AYS News Digest 04/04/23: Geo Barents rescues 440 people off Malta
Updates from the Libyan/Maltese SAR // Pre-election anti-migration rhetoric rising in Turkey // Deportations from Germany // Maldusa project launches in Italy // & much more
Feature
Libyan/Maltese SAR: Geo Barents rescues 440 people off Malta, during an 11 hour ordeal overnight in a stormy sea
On 3rd April, Alarm Phone were alerted to an incident off Libya with around 500 people supposed to be at risk. In heavy weather conditions — 27 knots of wind and high waves — the boat moved into the Maltese SAR zone, whilst the Italian MRCC watched on, waiving their responsibility.
Two nearby merchant vessels, ill-equipped to carry out such a sizeable rescue operation, sheltered the at-risk boat. With no response from the responsible ‘authorities’, the Geo Barents diverted its course to execute a rescue mission, saving 440 lives and ending the ordeal. Why is saving lives the responsibility of the civil fleet alone?
This comes after a week in which Ocean Viking rescued 92 people in the Libyan SAR on Saturday, and Sea Watch witnessed the interception of three boats in distress by the so-called Libyan coastguard.
A US Navy vessel also recovered a body thought to be from the shipwreck off Calabria in February. The death toll from the tragedy has now risen to 92 people.
Since January 2023, over 27,000 people have now arrived in Italy by sea.
As this figure rises, it feels almost pointless to remind ourselves of one simple truth: politics are coming to predominate over people in Europe, and the lived reality of that is stomach-wrenching. What will it take for a change of heart, and priorities?
Testimony from refugee experiences in Libya presented to the UN
On 31st March, David Yambio spoke about his experiences in Libya at the UN Human Rights Council. He said that:
‘I was forcibly conscripted by the RADA militias, and sent to war […] “trafficking, enslavement, forced labour, imprisonment, extortion and smuggling generated significant revenue for individuals, groups and State institutions.”’
His overriding question — representing other refugees who shared such horrors — is the following:
“Where do we find justice? Where do we find accountability?”
SEARCH AND RESCUE
Nine individuals stranded on Alboran Island eventually taken to the Spanish mainland by the coastguard
TURKEY
Politics over people in pre-election migration ‘crackdown’
Information from the Turkish interior ministry reports that 1,353 irregular migrants have been intercepted over the past few days and 37 alleged smugglers have been detained.
InfoMigrants has learned about the manpower required for such an operation: “it took 24 officials per arrest” — a disproportionate distribution of resources in a nation whose recovery from the recent earthquake is yet to really begin.
Moreover, during Jan-March 2023, the government claims to have deported 26,000 people. The rhetoric circling around this is mounting; Kemal Kilicdaroglu — leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) — recently tweeted: ‘I am appealing to our soldiers… Perform your duty on our borders. Don’t listen to anyone.” As the election looms next month, it is feared that anti-migrant sentiment might erupt into violence, as it has previously.
FRONTEX
Instrumentalising the law for self-interest?
In Catania (Siciliy), a man has been given an expulsion order — “a modern form of exile” in AbolishFrontex’s words — for taking action against Frontex. Having spray-painted the walls of Frontex’s main building for administration in the Central Mediterranean, he has been legally condemned as a “danger for public order” by the local police, and ordered to leave.
Abolish Frontex rails against the invisibility of this institution, which was daubed with paint by the activist in question. Frontex’s headquarters are located in the city centre of Catania, with no identifying features except an unusual concentration of CCTV cameras. They write:
“In Italy, Frontex not only patrols the Central Mediterranean with drones, airplanes, boats and guards, but it is also actively involved in the categorisation processes selecting those who are deemed worthy of asking for protection and those that should be deported; Frontex also directly finances deportations. As of today, the Agency is responsible for the death of thousands of people in the Central Mediterranean, as well as for the detention of thousands more people that end up in Italian “pre-removal” deportation centres.”
GERMANY
Deportations begin
Seebrücke report that imminent mass deportations are feared from Germany in the coming days:
“The winter deportation stop ended in Berlin on Friday. This means that imminent mass deportations are feared. The first collective deportation after #Moldau and #Serbien is planned for this afternoon.”
ITALY
Maldusa: Facilitating freedom of movement on the Mediterranean route
A cultural association — “Maldusa” — has launched in Italy, seeking to support
i) “the critical documentation of sea crossings from Libya and Tunisia to Malta, Italy and beyond”
ii) “and bridge a multitude of realities that derive from anti-racist struggles, migrant activism, and solidarity as well as building bridges between communities on the move and their places of departure”
They write that:
“Maldusa is a project based on three main pillars: two monitoring stations and contact points in Lampedusa and in Palermo, and a small monitoring boat that will become operational in the coming summer. The two stations focus on research and encounter between local and transnational realities, in collaboration with activists, people on the move, and existing organisations in the North and South of the Mediterranean Sea.”
All power to Maldusa!
WORTH READING
- Report on the Illegal Migration Bill in UK:
- Updates to the Asylum Procedure Regulation in the EU proposed, here reported on by State Watch:
- Extension of the border wall in Greece, an election pledge now:
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