Tag Archives: Boat migrants
10 March 2015
The European Commission is expected to present a new policy paper on boat migration in the Mediterranean in which it proposes the establishment of third country processing centres in key transit countries. The intended centres would be used to process applications for asylum and refugee status and would be located in countries, such as Niger, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon. (more…)
Source: The Guardian | Brussels plans migration centres outside EU to process asylum applications
11 February 2015
Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission in the Juncker Commission, said on 10 February 2015 that: ‘We cannot allow other tragedies at sea in the coming weeks and months; we need to be able to give a strong political and operational response … I will convene an extraordinary meeting of the Commissioners’ Group on External Action in the coming days in order to discuss with the Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, a review of our policies. I’ve also decided to put a discussion on migration on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Council soon. The fight against smuggling and trafficking, the rescue of migrants at sea, the protection of asylum seekers are shared challenges; they require a stronger exercise of shared responsibility.’
Source: EU External Action | Statement by the High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini on addressing the challenges of migration | Strasbourg, 10/02/2015
10 July 2014
In a meeting with EU interior ministers in Milan on 8 July, Italy and other European Union states discussed sharing responsibility for rescuing migrants from North Africa, who cross the Mediterranean Sea in packed boats. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), this year over 63,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea, and more than 500 have died in their attempt to make the dangerous sea crossing. (more…)
Source: Reuters | Italy in talks with EU to share responsibility for boat migrants
14 September 2012
A briefing paper from Human Rights Watch (HRW) entitled ‘Hidden Emergency – Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean’ argues that the EU needs to take urgent action to address the tragic deaths of thousands of boat migrants on its shores. According to UNHCR, an estimated 1500 migrants died in the Mediterranean in 2011 making it ‘the deadliest year on record’.
HRW recommends establishing a framework for cooperation in rescue at sea and standard operating procedures for shipmasters as well as amending the draft legislation creating EUROSUR – a surveillance system to monitor the Mediterranean and North Africa – in order to include the duty to assist migrants at sea. Furthermore, it is advised that resettlement programs for recognized refugees rescued at sea should be put in place.
Source: HRW | Hidden Emergency - Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean