07/02/2014 Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG), rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will travel successively to Rome, Lampedusa and Trapani (Sicily) for a fact-finding visit on 10-13 February 2014, in connection with the preparation of a report on “The arrival of mixed migratory flows to Italian coastal areas”.
In Rome, the rapporteur is due to meet in particular the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Integration, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, the Italian delegation to PACE, as well as representatives of the UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration, the Italian Refugee Council, Amnesty International, the Italian Red Cross and other NGOs. He will also visit the Italian Central Command in Chief of the Marine.
Mr Chope will then make an on-board visit to a marine unit involved in the Mare Nostrum operation off the coast of Lampedusa, before reaching the island in order to meet with local authorities, the mayor of Lampedusa, and representatives of civil society. In Trapani, in Sicily, he will also visit a detention centre for irregular migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, with UNHCR representatives.