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Italy, Malta must allow ‘immediate disembarkation’ of stranded migrants: UN
GENEVA, June 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The UN refugee agency on Monday called
on Italy and Malta to immediately allow a boat carrying hundreds of migrants
to dock, describing the situation as “an urgent humanitarian imperative.”
Some 629 people, including pregnant women and scores of children, were
saved by SOS Mediterranean Saturday and are stuck aboard the French NGO’s
ship Aquarius, which is currently between Malta and Sicily waiting for a
secure port.
In a statement, UNHCR “appealed to concerned governments to allow the
immediate disembarkation of hundreds of people stranded in the Mediterranean
since Saturday.
The agency’s special envoy for migrants in the Mediterranean, Vincent
Cochetel, underscored that “people are in distress, are running out of
provisions and need help quickly.”
“Broader issues such as who has responsibility and how these
responsibilities can best be shared between States should be looked at
later,” he said in the statement.
Malta on Sunday reiterated its refusal to accept the ship, ignoring calls
from Rome.
A Maltese government spokesman told AFP that the rescue of the migrants
took place in the Libyan search and rescue area and was headed up by the
rescue coordination centre in Rome, meaning Malta has no legal obligation to
take in the migrants.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1654 hrs