Spike in migrant boats to Spain ‘signals shift in Africa exodus’
Austrian FM focuses on Egypt's plan to handle crisis
averaged just under 5,000 a year between 2010 and 2016, according to government data, down from a peak of 39,180 in 2006. It is on track to top 11,000 this year, government data shows.
The country was unprepared to handle vulnerable groups such as victims of trafficking or unaccompanied minors and refugees who should be channelled through asylum procedures, the UNHCR said.
Spain has so far given a lukewarm response to a request from Italy to fellow EU countries to allow rescue boats carrying African migrants across the Mediterranean to dock in their ports and help handle tens of thousands of arrivals.
“What is clear is that, they (Spain’s government) have to get ready. They can’t be caught unprepared. What started happening elsewhere in Europe in 2015 can’t be allowed to happen here,” spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Spain Maria Jesus Vega said.
“It’s not yet an emergency, but you have to take into account that there are no structures here to deal with more arrivals.”
European Council President Donald Tusk is calling for UN sanctions against migrant smugglers illegally.
Tusk said the sanctions could include asset freezes and travel bans. He said smuggling was a lucrative business that enabled smugglers to control parts of Libya.
Tusk said that he would urge members of the G-20 countries to seek sanctions, but said that “we do not have support” for the measure and referred to the “hypocrisy” of some member states.
Tusk called for countries to be “ruthless” against smuggling for humanitarian reasons since thousands of people have died in desert crossings and in the Mediterranean Sea.
Meanwhile, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said that migrants should be stopped at the EU’s outer borders and sent back to their homelands after being rescued and given any care needed.
Kurz cites Egypt as an example of how such a plan works, adding that Spain and Australia have applied it successfully.
He said that aid to countries of origin and a resettlement program setting up regulated immigration to Europe would be part of any such program.
Kurz has previously suggested that some NGOs rescuing migrants on the high seas might be in collusion with human smugglers. He called late Thursday for an NGO code of conduct, without going into details.