Italy's migrant NGO code of conduct OK'd by EC, Frontex

Ships prohibited to enter Lybian waters, facilitate departures

ANSAmed

17 July 2017

(ANSAmed) - ROME, JULY 17 - The European Commission and EU border agency Frontex at the weekend approved a code of conduct drafted by Italy for ships run by non-governmental organisations rescuing migrants in the central Mediterranean off Libya.

The code is intended to help stem a ceaseless tide of arrivals that has strained Italian reception capacity to the limit. The code of conduct sets 11 rules.

These include a ban on phoning "to facilitate the departure of boats carrying migrants", the obligation to allow police aboard and a requirement to have a technical certification to carry out rescues.

Those who refuse to sign the code may not get authorisation to access Italian ports.

The first rule is the "absolute prohibition" for humanitarian ships to enter Libyan waters, which can only be reached "if there is a clear danger for human life at sea".

The NGOs are then asked not to make phone calls or send luminous signals to facilitate the departure and the embarkation of boats carrying migrants, with "the obvious intention of not facilitating contacts with traffickers".

Among the other obligations is that of not transporting migrants on other ships, be they Italian or belonging to international organisations, except in an emergency situation.

And after rescues the NGO ships "will have to complete the operation by taking the migrants to a safe port".

They are further asked not to hinder search and rescue (SAR) operations by the Libyan Coast Guard, to make known the funding sources for their rescue activities, and to notify their flag-flying country's maritime coordination centre of the intervention, "so that this State is informed on the ship's activities and can assume responsibility also for the purposes of maritime safety".

Italy's partners provisionally agreed to the code as part of efforts to share the burden of the central Mediterranean migrant emergency. (ANSAmed).



Source: http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2017/07/17/italys-migrant-ngo-code-of-conduct-okd-by-ec-frontex_27ae4c7a-1738-4ec6-9887-2caff8719f22.html

Belgium should take frigate out of migration mission off Libya: minister

Reuters

By Robert-Jan Bartunek

16 July 2017

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium should withdraw its frigate from an EU mission to break up human trafficking networks near Libya because the presence of such vessels encouraged migrants to make the perilous journey across the central Mediterranean, the migration minister said.

Belgium has sent a frigate to take part in an EU operation to map and disrupt networks of people smugglers off the Libyan coast who send migrants toward Italy, often on ramshackle dinghies which are barely seaworthy.

While saving the migrants is not the core task of the military vessels that are part of the mission, they often have to do so.

"I personally think this operation should not be repeated because it is pure lunacy. There is no logic to it," migration minister Theo Francken told broadcaster VTM.

"It is not about whether we should save them or not. We should. But this creates an effect of drawing in migrants with more dead people as a result. It is a shame on Europe," Francken, who has a record of criticizing NGOs over their behavior in the Mediterranean, added.

A spokeswoman for the Belgian defense ministry said the country would continue to be part of the mission only if the Libyan government allowed EU vessels inside its waters, as foreseen in phase two of the EU operation.

In the first six months of 2017, some 85,000 people arrived on Italy's southern shores, a fifth more than in the same period last year, EU border agency Frontex said earlier this month.

Nationals of Nigeria, Bangladesh and Ivory Coast, which have a low likelihood of being recognized as asylum seekers in Europe, represented the highest number of arrivals, Frontex added.

Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Richard Balmforth


Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-acid-charges-idUSKBN1A00S6?il=0

Migrants: 1,428 aboard coast guard ship land in Catania

935 in Salerno and 860 in Brindisi

ANSAmed

14 July 2017


(ANSAmed) - PALERMO, JULY 14 - The 'Diciotti' coast guard vessel arrived in Catania on Friday morning with 1,428 migrants on board, including 100 minors, who were rescued in different operations over the past few days. Disembarking operations are ongoing.

-The Vos Prudence ship of Doctors Without Borders arrived Friday morning in Salerno at 7 am with 935 migrants on board. When disembarking operations, the 21st on the coasts of Salerno, will be completed, migrants will be transferred according to a national hosting plan.

