More than sixty people may have been killed in a shipwreck off the west coast of Libya this weekend. This is what the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Saturday evening. The boat, which was bound for Europe, was hit by powerful waves and capsized shortly after leaving the Libyan coastal town of Zuara.
A small number of those on board were brought to safety by IOM, the United Nations migration agency. A total of 86 people were said to have been on board. In recent years, Libya has become one of the most important transit countries for people fleeing Africa and the Middle East and wanting to come to Europe. This happens in extremely dangerous circumstances, with often too small, poorly equipped ships or rubber boats as means of transport. This year alone, according to IOM, at least 2,250 people died on this route. According to Flavio Di Giacomo, an IOM spokesperson show the death tolls in the Mediterranean that ‘sadly not enough is being done to save lives at sea’.
The Central Mediterranean is referred to by IOM as “one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world”. Furthermore, migrants taken from the sea often fall into the hands of Libyan militias, where they are subjected to serious human rights violations. This is done with the help of Frontex, the European Union agency, which passes on the coordinates of the boats to Libyan authorities. By sending refugees back to a country where they may be persecuted, Europe violates the principle of international law. According to research by a European journalist consortiumunder which Le Monde and Der SpiegelFrontex helped at least a thousand people fall into the hands of Libyan militias this year.
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