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EUROPE-MIGRANTS-GERMANY-LIFELINE
German charity Lifeline denies migrant rescue was illegal
BERLIN, June 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – German migrant rescue group Mission
Lifeline Wednesday denied breaking the law when it took on board more than
230 African asylum seekers and refused to hand them over to Libya’s
coastguard.
Lifeline also said its ship remained in waters off Malta amid
“deteriorating weather conditions and an increasingly fragile health
situation of the rescued people”, despite news Tuesday that it could dock
there and that the migrants would be taken in by six EU countries.
Italy and France have accused the charity of acting illegally by refusing
to hand the shipwrecked migrants over to the coastguard during the June 21
rescue, arguing that such operations play into the hands of human
traffickers.
But Lifeline argued that the migrants would not be safe in Libya, where
they have faced abuse and rape in holding centres, and that returning them
there would breach international refugee law.
“There have been a number of false accusations that Lifeline ignores orders
by different MRCCs (maritime rescue coordination centres),” said the group’s
co-founder Axel Steier in a statement.
“The only order the ship denied was to hand over people to the so-called
Libyan coastguard, as this would have been not in line with the Geneva
Refugee Convention and therefore criminal.”
Lifeline said it followed the principle of non-refoulement under
international law that forbids returning asylum seekers to a country where
they likely face persecution.
The vessel’s fate has hung in the balance since last week as EU members
remain at loggerheads over how to handle the influx of people fleeing war and
misery to reach the continent.
The decision by Italy’s new hardline government and Malta to turn away
rescue vessels has plunged Europe into a political crisis over how to
collectively respond.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday, after days of bickering
between EU member states over the ship’s fate, that Malta would allow it to
dock and the migrants be distributed to six EU countries.
However, Macron also criticised the German NGO running the ship for
contravening “all the rules” by coming to the migrants’ rescue when the
Libyan coastguard was already intervening.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1503 hrs