U.N. urges EU countries to share migrant responsibility with Italy

Record ID: 897950

  • Title: U.N. urges EU countries to share migrant responsibility with Italy
  • Date: 3rd July 2017
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (JULY 3, 2017) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS BUILDING UNITED NATIONS OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) SPECIAL ENVOY FOR THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN, VINCENT COCHETEL, DURING NEWS BRIEFING VARIOUS OF UNHCR REPORT ON MIGRATION TO, IN AND FROM LIBYA WITH TITLE READING (English) "MIXED MIGRATION TRENDS IN LIBYA: CHANGING DYNAMICS AND PROTECTION CHALLENGES" JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNHCR SPECIAL ENVOY FOR THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN, VINCENT COCHETEL, SAYING: "In order to protect the search and rescue at sea regime in the international waters, states or private operators rescuing people should not face problems with disembarkation. So we need to have a predictable mechanism in place. And we need some compromise and some international cooperation on that. It is unrealistic to think that Italy should have the responsibility to disembark everyone, this is not sustainable, this is not tenable. So we need to have other countries joining Italy and sharing that responsibility." JOURNALIST READING REPORT (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNHCR SPECIAL ENVOY FOR THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN, VINCENT COCHETEL, SAYING: "We need also to disrupt the wider smuggling economy of Libya. A number of countries in the world are purchasing smuggled oil from Libya, from the very same communities that protect the traffickers, so again, Europe and other countries need to be coherent and stop the smuggling, the purchase of smuggled oil from Libya. Finally, we need to do more in terms of naming, shaming and freezing the assets and imposing travel bans on some of the known traffickers in Libya." UNITED NATIONS BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 17th July 2017 13:18
  • Keywords: U.N. high commissioner refugees UNHCR Italy Libya Mediterranean EU
  • Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016O5YREV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:The U.N. refugee agency called on European Union states to show more solidarity with Italy on Monday (July 3) in processing migrants and would-be refugees rescued at sea trying to reach Europe through the setting up of a "regional disembarkation mechanism".
    It also urged the Security Council and European Union to impose sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans on known traffickers linked to Libya, the main transit point for those seeking European shores.
    Migrants continue to pour into Libya daily from East and West Africa. Some 84,830 people have reached Italy by sea this year, a 19% rise against the same period in 2016, according to the special envoy for the central Mediterranean Vincent Cochetel.
    Other European Union states must share with Italy the responsibility for processing migrants and would-be refugees rescued at sea, Cochetel said. This would prevent European authorities or private search and rescue teams from facing problems when trying to disembark passengers. This was done with refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in a massive exodus that began in late 1970s and continued until the 1990s.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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