Dutch MP to investigate Mediterranean sea deaths

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 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 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, 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 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.