Migrant aid group suspends rescue ship off Libya, cites risk

Mail Online

By Associated Press

12 August 2017

ROME (AP) - Doctors Without Borders said Saturday it is temporarily suspending the activity of its rescue ship due to alleged threats from Libya's coast guard, which has become more aggressive in patrolling the coasts where human traffickers launch boats crowded with migrants desperate to reach Europe.

The humanitarian group said the rescue coordination center operated by Italy's coast guard had informed it on Friday that the Libyan threats pose a security risk. The group added that Libyan authorities declared their own rescue area, extending into international waters, the same day.

Doctors Without Borders says its medical crew will keep working from a ship operated by another aid group while its own vessel, Prudence, is not involved in migrant rescues.

The Italian government agreed last month to dispatch a naval mission to assist the Libyan coast guard with anti-smuggler patrols. Hundreds of thousands of rescued asylum-seekers, many of them fleeing poverty in Africa, have been brought to safety in Italian ports in recent years.

The government also has pressured rescue groups to sign on to rules that would forbid them from entering Libyan waters to save migrants without specific authorization and require them to agree that armed Italian judicial authorities may board their ships.

Italy is requiring groups operating rescue ships to subscribe to the rules else or risk not being allowed to dock in Italian ports. Doctors Without Borders has refused to endorse the rules, while some other humanitarian groups have given their approval.

Critics of the new policies say they could put lives at risk by delaying rescues in Libyan waters. They also contend that if the Libyan coast guard blocks smugglers' boats, migrants will be returned to inhumane conditions, including beatings and forced labor, in Libyan detention centers.

"If humanitarian ships are pushed out of the Mediterranean, there will be fewer ships ready to aid persons before they drown," Doctors Without Borders Italy President Loris De Filippi said in a statement. "And whoever doesn't drown will be intercepted and brought back to Libya, which we know to be a place of absent legality, arbitrary detention and extreme violence."

A Spanish humanitarian group, Proactiva Open Arms, said the Libyan coast guard ordered its rescue ship to move north and fired warning shots last week when the vessel was involved in search-and-rescue work outside of Libyan territory.

Humanitarian groups have had ships monitoring the Mediterranean Sea outside of Libya's territorial waters to help rescue migrants from smugglers' boats in distress. The Italian coast guard coordinates the rescues, including those conducted by naval vessels from other European countries.

Anti-migrant sentiment has been rising in Italy, where newcomers from Africa and the Middle East are being blamed for crimes.

Italian news agency ANSA reported Saturday that Italian authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a Somali man who had applied for asylum in Sicily. The asylum-seeker was identified as one of some 50 Somalis wanted for the 2011 hijacking of an Italian oil tanker off the coast of Somalia.

ANSA said the man's fingerprints matched ones taken from the hijacked tanker. The ship's 22-person crew was held for ransom for several months. ANSA, citing court documents, said $11.5 million was paid for the ship's release.


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-4784864/Migrant-aid-group-suspends-rescue-ship-Libya-cites-risk.html

MSF suspends use of largest migrant rescue boat

Mail Online

By Afp

12 August 2017

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) aid group said Saturday it was halting operations of its largest rescue ship for migrants in the Mediterranean after Libya barred foreign vessels from a stretch of water off its coast.

"With NGOs more and more restricted in the Med & the #EU determined to trap people in #Libya, we've put the #Prudence on standby," MSF said on Twitter.

Libya's navy this week ordered foreign vessels to stay out of a coastal "search and rescue zone" for migrants headed for Europe.

Navy spokesman General Ayoub Qassem said on Thursday that the measure was aimed at non-governmental organisations "which pretend to want to rescue illegal migrants and carry out humanitarian actions".

MSF said that while it would continue to provide assistance to other rescue operations, it was suspending the use of the Prudence -- one of the largest NGO vessels in the Mediterranean that rescued 1,500 people in May alone.

"European states and the Libyan authorities are jointly implementing a roadblock for people looking for security," MSF Italy president Loris De Filippi said in a statement.

"It's an unacceptable attack on the lives and dignity of people."

Italy, which has borne the brunt of Europe's migrant crisis this year, warned NGOs earlier this month that they would not be allowed to continue working in the Mediterranean if they did not sign up to new rules governing their operations.

Under a new code of conduct drawn up as a German vessel was impounded for allegedly aiding people smugglers, boats would have to have an Italian police officer on board monitoring activities.

Most aid agencies conducting rescues off the coast of Libya have signed up to the agreement, but not MSF.

