Mediterranean Migrant Arrivals Reach 103,175 in 2017; 2,357 Deaths

Reliefweb

Report from International Organization for Migration

14 July 2017

Switzerland - IOM, UN Migration Agency, reports that 103,175 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 through 12 July, with almost 85 per cent arriving in Italy and the remainder divided between Greece, Cyprus and Spain. This compares with 240,014 arrivals across the region through 12 July 2016.

IOM Rome spokesperson Flavio Di Giacomo reported that, as of 9 July, 86,121 migrants had arrived in Italy by sea. He explained that the total does not include most of the 7,721 migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean route between Monday (10 July) and Wednesday (12 July); by Thursday evening only about 900 of those recently rescued men, women and children had been brought to land.

Di Giacomo listed the rescues as follows:

767 on Monday (10 July)
2,778 on Tuesday (11 July)
4,176 on Wednesday (12 July)

IOM Libya’s Christine Petré reported that on Thursday (13 July), 263 migrants were rescued at sea in two separate incidents. In the morning, 123 migrants were rescued off Azzawyah, five of whom were transferred to a hospital where they received medical assistance from IOM partners. Some hours later, a further 140 migrants were rescued off Tripoli. Upon disembarkation, these migrants received medical assistance and were transferred to Trig al Shook detention centre.

Through to 13 July, nearly 11,000 migrants (10,994) have been rescued in Libyan waters in 2017.

IOM Libya also reported that on 10 July, the remains of one man were found in Al Maya, west of Tripoli. The total number of bodies retrieved so far in 2017 is now 348.

This latest confirmed fatality is not included in today’s Mediterranean total of 2,357. Although this figure trails the number of deaths (2,989) recorded by this time last year, it nonetheless marks the fourth consecutive year migrant deaths on the Mediterranean Sea have exceeded 2,350.

Worldwide, the IOM Missing Migrants Project (MMP) reports that there have been 3,228 fatalities in 2017 through 12 July (see chart below) with the Mediterranean region accounting for the largest proportion of deaths – almost three quarters of the global total. MMP reports a substantial increase in fatalities in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean Sea compared to this time last year, but fewer deaths in the Middle East and South America where, so far in 2017, MMP has processed no reports of confirmed fatalities. Deaths are also up in Europe, South Asia and Southeast Asia and virtually identical to levels recorded by this time last year in the Horn of Africa region and along the US-Mexico border. The one region where fatalities are substantially down this year from 2016 is North Africa, where 265 have been reported dead this year, compared to almost 900 by this time last year. MMP researchers explain the discrepancy in that IOM’s receipt of data from the region tend to arrive quarterly rather than on a daily or weekly basis, as occurs in other parts of the world.

The newly listed fatalities in the MMP database since IOM’s last report on July 11 include: four deaths in the Western Mediterranean (three victims’ bodies recovered off the coast of Al-Hoceima, Morocco, by the Moroccan Coast Guard; one body retrieved southeast of Malaga by the Spanish Coast Guard); and one death in Ventimiglia, Italy, near the French border (vehicular accident).

For the latest Mediterranean Update infographic: http://migration.iom.int/docs/MMP/170714_Mediterranean_Update.pdf


Source: http://reliefweb.int/report/italy/mediterranean-migrant-arrivals-reach-103175-2017-2357-deaths

Italy drafts code on NGO migrant rescues as thousands more reach land

Reuters

By Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Isla Binnie

14 July 2017

ROME (Reuters) - Italy will present a code of conduct next week to humanitarian groups that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean, a government source said on Friday, as thousands more arrived at its southern ports.

More than 4,400 migrants were due to come ashore during the day after being picked up this week in the southern Mediterranean by rescue boats belonging to European Union and Italian authorities as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The Italian government, desperately trying to stem the flow, has drafted a set of rules for NGOs operating on the edge of Libyan territorial waters.

The 10-point code, published by Huffington Post's Italian edition and confirmed by a government source, would oblige NGOs to prove their ability to carry out rescues, and forbid them to fire flares that could prompt smugglers to push their boats out to sea.

