Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/487054
maltatoday, Sunday, 29 March 2015 11 News Matthew Vella The eU's border agency Frontex described a 14-day operation be- tween eU law enforcement agen- cies as a success, after thousands of arrests of undocumented migrants and overstayers at eU points of entry and shared borders offered an insight into human trafficking trends. 'Mos Maiorum' saw over 20,000 police officers staking out border crossings, railway stations, bus depots, and highways through- out europe, effecting a total of 19,234 arrests of undocumented migrants. In Malta, 35 were made; the larg- er share, 5,954, occurred in Italy by its navy at sea. Over 14,300 were men, while 2,721 were minors and 2,116 were women. The most common nationals, over 5,000, were Syrians fleeing the civil war, followed by Afghans (1,466), Ko- sovar Serbians (1,227), eritreans and Somalis. The operation, the brainchild of the Italian presidency of the euro- pean Council, captured the atten- tion of the mass media and NGOs that said the operation was target- ing migrants with an intention to deport them. "Its aims were to target the crim- inal networks that facilitate ir- regular migration and to monitor the most used routes followed by them," Frontex said. The analysis of the operation's findings and arrests has perhaps only determined the obvious: that the end of Italy's naval mission Mare Nostrum prompted a dis- proportionate increase of irregular migration in the central Mediter- ranean in 2014. Over 86% of mi- grants in the region were rescued by Italian naval assets. This trend increased rapidly dur- ing the second and third quarters of 2014. By the end of October more than 150,000 irregular mi- grants were reported in the region targeting Italy. The figures for the whole region are about five times higher than in the same period of 2013, including detections by Mal- ta for which Operation MN caused a reduction in the number of ir- regular migrants arriving on the island – about 659 arrivals during 2014 compared to the 2,090 arriv- als reported during 2013 – which is roughly 60% fewer than last year. "In 2014, Libya has clearly be- come the main departure point to the eU for tens of thousands of irregular migrants mainly from Syria, eritrea, Mali, Nigeria, Gam- bia and many other sub-Saharan, Middle eastern and Asian coun- tries. All together more than 53 different nationalities have been identified," Frontex said. Last year, Italian Navy ships pa- trolled close to the Libyan coast to help migrant boats, but the Italian patrols were replaced a few months ago by the eU's Operation Triton, whose mandate is to venture no farther than 30 miles from the Ital- ian coast. Meanwhile, the number of boat people continues to soar, up 43% in the first two months of 2015 compared with a year earlier. But the eU agency said Opera- tion Mare Nostrum, patrolling closer to the Libyan coast with the aim of preventing the loss of mi- grants' lives, had been exploited by smugglers in Libya pushing an increasing number of migrants to depart in unseaworthy vessels. The eU's limited patrols means that coast guard authorities are likely to call on mercantile vessels more often. "We have become part of a rent-a-vessel programme be- cause countries can't get their act together," Luca Sisto, a senior of- ficial at the Italian shipping lobby Confitarma, told the Wall Street Journal earlier this week. "The reception of Syrian mi- grants at the Libyan border in Gh- adames is well-organised: trucks are already standing by to carry them to Zuwarah. As the border is closed, they cross the border on foot, although the border guards are easily bribed, some migrants claim," Frontex said. A similar pattern was described by eritrean migrants who men- tioned that the trilateral border of Libya-egypt-Sudan is a common rally point where Sudanese facili- tators hand over migrants to their Libyan counterparts. "The facilita- tion of eritrean nationals appears to be very well-organised from their country of origin to eU desti- nation countries. Several migrants mentioned that the facilitators op- erating in Catania and Milan are linked to the networks in Libya, Turkey or egypt." In many cases migrants have to stay in safe houses for certain pe- riods of time, which can vary from a few days to a few weeks. The rea- son why migrants have to wait is to give facilitators the time to gather enough migrants together as they intend to use the boats to more than their full capacity by over- loading them, in this way maxim- ising the financial gain. Syrians push up arrivals In 2014, there has been a sharp increase in irregular migration from egypt to Italy across the Cen- tral Mediterranean from, 8,433 to 14,405 irregular migrants. "Most of the migrants along this route are Syrian and egyptian and these egyptians often claim to be Syrian in order