Some 600,000 mostly African migrants have arrived in Italy from Libya since the start of 2014, putting the country's reception facilities under strain and the centre-left government under pressure with elections looming next year.

Six years since a revolution that toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, Libya has become a key departure point for migrants risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

Tens of thousands of migrants have resorted to paying people traffickers for the journey, often on overcrowded and unseaworthy boats.


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4785162/MSF-suspends-use-largest-migrant-rescue-boat.html

Anti-migrant ship ignores help from rescue activists

Mail Online

By Afp

11 August 2017

Anti-immigration activists whose boat was reported in trouble said Friday they had got their engines going again, after a migrant rescue ship said it had been dispatched to help.

The C-Star, which has vowed to expose what it describes as "collaboration" between privately-funded rescue ships and people traffickers, said earlier on Twitter it had "developed a minor technical problem during the night", leaving it adrift but not in distress.

Germany's Sea-Eye, one of nine NGOs involved in migrant search and rescue (SAR) operations and a target of the C-Star's campaign, said it had been "asked by the MRCC (command centre in Rome) to assist the ship".

But later Friday a spokesman for C-Star told AFP that the boat, which had only just got going against after being blocked for five days off the coast of Tunisia, simply stopped its engines to resolve a technical problem.

This was what set off a signal to other boats in the nearby area, but not asking for help, he said.

The Sea-Eye returned to its previous route and activities once it was told its help was not needed by the C-Star.

The Italian coast guard could not be reached for a comment.

The C-Star has been plagued with problems since its mission began last month. It was initially refused permission to travel through the Suez Canal, before later being blocked over legal questions in Cyprus.

After finally making it to Libya's SAR zone, it needed to refuel but found itself stuck off the coast of Tunisia earlier this week after fishermen and a powerful Tunisian union refused to allow passage.

The 40-metre long ship, which is flying under a Mongolian flag, is leased by the far-right group "Generation Identity".

Funded by Internet-collected donations of more than $212,000 (180,000 euros), the Austrian, French, German and Italian activists on board have vowed to ensure migrants rescued at sea off Libya be returned to Africa.

Two NGO ships were badgered at sea by the C-Star last week with a radio message telling them to "leave the rescue zone" and "stop acting as an incentive for human traffickers".

The message echoed one transmitted Thursday by the Libyan navy, which has banned any unauthorised foreign ships from entering the SAR zone off its coast.


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4783372/Anti-migrant-ship-ignores-help-rescue-activists.html

Doctors Without Borders decries 'blockade' on boat migrants in Libyan waters

Deutsche Welle

12 August 2017


Doctors Without Borders says "hostility" from Libya has forced it to suspend offshore rescues of boat migrants by its ship, Prudence. Libya recently told non-governmental groups to stay away.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF in French) accused the European Union and Libya of creating a "blockade" in Libyan coastal waters that would result in more Mediterranean deaths and more migrants stuck in Libyan detention.

Last month, Italy approved a naval mission in Libyan waters to train and support the coastguard of the country's UN-backed government in Tripoli, whose authority is challenged by other Libyan factions.

NGOs being shut out?

Earlier this week, Libya said it was establishing a "search and rescue" zone off its coast - a move MSF said would extend Libyan patrols into international waters, where humanitarian groups pick up asylum seekers from flimsy boats.

Previously, non-governmental groups (NGOs) had conducted search and rescue operations as close as 11 nautical miles off the Libyan mainland.

The MSF, with its vessel Prudence, is one of nine NGOs involved in migrant rescues in the Mediterranean – rivalled by an anti-migrant group – since the Balkans route was virtually shut to refugees from early 2016

Assault on dignity

MSF's Director of Operations, Brice de le Vingne, on Saturday accused European states and Libyan authorities of "jointly implementing a blockade on the ability of people to seek safety" and assaulting their dignity.

"The recent developments represent another worrying element of an increasingly hostile environment for lifesaving operations," he said.

Another aid group active in the Mediterranean, Proactiva Open Arms, also criticized the EU, with its founder Oscar Camps tweeting: "the first NGO out, this is just what the EU wants."

Loris De Filippi, president of MSF's Italian arm said, "We are suspending our activities because now we feel that the threatening behavior by the Libyan coastguard is very serious ... we cannot put our colleagues in danger."

MSF said medical staff would, however, keep working from a ship operated by another aid group, SOS Mediterranee, while the Prudence remained idle.

'Fewer illegal immigrants'

Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy's anti-immigrant Northern League, asserted that MSF's move would result in "thousands fewer illegal immigrants for Italians to maintain."

