Tag: migrants

IMO attended the high-level UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York as a number of its treaties include provisions relating to migration by sea. These include SOLAS Chapter V on Safety of Navigation, which requires the master of a ship at sea able to provide assistance to persons that are in distress at sea.

Recently, in a joint effort of EUNAVFOR MED operation Sophia’s assets , the Spanish Frigate ESPS Reina Sofia and the British Survey Vessel HMS Enterprise saved 719 lives at sea.

The migration incident which occured in the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday shows that Italy remains on the top of seaborne migration from Africa to Europe.

A new lifeboat station has been opened on the Greek island of Chios with the co-operation of International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) members in order to help support the rescue of migrants in the Aegean.

European shipowners welcome the own-initiative report of the European Parliament to be adopted this week on migration. The report outlines in detail how the EU should respond to the current migration challenge. Covering topics from human trafficking to asylum and EU external borders management, it also discusses the “search and rescue” operations at sea.

Seventeen refugees have been rescued by a Columbia managed tanker on 15th January 2016. Whilst the vessel was on route to Kingston, Jamaica, the tanker responded to an alert from M/V Fast Titan requesting assistance with the rescue of seventeen persons from a raft.

Presenting the key finding of the latest United Nations survey on international migrant trends, the UN Deputy Secretary-General stressed that the issue of migration is one of the most challenging and important that the Organization is taking on in the new global landscape.

The UN Refugee Agency announced that over one million refugees and migrants have fled to Europe by sea during 2015, many on board dangerously inadequate vessels run by people smugglers.

The European Commission adopted an important set of measures to manage the EU's external borders and protect our Schengen area without internal borders. These proposals will help to manage migration more effectively, improve the internal security of the European Union, and safeguard the principle of free movement of persons.

A new e-learing course has been launched which, it is hoped, will address a ‘significant’ knowledge gap in the maritime industry about the rescue of refugees and migrants at sea.