ships.
15 This identified eight categories (cf. Campesi Citation2020): a) custody areas near borders, (b) police stations, (c) facilities managed by penitentiary administrations, (d) ad hoc facilities, (e) house arrest, (f) international areas and so-called transit zones, (g) gathering centres and (h) hospitals (Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Citation1998, para 33).
16 The WGAD itself identified four possible types of detainees, based on the reasons for their deprivation of liberty. In this framework, people detained on quarantine ships could be located between two types, those who were denied access to the territory (a) and those who were intercepted following an irregular access to the territory (b).
17 Particularly significant in this regard is the case of asylum seekers hosted in ordinary reception facilities and then transferred to the ships after testing positive (Denaro Citation2021a).
18 Interview with E., October 2020.
19 Interview with N., October 2020.
20 Field notes, October 2020.
21 Such as ARCI “Porco Rosso.”
22 See also Watch the Med and Alarm Phone websites, https://watchthemed.net and https://alarmphone.org/en/.
23 The LasciateCIEntrare campaign, whose name literally means “let us access” to detention centres, was launched in 2011 after the Italian government’s decision to deny access to detention centers to the press. The campaign mainly carries out monitoring and advocacy activities.
24 Interviewees were mostly from Tunisia, and then from Ivory Coast, Congo, Gambia, Bangladesh. Four were asylum seekers who had been transferred from reception centres to quarantine ships.
25 Interview, with U., October 2020.
26 Interview with Y., October 2020.
27 Interview with U., October 2020.
28 Interview with O., October 2020.
29 Interview with A.P, Watch The Med Alarm Phone.
30 Interview with Y.A., LasciateCIEntrare, October 2020.
31 Interview with U.I, October 2020.
32 Interview with C.L., president of Doctors Without Borders, October 2020.
33 Interview with M.K., member of the Tunisian Parliament, October 2020.
34 Detention measures and expulsions of unaccompanied minors are forbidden by both the Italian and European legal framework. Italian Act 47/17 provides for the immediate transfer of self-declared minors into adequate and dedicated reception facilities even before age assessment is completed.
36 Borderline Sicilia (Citation2020).
37 See also ASGI (Citation2021).
38 See also ASGI (Citation2020).