EC threatens Italy with legal action over treatment of migrants
Source: Reuters
EC threatens Italy with legal action over treatment of migrants
European leaders to discuss migration after video showing migrants standing naked while being sprayed for scabies stirs outrage
Reuters
theguardian.com, Wednesday 18 December 2013 13.24 EST
The European Commission threatened Italy with legal action on Wednesday for possible breaches of the EU's rules on granting asylum, over its treatment of migrants arriving from Africa on the island of Lampedusa.
A video showing migrants standing naked in the cold while being sprayed for scabies at a detention centre stirred outrage in Italy on Tuesday.
Hundreds of people have died in recent months as refugees seek to enter the European Union by boat through Lampedusa, an Italian island south of Sicily, putting the EU's migration policies in the spotlight.
EU leaders are due to discuss migration at a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, in response to the high number of migrants drowning in recent months.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/18/ec-threatens-italy-legal-action-migrants