It would also oblige rescue organizations to stop transferring migrants to other ships and instead complete their disembarkation in a safe port themselves, which would limit their operations.

If any of the roughly nine NGOs that regularly deploy boats refuses to sign up, it could be barred from Italian ports, meaning it would have to take the migrants to other countries.

Italy is organizing a meeting with the NGOs next week to present the finalised code, the source said.

After Italian and EU officials discussed the issue in Brussels on Thursday, an official said the EU Commission was worried about the risk of accidents in and around Libyan waters, and happy that Italy was working on a code.

As of July 13, some 86,123 migrants had come to Italy this year, up 10 percent on the same period last year, according to the interior ministry.

While NGOs have said the planned rules will make it more difficult to help migrants fleeing poverty and war, a United Nations spokeswoman said Italy needed more help dealing with the crisis.

"Basically, in Italy we need more solidarity from the rest of the European Union. In Libya we need more stability, but we also need, across all of Africa, better investment in order to help people (there)," said Carlotta Sami, spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.

Besides 1,428 newcomers who arrived in the Sicilian port of Catania, a further 3,000 were due to arrive in the mainland ports of Salerno, Brindisi and Crotone.

Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer in Rome and Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Editing by Kevin Liffey


Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-italy-idUSKBN19Z14W?il=0

WATCH: Irish sailors on board LÉ WB Yeats heading to Mediterranean on migrant mission

Irish Examiner

14 July 2017

Irish sailors are heading to the Mediterranean this morning on the latest migrant rescue mission.

It comes a day after the Dáil approved Ireland's participation in an EU operation to clamp down on human trafficking.

Today's deployment of the LÉ WB Yeats does not come under Operation Sophia and is solely to save lives.

The Government passed a motion last night by 81 votes to 38 to use the Irish Defence Forces involved in Operation Sophia.

Naval ships in Operation Sophia will be used to stop gangs using vessels for human trafficking and it needs the Government to activate the so-called "triple lock" in order to change the status of the Irish Navy operating in the Mediterranean.

Lieutenant Commander Eric Tymon says it will be tough but they are prepared.

He said: "What we are looking for is what we call PIDs, or platforms in distress. These could take the form of RIBs in which you could have up to 100 migrants or up to wooden vessels where there could be several hundred migrants on board.

"Obviously it's a very complex operation getting these people on board safely on to our ship and onward to a port of safety in Italy."



Source:  http://www.irishexaminer.com/video/news/watch-irish-sailors-on-board-le-wb-yeats-heading-to-mediterranean-on-migrant-mission-454860.html

Leo Varadkar defends Irish Navy role in EU mission

Operation aims to disrupt human trafficking and rescue refugees in the Mediterranean

The Irish Times

By Lorna Siggins & Olivia Kelleher

14 July 2017

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he “does not agree” with concerns expressed by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) about Ireland’s participation in the European Union’s Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean.

MSF, which has two ships involved in migrant rescue, has warned that Ireland’s shift from humanitarian to what it describes as a “military focused” EU operation could “weaken dedicated search and rescue capacity”.

Mr Varadkar, who was speaking in Galway on the eve of the departure of Naval Service patrol ship LÉ William Butler Yeats to replace the LÉ Eithne in the Mediterranean, said he “totally respects” the work of MSF.

“I really respect it as a doctor and a politician . . . but I don’t agree with it on this issue,” Mr Varadkar said during a visit to the Galway Film Fleadh.

The EU’s Operation Sophia, which the Naval Service will now participate in, has a UN mandate and is supported by the Government and Dáil, he pointed out.

Human traffickers

“People from as far away as Afghanistan and southern Africa are travelling to Libya where there are human traffickers making an absolute fortune,” Mr Varadkar said.

“So I think it is the right thing that we should disrupt that human trafficking, and also rescue refugees and migrants where they need that help,” he said.

Operation Sophia, initiated by the EU in June 2015, has a core mandate of identifying, capturing and disposing of vessels and other “enabling assets” used or suspected of being used by migrant smugglers or traffickers.

It has already been engaged in training members of the Libyan coastguard and its aim is to build good relations with the Tripoli administration which would lead to an invitation into Libyan territorial waters to pursue smugglers.