If migrants are intercepted while trying to cross to Europe and are then taken back to Libya, they often face slave labor and sexual violence, according to multiple reports.

13,000 deaths in four years

Over the past four years, almost 600,000 migrants have arrived in Italy, the vast majority setting sail from largely lawless Libya in flimsy vessels operated by people smugglers. More than 13,000 migrants have died trying to make the crossing.

General Khalifa Hifter, a Bengazi-based commander who rivals Tripoli and is aligned with Libya's eastern-region parliament, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Saturday the presence of Italian military vessels in Libyan waters was unacceptable.

The newspaper quoted Hifter as saying he would not attack them.

The UN's migration agency counted 114,000 migrant arrivals since the beginning of 2017 until July 30, with almost 85 percent arriving in Italy.

ipj/jlw (APE, AFP, dpa)


Source: http://www.dw.com/en/doctors-without-borders-decries-blockade-on-boat-migrants-in-libyan-waters/a-40069387

MSF suspends Mediterranean rescues as migrant dispute mounts

Reuters

By Gavin Jones

12 August 2017

ROME (Reuters) - Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Saturday it was suspending its migrant rescues in the Mediterranean because it felt threatened by the Libyan coastguard and the Italian government’s policies have made its job harder.

The aid group’s decision is the latest development in mounting tensions between Rome and NGOs as migration dominates Italy’s political agenda ahead of elections early next year.

“We are suspending our activities because now we feel that the threatening behavior by the Libyan coastguard is very serious ... we cannot put our colleagues in danger,” the president of MSF’s Italian arm Loris De Filippi told Reuters.

Almost 600,000 migrants have arrived in Italy over the past four years, the vast majority setting sail from lawless Libya in flimsy vessels operated by people smugglers. More than 13,000 migrants have died trying to make the crossing.

Charity boats have played a growing role in rescues, picking up more than a third of all migrants brought ashore so far this year against less than one percent in 2014.

However, Italy fears the groups are facilitating people smuggling and encouraging migrants to make the passage, and it has proposed a Code of Conduct governing how they operate.

Some groups, including MSF, have refused to sign the code.

They object to a requirement that Italian police officers be on their boats and that the boats must take migrants to a safe port themselves, rather than transferring them to other vessels to allow smaller boats to stay in the area for further rescues.

MSF operates one rescue ship in the Mediterranean, the Prudence, currently docked in the Sicilian port of Catania.

In the last six weeks the number of migrant arrivals in Italy has slowed sharply and Rome has begun collaborating more closely with the Libyan coastguard, which De Filippi said was threatening the NGOs and preventing them from working.

He said the Libyan coastguard had demanded the NGOs should leave an area of up to hundreds of kilometers around its coast, whereas previously they had been allowed to conduct search and rescue operations as close as 11 nautical miles to the mainland.

“Last year the coastguard fired 13 shots on our boat and that was in a situation that was much calmer than the present one,” said De Filippi.

He said MSF would continue its collaboration with another aid group, SOS Mediterranee, which operates a rescue ship in the Mediterranean with MSF doctors on board.

De Filippi said the Rome government’s Code of Conduct for NGOs and its support for the Libyan coastguard showed it was now mixing the humanitarian goal of saving lives with “a political and military intention” of reducing arrivals.

“We refuse to be co-opted into a system that blocks people from seeking safety and protection,” MSF tweeted, adding that the European Union’s immigration policies showed it was “determined to trap people in Libya.”

Oscar Camps, the founder of Proactiva Open Arms, another aid group active in the Mediterranean, also took aim at the EU, tweeting: "the first NGO out, this is just what the EU wants."

An Italian government spokesman was not immediately available to comment, while Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League, said MSF's move meant there would be "thousands fewer illegal immigrants for Italians to maintain."

Last week Italy began a naval mission in Libyan waters to train and support its coastguard, despite opposition from factions in eastern Libya that oppose the U.N.-backed government based in Tripoli.

General Khalifa Haftar, a commander aligned with an Eastern-based parliament, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Saturday the presence of Italian military vessels in Libyan waters was unacceptable but he would not attack them.

Editing by David Evans and Stephen Powell


Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-idUSKCN1B52Q2?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29

Libya Excludes NGO Vessels from "Rescue Zone"

The Maritime Executive

By MarEx

11 August 2017

On Thursday, the Libyan Navy announced a ban on foreign NGO migrant rescue vessels within an unspecified "search and rescue zone" off the Libyan coast.

Privately-operated rescue ships typically wait outside of Libya's 12-nm line to intercept unseaworthy migrant rafts and bring the occupants on board, and it was not immediately clear whether Libyan forces intend to interfere with foreign vessels in international waters.