Some 150 will be taken to a hosting center in the Lombardy region, 100 in Campania, as many in Lazio (in the cities of Frosinone, Latina and Viterbo), 80 in Piedmont, 55 in Veneto, 50 in Emilia-Romagna and as many in Abruzzo, Molise, Umbria and Marche. Out of the 935 migrants, 793 are men, 125 women (including seven who are pregnant and one who was in labor and was immediately disembarked with a wounded 30-year-old) and 16 minors, including two newborns.

-A ship with 860 migrants on board rescued in the strait of Sicily landed this morning in Brindisi, where migrants will be identified and given medical assistance. The vessel is the Acquarius of association Sos Mediterranée aboard which baby Cristo was born. The migrants will be divided mostly between Lombardy and Lazio, as well as in Piedmont, Veneto, Tuscany, Puglia, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Marche, Abruzzo, Molise and Umbria. (ANSAmed)


Source: http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/italy/2017/07/14/migrants-1428-aboard-coast-guard-ship-land-in-catania_85587735-785a-47a1-ad8d-7b9670f662e0.html?idPhoto=1

263 African migrants rescued off Libya

Libyan Coast Guard and Port Security

13 July 2017

TRIPOLI

Today 263 migrants were rescued at sea in two separate rescue operations off Tripoli and Azzawya. Following the rescue, UN IOM provided all necessary medical assistance.


All photos courtesy of  Libyan Coast Guard and Port Security

Source: https://www.facebook.com/CoastGuardly/

140 African migrants rescued off Libya

Anadolu Agency

By Cihad Nasr

14 July 2017

TRIPOLI, Libya. At least 140 African migrants were rescued off the coast of Libya, a navy spokesman said Friday.

Security teams rescued the migrants during a routine patrol by the coast guard, according to navy spokesman Col. Ayoub Qassem, who said the operation took place off the coast of Sabratha, west of Tripoli.

Eighty African migrants were also rescued off the coast of Garabulli, east of Tripoli, esarlier this month.

Approximately 1,800 migrants have died in the Mediterranean Sea since the beginning of 2017, according to the UN refugee agency.


Source: http://aa.com.tr/en/africa/140-african-migrants-rescued-off-libya/861048

Vast majority of migrants is “economic” says UN

Libya Herald

By Jamie Prentis

11 July 2017

Tunis: Around 80 percent of migrants transiting through Libya are men and on average are 22 years old, a study by the UN’s refugee agency the UNHCR has found. Just over 72% of these were travelling alone.

The increasing numbers from West Africa were often seeking better economic conditions in Europe while migrants from East Africa, whose numbers were decreasing, were mostly fleeing persecution.

The report added that women were also often victims of human trafficking, while children mainly come from Eritrea, the Gambia and Nigeria.

The UNHCR survey also found that only 16 percent of would-be migrants have received vocational training or higher education, while 49 percent having little or no formal schooling at all.

“Foreign nationals going to Libya are part of mixed migration flows, meaning that people with different backgrounds and motivations travel together along the same routes, often with the help of ruthless people smugglers and criminal gangs,” the report said.

“They include refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants, unaccompanied minors, environmental migrants, victims of trafficking and stranded migrants, among others.”

The study was commissioned by the UNHCR from Altai Consulting, a specialised consultancy that focuses on research, monitoring and evaluation in fragile states and with IMPACT Initiatives, a Geneva-based think-tank that monitors and assesses aid programmes.

Interviews were conducted in the last four months of 2016 in both Africa and Europe.

Source: https://www.libyaherald.com/2017/07/11/vast-majority-of-migrants-is-economic-says-un/

'Defend Europe' Identitarians charter a ship to return migrants to Africa

Elizabeth Collett of the Migration Policy Institute said: "They are in boats that cannot go a certain distance beyond a few miles from the Libyan coast.  However, they are using those boats because of the presence of the NGOs. But having created that situation, NGOs can't just pull out."

