Reported deaths:
(during the same period) 2021: 632 2020: 160 2019: 331
Reported arrivals:
(during the same period) 2021: About 13 500 2020: 6 374
is under an international conflict resolution process after years of civil war. As a matter of fact, Libyan authorities are not able to effectively coordinate the Search and Rescue Region (SRR) off their coasts in the spirit of maritime and international law. On 22nd April, SOS MEDITERRANEE teams onboard the Ocean Viking witnessed one more tragic failure. On 21st -22nd April, the Libyan Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) failed to coordinate a rescue operation, and neither Malta nor Rome took over. A Frontex airplane only arrived and took action 10 hours after the first alert, in the evening of Wednesday 21st. As shown in the timeline of events properly recorded onboard, in the more than 24 hours that elapsed between the first alert and the tragedy, our rescue vessel Ocean Viking received no proper answer to her request for intervention from the maritime authorities to coordinate operations. Unfortunately, this circumstance is not an exception – instead, it became the new rule since June 2018. This failure was fatal. With proper coordination and timely action, 130 lives could more than likely have been saved.
states must take “European decisions where humanity
and common sense are at the centre of the measures taken.”
SOS MEDITERRANEE has observed an increased number of departures since the beginning of 2021, despite the low, if any, rescue capacities offshore. Indeed, during winter, reported figures2 (see table) are alarming. In 2021, reported deaths have increased by 295% compared to 2020, and almost 100% compared to 2019. Also, reported attempted crossings in 2021 have doubled from 2020. At the sight of these figures and in the current context, as the 22nd April shipwreck sadly demonstrated, there are not enough SAR capacities in the Central Mediterranean. This situation makes us fear the worst for the coming weeks as summer, and better sailing conditions, are coming.
Reported attempted crossings: (during the same period) 2021: 20 321 2020: 10 354
photo:Source: SOS Mediterrané
Migration and Asylum
1. To put human lives first and prioritise rescue before any political consideration. 2. Italy and Malta, as part of a European agreement including material support and a resettlement system, should be a relay to Libya. Moreover, with the European resources already available in the Central Mediterranean, support for this coordination can be quickly put in place. For example, Frontex operations could be readjusted, and resources allocated to support maritime rescue coordination through transparent involvement in the process. 3. In a longer-term process, this responsibility could be taken over by the European Union, among other things through the shaping of a European MRCC. 4. EU Member States should immediately reallocate current resources in the Central Mediterranean, as per the IRINI operation, for SAR operations. Summer is coming. Shipwrecks will happen again. EU Member States are responsible for addressing the needs of search and rescue operations. 5. EU Member States should collaborate to set up transparent, legal, safe and enhanced maritime rescue operations with states-led rescue assets in the Central Mediterranean: they must re-establish a European search and rescue programme for the Central Mediterranean in accordance with international (maritime and humanitarian) law. 6. To reach this point, the European Commission should enshrine SAR questions in the European New Pact on Migration and Asylum, involving SAR NGOs in open spaces such as the working groups in which we are willing to take part and share our expertise. Finally, European states must take decisions where humanity and common sense are at the centre of the measures taken. Solidarity with frontline countries in Europe must be the common language of all Member States. It should be the DNA of European values. I believe in and stick to what our European Parliamentarians have proclaimed: “The European Union’s fundamental values are respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law3.”
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported that more than a dozen recent shipwrecks off the coast of Libya and elsewhere have pushed the death toll in the Mediterranean Sea since 2014 to over 20,000. 2 IOM, Missing Migrants Project, https://missingmigrants.iom.int/, last update 26th of May 2021 3 https://tinyurl.com/44ju8rwe 1
The EU needs to step up and act jointly In the face of these severe failures and this tragedy taking place at our borders, European countries have a responsibility to step up and act jointly:
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