During the two years before the change in policy, 47,000 people sought asylum in Italy. It seems enormous by Australian standards, but 580,000 sought refuge in Germany and about 300,000 in Britain.

But of course Belusconi has changed this.

According to the United Nations, they no longer flee hunger, war and persecution because Silvio Berlusconi’s Government has enacted its anti-immigration manifesto. Italy no longer shepherds stricken refugee boats to safety but sends them back to Tripoli, where hundreds of thousands had boarded smugglers’ rickety boats for the final, terrible leg from sub-Saharan Africa.

Just weeks ago, 80 boat people found distressed and floating near Lampedusa by the Italian military were transferred to a Libyan cargo ship and returned to Tripoli. They were not asked why they fled or where they came from. Libya is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention and has no functioning national asylum system. (SMH)