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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Jul 06 2011 - 08:44:22 EDT
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/dutch-mp-investigate-mediterranean-sea-deaths
NATIONAL Friday, June 24, 2011
Dutch MP to investigate Mediterranean sea deaths
By Matthew Vella
* *
*Council of Europe investigating claims that national coastguards ignored
distress calls | Cecilia Malmström accuses EU govts of allowing xenophobic
sentiments*
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has launched an
inquiry into who is responsible for the disappearance and death of more than
1,000 asylum seekers in the Mediterranean since January 2011 while trying to
reach European soil from North Africa.
Following a request for an inquiry signed by 34 members of the Assembly –
which groups MPs from the national parliaments of member states of the
Council of Europe – PACE’s Migration Committee yesterday appointed Dutch
Green MP Tineke Strik to prepare a report on “Lives lost in the
Mediterranean sea: who is responsible?”.
“There have been allegations that migrants and refugees are dying after
their appeals for rescue have been ignored,” Strik said. “Such a grave
allegation must be urgently investigated.”
“I intend to look into the manner in which these boats are intercepted – or
not – by the different national coastguards, the EU’s border agency FRONTEX,
or even military vessels. I also intend to speak to witnesses directly
involved in reported incidents, and put questions to national authorities,
the UNHCR, FRONTEX and NATO, among others.”
On 8 May, the Guardian newspaper reported that 61 boat people escaping from
Libya<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/08/nato-ship-libyan-migrants>had
died after their appeals for rescue had been ignored by armed forces
operating in the Mediterranean. The following day PACE President Mevlüt
Çavusoglu called for “an immediate and comprehensive enquiry” into the
incident.
Reportedly, the boat had been left to drift in the Mediterranean for 16
days, and a call from the
boat<http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/world/refugee-rights-activist-rejects-nato-s-denial-of-abandoning-migrants-at-sea>to
the Italian coastguard and a military helicopter and NATO warship was
ignored because no rescue effort was attempted. By the time the vessel
drifted ashore at Zlitan, Libya, on 10 April, all but 11 passengers were
dead, and another died after being imprisoned by forces loyal to Muammar
Gaddafi, the country’s leader.
A spokesman for the Italian coastguard said they had advised Malta that the
vessel was heading towards their search and rescue zone, and issued an alert
telling vessels to look out for the boat, "obliging them to attempt a
rescue." The Maltese authorities denied they had had any involvement with
the boat.
The migrants used a satellite phone to call Fr Moses
Zerai<http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/the-african-shepherd-moses-zerai>,
an Eritrean priest in Rome who runs a refugee rights organisation, who then
alerted the Italian coastguard. The story is corroborated by another story
carried recently by MaltaToday on April
17<http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/video-woman-blames-nato-for-sister-s-death-after-vessels-ignored-pleas-for-help>when
a boat laden with 171 african refugees fleeing Libya and rescued by
the
Armed Forces of Malta was denied assistance by NATO. One woman died on board
and was later buried in Malta.
*Malmström criticism*
The EU’s Commissioner for home affairs Cecilia Malmström yesterday accused
EU governments of allowing xenophobic sentiments in Europe to dictate
immigration policy and failing to protect refugees from North Africa.
On the eve of an EU summit in Brussels where leaders of the bloc’s 27
governments will discuss immigration, Cecilia Malmström urged them to make
more efforts to resettle people fleeing turmoil and to improve Europe’s
asylum provisions.
“In recent years, we have witnessed growing support for populist movements
in the EU. In my areas of responsibility – asylum, migration, integration
and border cooperation – I can see that xenophobia is on the rise,” she said
in a statement.
France and Italy have called for greater freedom to reintroduce borders
within the EU, a move that would make it easier to block migrants from
slipping into European countries. EU leaders are expected at this week’s
summit to clear the way for such measures.
EU governments are set to launch talks with North African states on
long-term policy, attempting to agree how countries such as Tunisia and
Egypt might curb irregular migration and in return secure better access to
jobs in the EU for legal workers and other travellers.
But Malmström said such plans were not enough and told the bloc’s
governments to extend more help to the region. “Political leaders all over
Europe have been quick to condemn violence ... and to congratulate our
Northern African neighbours in their fight for democracy and freedom,” she
said,
“But when it comes to dealing with the consequences of these developments,
and particularly when it comes to dealing with the men, women and children
coming to Europe for protection or in search of a better life, European
leaders have not been as supportive,” she said.
Malmström has so far failed to convince EU capitals to take in some 15,000
people who have fled from North Africa. “EU member states altogether have so
far committed to give protection to some 800 people,” she said.
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