Tag: migrants

The RoRo Nivin, with Panamanian flag, rescued, last week, 81 maritime migrants but 79 of them refuse to disembark from the ship off the coast of Misrata in Libya. The migrants refuse to disembark in Misrata as a result of the fear of being sent back to Libyan detention camps.

The UN Security Council decided to renew for one year, its authorization allowing Member States to inspect vessels on the high seas off the coast of Libya, as long as there are reasonable grounds for suspicion that they are being used for smuggling migrants or human trafficking.

Seventeen migrants have lost their lives this week, during their attempt to cross the sea from North Africa to Spain. In addition, rescuers have picked up over 100 migrants, the Spanish coast guard informed. Namely, 13 died between the Iberian peninsula and Morocco and Algeria, while the coast guard located another four bodies off Cadiz.

Italy and Austria are cooperating to come up with a plan to process refugees on ships. Austria and Italy supported a proposal according to which, rescued refugees aboard ships in the Mediterranean will be held until their asylum claims were processed. 

France, Portugal, Spain and Germany agreed to take in migrants from the Mediterranean rescue ship Aquarius sailing off the coast of Malta, France said, after Italy refused to let the vessel dock. According to Malta, a patrol boat will transfer the migrants in international waters and then to the island, from where they will be sent to the four other European Union states.

Panama Maritime Authority revoked the registration of the 'Aquarius 2', the one remaining charity rescue vessel still operating in the Central Mediterranean, which means that there will be no charity rescue ships off the Libyan coast in the near future, unless the vessel can find a new flag to sail under.

On 12 September 2018, during his State of the Union Address, President Jean-Claude Juncker said that increased solidarity can be the solution to the increasing problem of migration. Mr. Juncker noted that we cannot find solutions just when a new ship arrives. Namely, Mr. Juncker presented 3 new proposals.

Over 100 migrants lost their lives in early September after their rubber boats were wrecked off the coast of Libya, according to the MSF aid agency. The two vessels were carrying many people and had started from Libya. One of the boats engine failed while the other deflated.

Six Tunisian fishers have been put on trial in Italy after their trawler helped 14 migrants, by towing their small vessel into Italian waters. All the crew were arrested on people smuggling charges, even though they claimed to have alerted the Italian coastguard that there was a boat in distress.

Italy's minister of the interior, Matteo Salvini, has allowed migrants of the Italian Coast Guard ship 'Ubaldo Diciotti' to disembark, after he was placed under formal investigation regarding their detention. Mr. Salvini has been formally placed under investigation for potential illegal detention and kidnapping.