評論
打印
Italy's illegal immigrants
意大利非法移民
Tidal wave
海嘯
More horrific deaths in the Mediterranean
地中海發生聳人聽聞的慘案
FEW images of immigrant traffic across the Mediterranean have been as harrowing. Italian TV viewers this week saw the lifeless bodies of 45 African men being lifted, like animal carcasses, from the hold of a fishing boat in which they had tried to reach Europe. Others on the vessel said the men begged to be let out but, for fear of it capsizing, they were forcibly kept below and suffocated.
每次發生在地中海的移民慘案都令人異常痛心。這周，意大利電視臺播報了一組新聞。54個非洲人乘坐一艘漁船想前往歐洲，卻不想在船上命喪黃泉。船上的人說這些人祈求將他們放出來，但是為了防止船只顛覆，他們被關在艙底窒息而死。
Around 5,000 people were picked up by patrol boats on June 28th-29th, the busiest weekend of the year so far. On July 2nd another 70 migrants were reported lost at sea in a separate incident. All this comes after Italy began a search-and-rescue effort called Operation Mare Nostrum, in response to the tragedy last October in which 360 people drowned off Lampedusa, an island half-way between Sicily and the North African coast. On July 1st the police arrested five Eritreans who prosecutors said were part of a ring, with bases in Sudan, Libya and Italy, that arranged the latest ill-fated journey. In a wiretapped phone call, one was heard disowning responsibility for their deaths because “it was their fate”.
6月28、29日兩天，巡邏船逮捕了大約5000人，這是今年截至目前最忙碌的一周。7月2日，據報道70個移民在另一場事故中葬身海底。這些都是在意大利開始稱作《地中海運營條例》的搜救工作之后發生的。該項搜救工作是針對去年十月份360人在藍佩杜薩島（意屬地中海島嶼，位于西西里島和北非海岸之間）溺亡的事件提出的。7月1日，警察逮捕了5名厄立特里亞人。其檢察官說這些人屬于一個組織，基地在蘇丹、利比亞和意大利，就是他們策劃了近期的這些慘案。警察通過竊聽器聽到其中一個人說否認將他人致死的罪行，因為“這就是他們的命運”。
The latest horrors produced more agonised hand-wringing, but no sign that Italian or European Union leaders are any closer to agreeing what should be done. Mare Nostrum completed a U-turn for a country that until 2011 blocked immigrants at sea, returning many to Libya, their main point of departure. Some Italians believe this policy deterred people from attempting the perilous crossing, whereas Mare Nostrum encourages them. Matteo Salvini, leader of the xenophobic Northern League, said Italy's prime minister, Matteo Renzi, and his interior minister, Angelino Alfano, were “stained with blood”.
最近的恐怖事件引起了更多令人苦惱的絕望情緒，但是意大利或歐盟領導人對應做的措施沒有表現出明確的贊同意向。地中海國家的態度有了180度的大轉彎，直至2011年，它們攔截了海上的移民，大多數都遣返回到了利比亞——人們主要想逃離的國家。有些意大利人認為這項政策阻止人們嘗試這項危險的越境行動，另一方面又在鼓勵他們。排外北方戰線聯盟的領導人Matteo Salvini表示意大利總理Matteo Renzi和司法部長安杰利諾·阿爾法諾“雙手沾滿了鮮血”。
It is true that, since Operation Mare Nostrum began, arrivals in Italy have soared (more than 65,000 so far this year, against around 8,000 in the first half of 2013). But Greece also saw a large rise, of 142%, in the first four months of 2014, as fighting in Syria intensified. The “cruel to be kind” argument for returning migrants has become harder to sustain as Libya lurches from dictatorship to anarchy.
自從地中海運營條例開始投入實施，意大利的移民人數確是激增（2013年的上半年只有大約8000人，而今年目前已經超過65000人）。而在敘利亞內戰激烈進行時，希臘的移民人數也是大幅上漲，2014年的前四個月增長率高達142%。隨著利比亞獨裁政權解體陷入無政府狀態，就遣返移民的“善良就是殘忍”的話題很難得到人們的認同。
In ever harsher tones, Italian officials have protested that the EU is not helping enough. Mr Alfano has threatened unspecified reprisals if Cecilia Malmstrom, the European commissioner responsible, skips a meeting in Rome to launch Italy's six-month EU presidency. But the real obstacles to burden-sharing lie not in Brussels but in national capitals. Italian efforts to put immigration at the top of the agenda for last month's EU summit came to nought.
意大利官員以發表了更激烈的言辭，抗議歐盟幫助不夠。阿爾法諾曾威脅歐盟稱如果歐洲委員會的負責人馬姆斯壯不出席在羅馬舉行的意大利6個月的歐盟輪值主席國的就任會議的話，將對其進行報復。但是真正的分擔負擔的障礙并非來自布魯塞爾，而是在國家資本。上個月歐盟峰會上，意大利將移民提上日程的頭號事件的努力無濟于事。
Italy's partners argue that they deal with proportionately far more asylum-seekers. In the fourth quarter of 2013 Germany received proportionally three times as many applications as Italy. But none of the others is mounting, for humanitarian reasons, a naval operation comparable to Operation Mare Nostrum. The cost, initially put at 1.5m ($2m) a month, has exploded to 9.5m. As it grows, the Italian government can expect to come under mounting pressure from public opinion to use its EU presidency to force the club to lend it a hand.
意大利的伙伴們認為他們自己做出的努力比尋求政治庇護者的努力要多得多。2013年的第四個季度，德國收到的移民申請是意大利的三倍。但是出于人道主義，沒有哪個國家的政策可以與《地中海運營條例》相比。搜救費用從最開始的每月150萬歐元（折合200萬美元）激增到950萬歐元。隨著費用上漲，意大利政府迫于壓力希望能利用擔任歐盟輪值主席國的權利強迫其他國家向自己伸出援手。譯者：毛慧 校對：邵夏沁
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