Deutsche Welle

By Alistair Walsh

15 July 2017

European right-wing extremists have chartered a boat and set sail for the Mediterranean to help obstruct the flow of refugees. The so-called Identitarians are just the latest player in a complex flotilla of groups.

Pan-European members of the right-wing group known as the Identitarian Movement announced this week that they had chartered a ship and were sailing to the Mediterranean to stem the flow of refugees and migrants.

The group, calling themselves Defend Europe, crowd-funded more than $100,000 (87,000 euros) over about a month to fund their so-called "search and rescue" mission.

Borrowing the Greek lambda as its logo, a reference to the Spartan shields used against the Persian Empire, they presents themselves as a movement against "the Islamic invasion of Europe" while dismissing nationalist labels placed on comparable groups.

Read more: Identitarian movement - Germany's 'new right' hipsters

The group plans to use their 40-meter (130-foot) ship to intercept smuggler boats before NGO groups can reach them and return them to the Libyan coast guard.

"Our goal is to step in where our politicians are failing and to do what is necessary to stop the deadly illegal migration into Europe," the group wrote on their crowd-funding page.

Read more: EU countries decline to help Italy with Mediterranean refugee crisis

"We will offer the Libyan Coastguard our support as [a] recon ship ... We will save anyone we can if we get an SOS signal, but we will make sure that they will be brought back to Africa."

Earlier the group had said on its website it would try and force NGO ships to change course and to sap the financial and organizational resources of the charities.

Read more: Far-right group aims to stop informal migration to Europe

It was unclear whether Libyan authorities would willingly work with the group or allow them to enter territorial waters.

The group raised the money despite financial institutions shutting down many methods of donation, in the end relying on Bitcoins and wire transfers. Defend Europe was propelled into the limelight with a stunt in May, where they unsuccessfully tried to stop a Medecins sans Frontieres vessel from leaving port on a rescue mission.

The group told German media they planned to bring armed security to ward off any retribution from people smuggling groups.

NGO rescues fuel-smuggling groups

Their mission was motivated in part by claims that NGO rescue missions in the Mediterranean had emboldened smuggling groups, which were sending off increasingly unseaworthy ships in the knowledge they would be rescued and taken to Italy.

The UNHCR says these private rescue teams are now picking up 41 percent of the people rescued.

Rome argues that this extra safety net motivates more people to set sail in vessels that could never make the voyage unaided. It has since threatened to close its ports to these ships.

Read more: Italy draws up code of conduct for NGO migrant boat rescuesRead more: EU backs Italy in stand-off with NGOs over refugee rescue

Elizabeth Collett of the Migration Policy Institute said nobody should be blamed for a situation that's simply bad all the way around.

"It's an extremely complex moral quandary that NGOs find themselves in," Collett explained to DW earlier this month. "And I think it's very easy to oversimplify the situation. On the one hand this is a humanitarian action: If we don't pick these people up they will die. They are in boats that cannot go a certain distance beyond a few miles from the Libyan coast. However, they are using those boats because of the presence of the NGOs. But having created that situation, NGOs can't just pull out."

Monitored by activist groups

Activist Group Hope not Hate said it had been monitoring the ship and its departure from a Djibouti port.

"This confrontational and dangerous project is organized by far-right activists with a long track record of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant activism and while organized by Europeans it is being supported, funded and promoted by the extreme far-right around the world," the group wrote.

"The danger is that, if left unchallenged, Defend Europe could prove to be a major propaganda coup for the far-right Identitarian movement, which will use this mission to fundraise further and expand."

According to its predictions, the ship will reach Sicily by July 18.

In 2016, 180,000 migrants landed in Italy from Libya. According to the International Organization for Migration, the average death rate for people crossing the Mediterranean in this way is one in 39. More than 1,200 migrants are known to have died attempting the journey so far this year alone.



Source: http://www.dw.com/en/defend-europe-identitarians-charter-a-ship-to-return-migrants-to-africa/a-39702947