BELGIUM/FILE-EU/MIGRANTS/AMNESTY EU must put up resources for Mediterranean migrant rescues, says Amnesty International

Record ID: 348808

  • Title: BELGIUM/FILE-EU/MIGRANTS/AMNESTY EU must put up resources for Mediterranean migrant rescues, says Amnesty International
  • Date: 30th September 2014
  • Summary: AGRIGENTO, SICILY, ITALY (FILE - OCTOBER 13, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RELATIVES CRYING ON PORT SIDE COFFINS BEING UNLOADED FROM SHIP AGRIGENTO, SICILY, ITALY (FILE - OCTOBER 14, 2013) (REUTERS) COFFIN BEING WHEELED PAST ROWS OF COFFINS COFFIN ON FLOOR WITH PHOTOGRAPH OF VICTIM
  • Embargoed: 15th October 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5RR5DD3FJ4JE5GE8KP7WX1K4E
  • Story Text: European Union countries must cough up "considerable" resources for migrant rescues in the Mediterranean Sea before Italy can discontinue its own mission, or else many lives will be lost, human rights group Amnesty International said in a report published on Tuesday (September 30).
    Civil war in Syria, forced military conscription in Eritrea, and the breakdown of order in Libya are pushing record numbers of refugees and migrants to try to flee across the Mediterranean to Europe, often in rickety boats. Many drown in the attempt.
    Titled: "Lives adrift: Refugees and migrants in peril in the central Mediterranean", the report calls upon the EU to take more action as the numbers of people who are drowning are only going up.
    "We've seen a significant increase in the number of deaths - over 2,000 in the last few months alone in central Mediterranean, despite the significant resources that the Italian Navy has put in to providing such rescue services in this area. This shows overwhelmingly the need for a much bigger EU-wide search-and-rescue operation," Europe and Central Asia Director of Amnesty International's International Secretariat John Dalhuisen told Reuters Television.
    In the report, which was presented to the European Parliament in Brussels, Amnesty urges the EU to change its asylum policy, which puts the onus on border countries like Italy and Malta to take in refugees, and eventually to establish safe ways for migrants and refugees to reach Europe.
    "It's clear that the European Union, one of the wealthiest, most prosperous spaces on the planet, takes infinitely less refugees than there are in other countries. The total number of Syrian refugees in Europe today since the outbreak of the conflict is 130,000. Turkey absorbed that many refugees over a single weekend a few weeks ago," Dalhuisen said.
    Italy has repeatedly called for more EU help to tackle the emergency as it plans to gradually phase out its Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) search-and-rescue mission, which has saved more than 90,000 lives in the past year.
    In August, the European Commission said its border control agency Frontex would reinforce Italy's mission, which costs about 9 million euros a month to operate, but members states have been slow to pledge money or vessels.
    Amnesty said Frontex would need more resources and a clear search-and-rescue mandate before it could replace Mare Nostrum.
    A record 3,072 migrants have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean in rickety boats so far this year, against some 2,360 in 2013, the International Organisation for Migration said on Monday.
    Italy's navy has been patrolling the waters between Africa and Sicily since October last year, when 366 people drowned after their boat capsized just a mile from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
    That tragedy drew international media attention and prompted Pope Francis to call for more global attention to the plight of migrants.
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