Rescue ship with migrants to land in Sicily
ATHENS: Italy is permiting the humanitarian rescue ship Ocean Viking with 104 migrants on board to land in Sicily.
SOS Mediterranee, one of the charities that operate the ship, expressed relief at the decision on Tuesday, but noted it was only an ad-hoc solution.
Operations director Louise Guillaumat tweeted that only two European Union countries had agreed to take in migrants.
Guillaumatsaidthata“coordinatedmechanism will only work if a broader coalition of willing European countries come together.” The migrants were rescued off Libya on Oct.18, and the ship has been stranded despite an EU fast-track plan designed to resolve such cases.
The EU commissioner for migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos,thankeditaly,franceandgermanyfor showingsolidarity.hecalledforpermanentsolutions.
International human rights groups and relief agencies have sharply criticised plans by Greece’s government to toughen asylum procedures to try and manage a recent surge in arrivals of migrants and refugees.
Thegroupsincludingamnestyinternational,humanrightswatch,anddoctorswithoutborderssaid on Tuesday in a series of separate statements and at a news conference in Athens that the proposed changes would restrict the right of refugees fleeing wars in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere from seeking international protection in the European Union.
Greek authorities are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in the number of arrivals over the summer monthsonitseasternislands,whereeu-fundedcamps are suffering severe overcrowding and outbreaks of violence. The proposed changes are due to be voted in Greece’s parliament this week.
Human rights groups urged Greece on Tuesday to scrap plans they say will restrict access to protection for asylum seekers as the government said the burden of dealing with an influx of migrants was geting too heavy to bear.
Athens is currently struggling with the biggest resurgence in refugee arrivals since 2015, when more than a million people crossed into Europe from Turkey via Greece.
The conservative government has proposed new legislation that shortens the asylum process by cuting out some options for appeal and makes it easier to deport those rejected.
But aid groups say the drat legislation would make it easier to detain asylum seekers for longer periods,andincludesnumerousproceduralchanges that would impede access to a fair asylum process and compromise the right of appeal.