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Europarat 29.03.2012: „Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea: who is responsible?“

On March 29th 2012, the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons of the Council of Europe adopted the provisional version of its report “Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea: who is responsible?”.

Rapporteur: Ms Tineke STRIK, Netherlands, Socialist Group

Summary

The starting point for this report is that at least 1 500 people are known to have lost their lives attempting to cross the Mediterranean in 2011. This report however focuses on one particularly harrowing case in which a small boat left Tripoli with 72 people on board and after two weeks at sea drifted back to Libya with only nine survivors. No one went to the aid of this boat, despite a distress call logged by the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, which pinpointed the boat’s position. There were also a number of alleged direct contacts between the boat in distress and other vessels, including a helicopter that dropped biscuits and water, but never returned, two fishing vessels, both of which refused to provide assistance, and a large military vessel which came into close contact with the boat, but ignored obvious distress signals.

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