migreurop | 16.08.2017
Update Aug. 16, 2017 Since this PR has been written, the situation in the Mediterranean is much more worse:
- Libya established a SAR zone up to 100 miles of its coast, forbidden to foreign vessels, particularly those of the NGOs.
- Facing threats from the Libyan coast-guards, several NGOs (as of Aug. 16, 2017 Médecins sans frontières, Save the Children and Sea Eye) decided to interrupt their SAR missions.
- General Haftar asks the EU for 20 billions €, for the «safety» of Libya Southern border, and nearly 1000 migrants have been intercepted at sea by the Libyan coast-guards to be sent back to the hell of the Libyan gaols.
OHCHR (Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights) is, as of today, the only international body to react (although a little bit too late, on Aug. 15): Agnès Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, warned that Italy-EU search and rescue code could increase Mediterranean deaths.
Meanwhile the Italian government is satisfied, UNHCR doesn’t react and the EU and its Member states silently approuve this extension of externalisation, planned and hoped for from a long time.