Cabinet approval for Naval Service transition to the EU mission was secured by Minister of State for Defence Paul Kehoe last Tuesday, and a motion was carried in the Dáil by 80 votes to 38 on Wednesday as part of the “triple lock” mechanism for approving Defence Force participation overseas.

Detention centres

Government, Fianna Fáil and Social Democrat TDs supported it, but a number of Opposition TDs questioned it, with Labour leader Brendan Howlin warning that Ireland could not contribute in any way to sending people back to Libyan detention centres .

A spokeswoman for Mr Kehoe has pointed out that Operation Sophia has rescued more than 36,600 people off the coast of Libya.

Naval Service patrol ships have rescued almost 16,000 people from the Mediterranean since 2015, when Ireland became involved in Operation Pontus, a bilateral arrangement with the Italian government.


Source:

* "Leo Varadkar defends Irish Navy role in EU mission": https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/leo-varadkar-defends-irish-navy-role-in-eu-mission-1.3155252
* "Concern as Cabinet approves Irish Navy role in EU military operation": https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/concern-as-cabinet-approves-irish-navy-role-in-eu-military-operation-1.3151383
* "Irish Navy to join EU migrant search-and-rescue operation": https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/irish-navy-to-join-eu-migrant-search-and-rescue-operation-1.3148771

Get tough on migrants, says Australian PM - it works for us

Disraeli Prize Speech: “In Defence of a Free Society” - London

11 July 2017

Europe can learn lessons on handling its migration crisis from Australia’s robust approach to borders, the country’s prime minister has said.

Malcolm Turnbull said Australia had shown the EU a ‘potential solution’ to the influx of migrants.

Getting control of illegal immigration allowed a country to be more generous to genuine refugees and take a more liberal approach to legal migrants, Mr Turnbull said.

More than 100,000 migrants have tried to cross the Mediterranean this year already, but Australia hasn’t allowed in a single trafficker boat in nearly three years.

In a speech in London, Mr Turnbull said: ‘The Australian experience offers both a cautionary tale and the seeds of a potential solution.

'The lesson is very clear – weak borders fragment social cohesion, drain public revenue, raise community concerns about national security, and ultimately undermine the consensus required to sustain high levels of immigration and indeed multiculturalism itself.’

He added: ‘Controlling your borders is absolutely critical.

‘You have to be in a position where whoever comes across your border... the Government must make that decision on the part of whose country it is.

‘It’s a fundamental element of sovereignty, so when you outsource your borders, you outsource your sovereignty.’


Source:

* "Disraeli Prize Speech: “In Defence of a Free Society” - London": https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/policy-exchange-london-disraeli-prize-speech-in-defence-of-a-free-society
* "PM defends refugee policy at prize event": http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/protests-at-turnbulls-london-award-night/news-story/41ec775275d28e1e6d1a2f4138a2ad65
* "Get tough on refugees, says Australian PM - it works for us": http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4686838/15million-migrant-farce-EU-naval-mission-WORSE.html

EU Commission backs Italy on NGO rescues

EUobserver

By Andrew Rettman

14 July 2017

The European Commission has voiced sympathy for Italy’s plan to restrict NGO rescues in the Central Mediterranean.

Natasha Bertaud, a Commission spokeswoman, told press in Brussels on Friday (14 July) that EU and Italian officials had held “technical discussions” on a code of conduct for the NGOs the day before.

She said the EU and Italy merely wanted to “better organise” rescues.

“More people are dying even though we have more boats than ever [in the region] doing search and rescue, so something isn’t normal,” she said.

She said nobody wanted the NGOs to stop and praised their “noble” work.

She added that “the idea” of Italy’s draft code was that NGO and other foreign vessels would only be able to dock at Italian courts if they signed up.

She also said the draft code would ensure that Italian officers were on board each boat, but urged media not to “dissect” details of it before it had been agreed.

Other elements of the draft code, leaked earlier this week, said NGOs should not enter Libya’s territorial waters.

This meant that the Libyan coastguard would take back people rescued there instead of NGOs taking them to Italy.

Defend Europe, a group of young far-right activists from France, Germany, Italy, and Austria has also bought a boat for vigilante patrols in the area.

