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country. The Special Commissioner considered that efforts should now be directed at preventing
and containing immigration at its origin. According to the Prefect of Brindisi, after observing
that the routes used in the area by organized crime for cigarette smuggling were the same as
those for migrant smuggling, it was decided to take a coordinated stand against both forms of
crime.
21.
In the port of Lampedusa, the Special Rapporteur saw how makeshift were the craft in
which a group of immigrants had arrived at the island on 2 June (163 individuals, according to
the Lampedusa CPTA register). The Coast Guard explained that the immigrants were brought in
boats, but that halfway through the journey they were forced to continue in small craft with the
aid of nothing more than a compass and guidance from fishermen. Bad conditions at sea and the
inaccuracy of their navigational aids could drag a 12-hour crossing out to up to 4 days. The
immigrants travel with very little water, crowded together and unable to move. Radar detection
of craft like this depends on their shape, which means that rescue operations sometimes arrive
too late.
22.
The Special Rapporteur visited Roma-Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport. This airport
is used by 24 million passengers a year and a third of its air traffic is outside the Schengen area.
The statistics provided by the airport authority show a change in the places where clandestine
immigration originates; flows from Central Africa are declining, while arrivals from
Latin America and Eastern Europe, and Romania in particular, appear to have increased.
23.
The Counterfeit Passports Section at the airport reported that when they detected a
counterfeit travel document, the bearer was reported and expelled from the country. In such
cases the consular authorities of the country of origin would not be informed. Ordinary border
controls were supplemented by additional controls at the entrance to transit areas, thus reducing
problems stemming from the destruction of documents and bogus transit. It was out-of-date
residence permits rather than document authenticity that gave rise to most problems. In order to
prevent entries of this type, border checks included screening (2,192 persons were turned away
in 2003 and 854 between January and May 2004). In these cases, again, the competent consular
authorities would not be informed. Some consuls, during the meeting in Rome, expressed
discomfort at not being informed immediately when individuals were turned back at the border
but only being notified in writing after deportation had taken place.
24.
Illegal immigrants wait in the airport transit areas for expulsion orders to be carried out.
It was reported that they generally had to wait 24 hours to be put on a plane, with the exception
of flights to Gabon where there was a wait of several days. The Special Rapporteur, however,
interviewed a 28-year-old Filipino woman who had been waiting for four days to be deported
after it was discovered that she was carrying a false passport. The Special Rapporteur spoke to
several people at the airport who were going to be deported (an average of 15 per day), and was
surprised by the number who said that they were Palestinians expecting a transfer to another
European Union member State on the basis of the system established by the Convention
Determining the State Responsible for Examining Applications for Asylum Lodged in One of the
Member States of the European Communities (Dublin Convention), of 15 June 1990 and
Council Regulation (EC) No. 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 establishing the criteria and
mechanisms for determining the member State responsible for examining an asylum application
lodged in one of the member States by a third-country national.