AFM carried out around seven migrant rescue operations per year

The Armed Forces of Malta conducted roughly seven migrant rescue operations every year over the last four years, figures provided to The Malta Independent on Sunday show.

For the period between 2014 and 2018, which covers the European migration crisis of 2015, the AFM said it handled 29 migrant rescue operations, and managed 36 medical evacuations.

In the same period, RCC Malta, which forms part of the International Maritime Organisation’s search and rescue (SAR) operations, has coordinated 265 cases in relation to migrants.

The newsroom requested that the figures be broken down according to each year to ascertain whether operations have dropped significantly since 2015, a year which saw around one million migrants and refugees arrive on the continent, according to UNHCR figures, three to four times more than in 2014. However, AFM did not provide such figures.

The EU response following the 2015 crisis appears to have been successful despite public criticism about the number of sea arrivals in the Mediterranean dropping significantly from the mammoth high of roughly 1,015,000 arrivals in 2015, to 362,000 in 2016, and 172,300 in 2017.

From a Maltese perspective, the number of boat arrivals has gone down dramatically since 2013, dropping from 2,008 arrivals that year, to just 23 in 2017. Land arrivals do continue, with asylum applications remaining at a steady level over the last few years, dropping from over 2,200 in 2012 to roughly 1,600 to 1,700 per year since then.

Despite the drop in arrivals, it is countries outside the EU that overwhelmingly house migrants given that African and Middle Eastern Countries house around 56 per cent of all displaced individuals, while Europe has housed around 17 per cent. The rise of an anti-migrant populist coalition, composed of two parties at opposite ends of the political spectrum, has seen the Mediterranean become the centre of diplomatic issues concerning migration, with the Italians expressing open hostility to the current status quo and international obligations.

Malta has been steadfast in standing its ground on the issue, with Prime Minister Muscat employing aggressive tactics in the face of growing tensions, blocking NGOs from entering or exiting Maltese ports, grounding an NGO’s spotter plane and only accepting the entry of a vessel following an ad-hoc agreement ensuring the relocation of the migrants between eight European states.

Muscat has argued that the NGOs interfere with AFM and SAR operations in the Mediter- ranean; however, critics, including former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, argue that NGOs play a vital role when it comes to saving lives. In view of the figures, questions must be asked as to whether blocking the NGOs is the best way to conduct safe and efficient migrant operations in the Mediterranean.