ZCZC
BFF-35
EUROPE-MIGRANTS-ITALY-FACTS-LEAD
No more civilian rescue boats off Libya
ROME, Feb 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Civilian rescue vessel Sea Watch 3, which
was detained in Sicily on Friday, is the latest in a long list of such ships
that have been forced or have chosen to stop their work.
Currently only the Libyan coastguard is able to save those migrants
floundering in their attempts to reach Europe across the central
Mediterranean.
Here is a status review of migrant rescue ship organisations:
– Gave up –
The main charities trying to rescue migrants off the coast of Libya
stopped their efforts in the summer of 2017, after departure numbers fell and
the Libyan coastguard intensified threats against the boats they consider
accomplices of people smugglers.
Maltese aid group MOAS, which was the first to carry out migrant rescue
operations in 2014 and had deployed two vessels, transferred its activities
to helping the Rohingya in Bangladesh in September 2017.
Around the same time, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) ended its operations
with the Vos Prudence, the largest private vessel deployed off Libya with a
record 1,500 people rescued at the same time.
Save the Children ended its search and rescue operations with the Vos
Hestia in October 2017.
– Stopped –
In August 2017, Italian authorities impounded the Juventa, operated by
small German aid group Jugend Rettet, after it was accused of helping Libyan
human traffickers. The aid group denies the charge.
The Lifeline rescue vessel operated by a German aid group of the same name
was impounded on arrival in Valletta, Malta, in June 2018, for alleged
registration issues.
Aid groups SOS Mediterranee and MSF stopped search and rescue operations
with the Aquarius in December after it was stuck in a French port for two
months following the revocation of its registration.
Spain’s Proactiva Open Arms in January slammed the authorities’ decision
to keep the Open Arms ship in Barcelona harbour. The boat was impounded for a
month by Italy in early 2018. It was then forced to take rescued migrants to
Spain several times after Malta and Italy refused to allow them to disembark.
– Persevering –
The Sea Eye charity from Germany had several vessels impounded during 2018
but deployed another ship, the Professor Albrecht Penck, in December,
rescuing 12 migrants. The boat is currently in Majorca and plans to set sail
again in around two weeks.
SOS Mediteranee has said it is looking for another boat and flag so it can
continue search and rescue operations.
In Italy a collective of associations launched the Mediterranea, flying an
Italian flag, mainly to witness the situation for migrants off Libya.
There are also two light aircraft, the Colibri operated by French aid
group Pilotes Volontaires and the Moonbird operated by Sea Watch, which
overfly the Mediterranean seeking to identify and locate migrant-carrying
boats in trouble.
BSS/AFP/RY/1735 hrs