Recent events would suggest that the ban may extend beyond territorial seas: rescue NGO Proactiva Open Arms recently reported that a Libyan coast guard vessel fired warning shots at a rescue ship outside of Libyan waters, ordering her to leave the area or face an attack. The threat would appear to be inconsistent with UNCLOS provisions on freedom of navigation.

"We want to send out a clear message to all those who infringe Libyan sovereignty and lack respect for the coastguard and navy," said Libyan navy General Ayoub Qassem, speaking at a news conference in Tripoli. According to AFP, he said that his remarks were aimed at "NGOs which pretend to want to rescue illegal migrants and carry out humanitarian actions."

Italy is providing direct support for Libyan efforts to interdict migrants within Libyan waters and return them to shore, and the EU is funding a training program for the Libyan coast guard. The Italian government has also created a new "code of conduct" for the NGO vessel operators, which forbids transshipment of migrants at sea and requires access for embarked police observers.

Defend Europe encounters technical problems

The right-wing anti-immigration group Defend Europe encountered technical difficulties Friday with their chartered vessel, the 1975-built, Mongolian-flagged floating armory C Star.

Migrant rescue vessel Sea Eye reported that the C Star broadcast a Pan Pan call, and the regional SAR MRCC contacted Sea Eye to ask her to divert to assist. C Star declined her offer to help; Defend Europe said in a statement that the vessel had been "not under command" with her engine stopped while minor repairs were completed, and that the crew had notified nearby traffic for safety reasons. As of Friday evening, C Star was under way again off the coast of Libya.

In a statement, Sea Eye director Michael Busch Heuer said that “to help in distress is the duty of anyone who is at sea, without distinction to their origin, colour, religion or beliefs."

C Star gained attention in June when she and her crew were detained in Turkish Cyprus on suspicion of human trafficking. Five Sri Lankan nationals departed the vessel in Famagusta, claimed asylum and asserted that they had paid for passage to Europe; 15 more foreign nationals also disembarked and flew back to their country of origin. The crew and the vessel were released shortly thereafter. Defend Europe maintains that the supernumeraries were maritime trainees, not migrants.


Source: http://maritime-executive.com/article/libya-excludes-ngo-vessels-from-rescue-zone

Another NGO signs Italy's rules for Mediterranean migrant rescues

Business Standard

11 August 2017

Rome, Aug 11 (IANS/AKI) International charity Sos Mediterranee on Friday inked the Italian government's code of conduct for migrant rescues in the Mediterranean, the Italian Interior Ministry announced on Friday.

The Italo-French-German NGO's signature brings to five the number of charities that have signed the controversial code, meaning the majority have now agreed to the new rules, which ban transfer of migrants from one vessel to another, require armed police on board NGO vessels, prohibit phonecalls and firing flares, and forbid the ships from sailing into Libyan waters unless lives are at risk.

Interior Minister Marco Minniti has said that the NGOs who have not signed the code of conduct are excluded from official rescue operations in the Mediterranean and may not bring migrants to Italian ports.

The code has been criticised by NGOs, rights groups and the United Nations who say it risks further endangering lives in the Mediterranean - the world's deadiest waterway - where over 2,400 people have perished this year alone.

"There are aspects of the code we cannot accept, especially armed police aboard our vessels," Sandra Hammay from Seawatch, a German NGO that has not signed the code, told Adnkronos on Friday.

"Signing the code in its present form doesn't help anyone," Hammay said. "We need to find a compromise," she stated.

Leading charity Doctors without Borders (MSF), another non-signatory to the code, also rejects armed police on its ships and the requirement for NGOs to disembark migrants at ports rather than transferring them to other ships - a rule which it says will have fatal consequences.

It however praised Italy's "laudable" efforts to save lives at sea in the face of "an insufficient response" from other European Union countries, urging them to be more "proactive" in the Mediterranean.

The code has caused rifts Italy's centre-left government with Minniti shunning a cabinet meeting earlier this week, prompting Italian President Sergio Mattarella to step in and defend "the value of the code of conduct" for NGOs.

Transport Minister Graziano Delrio, who is in charge of the Italian coastguard, told national daily newspaper La Repubblica on Tuesday that Italy has an obligation under international maritime law to save lives at sea.

"If an NGO vessel is located near people who need rescuing then I cannot exclude it. Even if it has not signed the code of conduct, I have to use it to save human lives," said Delrio, who is a doctor.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/another-ngo-signs-italy-s-rules-for-mediterranean-migrant-rescues-117081101918_1.html