MADRID – The number of illegal immigrants seeking entry to European Union soared in 2014 to an all-time record of 270,000, with Italy and Greece as their preferred destinations, according to the EU border agency, Frontex.
IOM
Italy – The spectre of large, disposable crafts bearing hundreds of migrants across dangerous waters in the new year was borne out in terrifying fashion this past week as more than 1,000 migrants, most fleeing Syria, had to be rescued in the Mediterranean Sea.
According to survivors’ accounts, the crews of both vessels deliberately abandoned men, women and children aboard, setting courses for the Italian coastline despite the very real possibility that hundreds might drown.
Winter used to bring some respite for those agencies responsible for controlling Europe’s long Mediterranean borders. For each of the last ten years, irregular migration has slowed or even stopped in the run-up to Christmas, with the people smugglers largely confined to port by the rough seas. Not any more, it seems.
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The Times
Tom Kington Rome
A 27-year-old woman in Sicily has emerged as the unlikely saviour of thousands of Syrians who risk their lives sailing through winter storms in the Mediterranean to escape the civil war devastating their country.
As they drift in unpiloted ships, often without fuel or food and buffeted by giant waves, many migrants use the last credit on their phones to seek assistance from Nawal Soufi, an Italian-Moroccan activist based in Catania, who is known among Syrians as “Lady SOS”. Weiterlesen »
Flüchtlingsschutzorganisationen setzen auf praktische Hilfe mit modernsten technischen Hilfsmitteln
Die ausgebrannte Fähre Norman Atlantic hatte Ende Dezember für einige Tage die Medien in Deutschland beschäftigt. Nur am Rande wurde erwähnt, dass die genaue Zahl der Toten noch nicht ermittelt werden konnte, weil nicht klar ist, wie hoch die Anzahl der Geflüchteten an Bord der Schiffes war. Doch schon die häufig verwendete Metapher von den blinden Passagieren zeigt an, dass selbst bei einem solchen Unglück nicht alle Menschen als Opfer, die Hilfe bedürfen, angesehen werden.
