EU ‘leaving migrants to drown’, say rescuers

ROME: The Italian coastguard and other boats rescued some 3,000 migrants from unseaworthy boats off the Libyan coast on Saturday, as the good weather pushes the numbers up, a participating NGO said.

In all, 35 rescue operations were launched during the day, with 15 of them still under way as night fell, the coastguard said.

German NGO Jugend Rettet, which took part in the rescue operations on Saturday, said 3,000 people had been plucked to safety during a particularly busy day due to the fine Spring weather in the Mediterranean.

Jugend Rettet spokeswoman Pauline Schmidt said a further 1,000 people remained to be rescued from inflatable dinghies and other craft, with the rescue ships reaching capacity.

On Friday, rescue vessels worked flat out to rescue over 2,000 people from flimsy dinghies, and on Thursday a boat sank off the coast of Libya. Ninety-seven refugees are missing, presumed drowned.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has criticised Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard agency, who operate official EU patrols on migration routes. MSF said in a series of tweets that NGOs were being forced to fill gaps in service provision left by the EU coastguard.

“Frontex director says it’s a paradox that a third of rescues are done by NGOs. We agree. Where are Frontex boats in a day like this?” MSF tweeted. “Many more people could have died in a day like this if we arrived a few hours later. We are where we’re needed, what’s the EU doing meanwhile?” Friday’s rescue operations were performed entirely by NGOs.

Mary Jo Frawley, a nurse who was involved in MSF’s patrols this week, said: “Efforts by the European Union and its border agency Frontex to prevent loss of life at sea through strengthened border control, increasing militarisation and a focus on disrupting smuggling networks has only resulted in more people drowning not fewer and has had little impact on the flows of arrivals.

“This, combined with the lack of adequate EU search, and rescue operations has meant that MSF and other humanitarian organisations have ... been forced to step in to avoid further loss of life.. People do not risk their own lives and at times the lives of their children if there are easier options available to them. Whether people are allowed to stay in Europe or not, humane treatment and safe disembarkation is the least Europe should offer them.”

The launch of Operation Triton in 2014 shifted the focus of EU efforts in the Southern Mediterranean from Search and Rescue to border control. Frontex has limited the majority of its patrols to within just 48km off Italy’s coast, while NGOs venture much further, towards Libya.

Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri recently suggested to German newspaper Die Welt that NGOs’ rescue missions were “supporting criminal networks” of smugglers and traffickers. Mr Leggeri previously said saving migrants’ lives should not be a priority for the border agency.