However harsh it may be, it is no longer surprising that dozens of migrants keep drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. The United Nations estimates that nearly 1,000 people have died or gone missing between North Africa and southern Europe this year. On Wednesday, at least 78 migrants drowned when their boat capsized off the Greek coast.
The Greek authorities reported on Wednesday afternoon that they had also rescued 104 people from the sunken boat. According to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, up to 400 people may have been on board. An official from the Greek Ministry of Shipping told the AP news agency that he feared more deaths.
The migrant boat had departed from the eastern Libyan port of Tobruk, some 350 kilometers south of Crete, and was first spotted late Tuesday by EU border agency Frontex, about 80 kilometers off the coast of the Greek coastal town of Pylos, on the Peloponnese peninsula. A coastguard vessel approached the boat, which was bound for Italy, and offered assistance. According to the Greek coastguard, the migrants refused that help.
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The Greek public radio and TV broadcaster Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi reported that most of those on board were males in their twenties. Most of those on board are said to be from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan. Six coastguard vessels, a naval frigate, a military transport aircraft, an Air Force helicopter, several private vessels and a Frontex drone took part in the rescue.
Most dangerous crossing
Only one migrant boat disaster so far this year has claimed more victims than Wednesday’s: in February, a boat from the western Turkish port of Izmir sank off the Italian coast, killing 94. Since 2014, more than 20,000 people have been reported dead or missing in the central Mediterranean, making it the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world.
The European Union hopes to reduce the number of boat migrants by making agreements with Tunisia, among other things. Last week, a delegation with Prime Minister Mark Rutte, President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was in Tunis for talks with the autocratic Tunisian President Kais Saied.
Experts point to the difficult situation in Libya and Tunisia and the making of the Balkan route more inaccessible as reasons for the sharp increase in the number of boat migrants
About 72,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta and Cyprus so far this year, according to the United Nations. Last year around this time there were forty thousand. Experts point to the difficult situation for migrants in Libya and Tunisia and the making of the Balkan route more inaccessible by land as reasons for the sharp rise in the number of boat migrants.
“Greece is also not a country where migrants and asylum seekers can find safety because of the widespread, relentless pushbacks and the inhumane and harmful conditions in the camps where they are being held,” Giulia Tranchina of Human Rights Watch said in March. NRC. “And in the Balkans themselves, refugees are victims of violence and torture at the hands of border guards. In Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia, refugees are beaten, subjected to pushbacks and left naked in the snow in forests and deserted areas. The Balkan route can be deadly, especially for children.”
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Photo Eurokinissi/Reuters
Boat migrants only end up in international waters if they manage to escape the European-funded Libyan coastguard, which takes them back to Libya, where many of them are exposed to (sexual) violence. By supporting the Libyan coast guard and security forces, the EU contributes to crimes against humanity, according to the UN.
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Cat and mouse game
Described last week NRC in a report the cat-and-mouse game between the Libyan coastguard and the NGO SOS Humanity. In addition to rescue workers from NGOs, whose activities are increasingly restricted by European authorities, the coastguards of southern European countries also rescue many migrants.
Libyan authorities launched a large-scale crackdown on migrants in eastern Libya earlier this month. Thousands of migrants, including Egyptians, Syrians, Sudanese and Pakistanis, have been detained, according to activists. Libyan authorities have deported many Egyptians to their homeland. At least 1,800 migrants have also been arrested and transferred to government detention centers in recent weeks, according to the UN refugee agency.