Following the medical emergency involving a Nepalese citizen in Trieste, the Italian Consortium of Solidarity (ICS) has denounced what it describes as the suspension of migrants' rights, a claim rejected by the regional councillor for security.
"The suspension of asylum seekers' rights in Trieste puts lives at risk," was stated by the Italian Consortium of Solidarity, Refugee Office NGO in a note dated January 10, explaining that "today a 43-year-old Nepalese citizen, an asylum seeker, was rescued after suffering cardiac arrest inside the warehouses of Trieste's Porto Vecchio," an area where migrants find makeshift shelter.
ICS: 'Clear institutional responsibilities'
"The man, who had been experiencing severe chest pain for days, had received an initial medical check at a day centre and was unsuccessfully trying to start the asylum procedure," ICS said.
"Yesterday, the man tried to present himself at police headquarters but was unable to access the offices. With his health further deteriorating, he returned to the Porto Vecchio area, where today the situation worsened dramatically. Faced with increasingly intense pain, some compatriots called emergency services."
According to the Consortium, what happened "cannot be dismissed as an unforeseeable event."
"We call for the immediate cessation of practices that in effect deny rights guaranteed by law. Any further delay makes episodes like this not accidental, but attributable to clear institutional responsibilities," the note stressed.
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'No political scavenging against law enforcement'
"Linking the illness of a Nepalese asylum seeker to the responsibility of law enforcement amounts to political scavenging," said Friuli Venezia Giulia regional councillor for security Pierpaolo Roberti in a statement responding to the ICS allegations.
"Over the years, ICS has accustomed us to acting more like an extra-parliamentary left-wing party than an association providing services on behalf of prefectures, but now it is going too far," Roberti commented, concluding: "If it has so little trust in institutions, it should refuse the substantial monthly payments it receives and put its unworthy arguments to the test in an electoral arena."
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