Saving the lives of refugees and migrants in distress in the Mediterranean must once again become a priority for the European Union and the international community.
Staff UNHCR a Porto Empedocle in attesa dello sbarco dalla nave mercantile Vos Triton. ©UNHCR
Saving the lives of refugees and migrants in distress in the Mediterranean must once again become a priority for the European Union and the international community.
This is the appeal made by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, after gathering the testimonies of survivors of the latest shipwreck.
The UNHCR team in Porto Empedocle, where 77 migrants and refugees are waiting to be disembarked from the commercial vessel Vos Triton, has gathered accurate reports about the shipwreck that took place on Saturday 20 February in the Central Mediterranean, confirming that at least 41 people drowned and are missing.
According to these testimonies, 120 people were on a dinghy that left Libya on Thursday 18 February, including six women, one of whom was pregnant, and four children. After about 15 hours the dinghy started to take in water, and the persons on board tried in every way possible to call for help. In those hours, six persons died after falling into the water, while two others tried to swim to a boat spotted in the distance and drowned.
After about three hours, the vessel Vos Triton approached the dinghy to carry out a rescue but in the difficult and delicate operation many persons lost their lives. Only one body was recovered. Among the missing are three children and four women, one of whom leaves a newborn baby currently in Lampedusa.
Some 160 persons have died in the Central Mediterranean so far in 2021.
Tens of thousands of persons travelling along the route through Libya to the Central Mediterranean have fallen victim to unspeakable brutality at the hands of traffickers and militias.
According to data published by UNHCR, out of a total of more than 3,800 persons who arrived in Italy by sea between 1 January and 21 February 2021, 2,527 departed from Libya.
According to data gathered by IOM, more than 3,580 persons were intercepted at sea and returned to Libya in the same period. There, returnees are forced into arbitrary detention and risk becoming victim to abuse, violence and major human rights violations.
IOM and UNHCR reiterate that Libya cannot be considered a safe port and that every effort must be made to ensure that persons rescued at sea are not sent back there.
The duty to rescue people at sea must always be respected, regardless of their nationality and legal status, in line with international obligations.
That migrants and refugees should continue to try desperately to reach Europe via the central Mediterranean is demonstration of the need for an immediate international effort to provide them with viable alternatives to these deadly sea crossings. The solutions exist, what is needed is a step change to strengthen access to education and to increase available sources of livelihood in countries along the route.
ENDS
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