not to be repatri- ated to egypt and to be able to obtain asylum. The main final des- tinations of these migrants were Sweden, Germany and the Nether- lands," Frontex said. "Libya has been plagued by insta- bility since the fall of the Gaddafi regime, this instability is affect- ing the number of migrants' boats departing from Libya. At the mo- ment, different factions, militias and high ranked officials are tak- ing advantage of irregular migra- tion. There is no central authority to implement effective measures to control migratory flows in Libya and it is unlikely that one will be formed in the short-term." mvella@mediatoday.com.mt eU's 14-day police operation confirms Mare Nostrum's necessity blacklist in EU crosshairs again COURT NOTICE The Registrar of Civil Courts and Tribunals informs that theCivil Court, First Hall ordered the following sales by auction: Date and time Place Items 15 th April, 2015 10.00am - 20/13 EM Euroconcrete Limited, Wied Incita, Triq L- imdina, Attard Truck AEC with the registration number IBC 258, Generator Swan yellow in colour and Forklifter Boss yellow in colour Model RH 30D/5A-2. 22 nd April, 2015 10.00am – 10/15 JGL Sixteen (16), Triq is- Serer, Hal Qormi Vehicle of the make Peugeot with the registration number DRE 777. 22 nd April, 2015 11.00am – 11/15 EM 'Zachary House', Industrial Estate, Marsa Safes grey in colour. 29 th April, 2015 10.00am – 6/15 EM 149, Triq id- Dejqa, il-Belt Valletta Televixin AR System, three (3) piece sofa ,sottospecchio, two (2) ceramic statues,two (2) chairs, table and two (2) chairs and other items. Further details can be obtained from the website: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/courtservices/JudicialSales/search.aspx The bidders taking part in the auction must present their identity card Rudolph Marmara' For the Registrar Civil Courts and Tribunals were transferred to shell companies, with their names changed from their Iranian appellations into english- sounding names. In October 2010, the US Depart- ment of the Treasury announced the designation of 37 front companies based in Germany, Malta, and Cyprus; while the european Council froze the funds and economic resources of Irisl's interests in Malta, prohibiting the loading and unloading of cargo on vessels owned or chartered by Irisl at the Malta Freeport. The sanctions were lifted this Janu- ary when the eU General Court an- nulled the restrictive measures against an Iranian bank and 40 shipping com- panies whose assets had been frozen. The court said that companies linked to Irisl were not proven to have been involved in supporting nuclear prolif- eration. But in letters dated 12 March, the Council said the reasons for the in- tended re-listings included the com- panies being owned or controlled by Irisl or for providing training, spare parts and services to Irisl or Irisl em- ployees. The shipping companies' lawyer, Maryam Taher, who has represented the firm's clients in the eU courts said, "Certainly the whole purpose of the eU sanctions is to leverage pressure on the Iranian government to come to an agreement in relation to nuclear proliferation, however, the eU Coun- cil continues to re-list our clients even though they have no connection to Iranian nuclear proliferation or in- deed the Iranian government whatso- ever. The continued listing/re-listing of our clients flies in the face of our system of justice and fair trial, which is disheartening to say the least." The 40 shipping companies involved in the case include hamburg-based Ocean Capital Administration Gm- bh, Kerman Shipping Co. Ltd, and Woking Shipping Investments Ltd, established in Valletta, among others. Taher said that the eU Council has only allowed a very short time for the provision of observations, simply be- cause the eU Council wishes to make a decision whether to re-list within the appeal period of the judgment dated 22 January, 2015. "For each of M Taher & Co's suc- cesses in the eU courts, the eU Coun- cil has not appealed judgments, but simply re-listed the successful appli- cants and usually for the same reason and based on the same 'evidence' as they were listed in the first instance," Taher said. Malta companies in proposed EU blacklist Kerman Shipping Woking Shipping Investments Shere Shipping Tongham Shipping uppercourt Shipping Vobster Shipping Member State Internal External Total Italy 5611 343 5954 Germany 509 3129 3638 hungary 2859 216 3075 austria 36 1183 1219 united Kingdom 0 995 995 France 0 958 958 Belgium 74 843 917 romania 224 258 482 Bulgaria 304 105 409 Spain 42 304 346 norway 16 261 277 Poland 32 212 244 netherlands 61 90 151 Finland 11 111 122 denmark 1 76 77 Sweden 32 42 74 Portugal 44 14 58 Slovakia 13 44 57 Slovenia 0 46 46 Lithuania 4 37 41 Malta 2 33 35 czech republic 6 24 30 Latvia 1 12 13 Estonia 6 1 7 Switzerland 2 3 5 Luxembourg 0 4 4 TOTAL 9890 9344 19234