The tide of death
2018 set to witness even higher number of migrant boat tragedies
DESPERATE migrants watch as a “rescue ship” approaches off the coast of Libya – to take them back to the lawless country they were risking their lives to escape.
There, those caught trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe are taken to squalid detention centres.
More refugees than ever now attempt the perilous crossing, raising fears this year’s death toll could be the highest yet.
At least 200 have died between North
Africa and Italy or Spain since New Year’s Day. A year ago 12 had died in the same time.
Over a million are thought to be waiting to flee Libya. So far 800 survivors have been picked up. Government funding for an EU scheme to stop boats leaving Libya is to blame, says charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Adviser Konstantinos Antonopoulos said: “European funding, including British money, is helping to stop boats departing Libyan waters. This policy is also feeding a criminal system of abuse by trapping people in detention centres.”
MSF staff say they have seen abuse,
extortion and arbitrary imprisonment of migrants at detention centres, often rife with corruption. The terrifying conditions cause migrants to take even greater risks on unseaworthy boats.
Libyan migration chief Othman Belbeisi said: “It’s distressing.”
Last year’s EU deal gave hard-up Libyan Coast Guards more responsibility for rescues. But since the agreement, charities including Save the Children have abandoned rescue missions.
They refuse to help return refugees back into the hands of trafficking cartels.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson announced £9million to fight illegal migration on a visit to Libya in August. But Oxfam said he was just helping to subject migrants to violence and abuse.
The United Nations has branded the EU’s policy of assisting the Libyan coastguard as “inhuman” and Libya’s detention system as “broken beyond repair”.
Torture and slavery are commonplace in Libya’s trafficking hubs. And MSF witnesses evidence of this at first hand.
Mr Antonopoulos said: “Many survivors are very weak and dizzy from malnutrition. Many have scabies and some have wounds from torture in Libya.”