It said the vessel, which is en route from Djibouti to Libya, would intercept migrant boats and alert the Libyan coast guard.

The Commission’s Bertaud said the law of the sea, which stipulated that one must rescue mariners in distress, would apply to the far-right boat, as well as to other NGOs and to EU naval and civilian operations, Sophia and Triton, in the area.

The discussion came as more than 4,400 people rescued this week by the Italian authorities began to arrive on shore in the ports of Brindisi, Catania, Crotone, and Salerno on Friday.

The Italian interior ministry said 86,123 had arrived this year as of 13 July, a 10 percent increase on the same period last year.

The EU and the UN have appealed for greater solidarity with Italy.

But central European states, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia have failed to implement an EU accord to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece over the past two year.

France and Germany are also tens of thousands of relocations behind their EU quotas.

Italy is to hold an election no later than in May next year, with the anti-immigrant and anti-euro Five Star Movement party neck-and-neck with mainstream parties in the latest polls.

Speaking to Rai News, an Italian broadcaster, on Friday, Italy’s former centre-left leader, Matteo Renz,i said countries like Poland ought to show more solidarity.

“Do you think it’s normal for some member states to promise to receive migrants and then not take anyone? But when it comes to asking Italy for money for the European budget, they are in the front row asking for our contribution to be sent quickly,” he said.

He added that it was “common sense” to help immigrants in their country of origin instead of in Europe.


Source: https://euobserver.com/migration/138540

The £15million migrant farce: EU naval mission aimed at stopping mass migration has made the flow WORSE and has led to an increase in deaths

* Mission was called Operation Sophia and aimed to tackle Europe's migrant crisis
* Destroying vessels had not 'in any meaningful way' deterred people smuggling
* Instead, it led to smugglers sending migrants to water in unseaworthy dinghys
* A total of 452 smuggling boats have been destroyed, according to the report


Mail Online

By Larisa Brown Defence And Security Editor

12 July 2017

A European Union naval mission aimed at stopping mass migration into Europe has failed to stop the flow and has even led to an increase in deaths, a damning report will say today.

The £15.2 million operation – which includes the UK – to tackle people-smuggling operations had not ‘in any meaningful way’ deterred migrants or disrupted the criminal networks.

Instead, Operation Sophia’s destruction of vessels has led to smugglers sending migrants to sea in unseaworthy vessels and an increase in deaths, a cross-party group of peers found.

Although 452 smuggling boats had been destroyed, this had just caused gangs to change tactics – ditching wooden boats for inflatable ones, the House of Lords EU external affairs sub-committee found.

This has made the crossing across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy more dangerous, in turn leading to an increase in the number of deaths, they said.

In 2015, there were 2,876 deaths, which soared to 4,581 in 2016 and 2,150 as of July 2 this year.

The report commended the rescue of 33,000 migrants – including at least 15,000 by the Royal Navy – but said a naval mission was the ‘wrong tool’ for tackling the issue. Lord Stirrup, one of the peers in the committee, told the Mail: ‘The objective of Operation Sophia is to break the business model of the smugglers. It has patently failed to do that.’

The former head of the Armed Forces added: ‘The search and rescue mission must continue but we are using expensive and scarce naval assets – you don’t need that sort of sophistication.’

The initiative was launched in 2015 after hundreds of migrants drowned trying to reach Europe.

It aimed to disrupt the business model of human smuggling and trafficking networks in the southern central Mediterranean.

But the report said: ‘Operation Sophia has not in any meaningful way deterred the flow of migrants, disrupted the smugglers’ networks, or impeded the business of people smuggling on the central Mediterranean route.

‘An unintended consequence of Operation Sophia’s destruction of vessels has been that the smugglers have adapted, sending migrants to sea in unseaworthy vessels, leading to an increase in deaths.’

The peers added: ‘There is little justification for the deployment of high-end naval and air assets for the tasks being undertaken by Operation Sophia.’

Lord Stirrup said the political situation in Libya was key when it came to dealing with the issue.



Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4686838/15million-migrant-farce-EU-naval-mission-WORSE.html