Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/490723
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 APRIL 2015 4 News MATTHEW VELLA MALTA is "positively considering" an Italian proposal for the establish- ment of asylum processing centres outside the European Union, the home affairs minister has told Mal- taToday. Carmelo Abela said that the pro- posal, suggested in a so-called 'non paper' by the Italian government, "would require an in-depth discus- sion at EU level" although Malta is said to be supporting the idea. Frustrated by its inability to han- dle the migration wave, the EU has sought to tackle the problem at its source, mainly in Africa. The Italian proposal is to involve countries like Tunisia and Egypt in the search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean, and to assist in setting up centres in North Africa to process asylum claims in a bid to stem the flow of migrants and asy- lum seekers to Europe. In 2014, over 170,000 people de- parted from Libya and were rescued at sea by the Italian navy's Opera- tion Mare Nostrum. In the first two months of 2015, despite the end of Mare Nostrum, irregular migrants arriving so far are close to twice the number in the same period of last year – 7,822 compared to 4,548. Over 3,500 are believed to have lost their lives in the Mediterranean. The EU wants to persuade Niger, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Tur- key to pre-screen migrants and has launched a pilot project to send im- migration officers abroad to help as- sess asylum demands. Britain is reported to be strongly opposed to processing asylum appli- cations outside the EU because such a system would require an agreed EU system for dividing the refugee arriv- als between the 28 countries. On the other hand, Austria sup- ports such a system for precisely the opposite reason, believing that an EU burden-sharing system would cut the numbers of refugees arriving there. Malta too is a supporter of the plan: Carmelo Abela said that Malta remains committed that persons res- cued at sea are escorted to the near- est safe port, keeping with maritime law principles to give assistance to castaways as soon as practicably pos- sible. "Maritime surveillance in third countries' territorial waters and other waters otherwise falling under their competence in terms of inter- national law falls outside the com- petence of the Maltese government, which exercises its international ob- ligations within those waters falling under its competence or as otherwise permissible in terms of international law," Abela said. The Italians believe that by push- ing the asylum process into African countries, fewer migrants would be willing to risk the treacherous Medi- terranean crossing. "This will bring about the downscaling of this phe- nomenon in mid-long terms." Outsourcing rescue missions The Italians say that the current situation is so serious "that a radical change in the EU perspective is re- quired". But despite having made "all pos- sible efforts to prevent the departure of migrants", Italy wants to explore the direct involvement of reliable third countries in maritime surveil- lance and search and rescue activity. According to the non paper: "The objective should be to share such a heavy burden with those third countries, which intend to commit themselves by taking their part of responsibility in the management of this unprecedented migratory and humanitarian emergency that is tak- ing place in our common Mediterra- nean region… "In concrete terms, ad hoc opera- tional cooperation mechanisms in the field of maritime surveillance and search and rescue should be put into place. Based on that, upon request of the Italian authorities and where feasible, naval units from those third countries, which are responsible for SAR areas close to Libya's, could in- tervene and rescue migrants in dis- tress at sea. Afterwards, they could take them to their own ports, in ac- cordance with the principle of 'place of safety', as foreseen by the Law of the Sea." According to the Italian govern- ment, the proposal has already been bilaterally explored, but it said that a "joint diplomatic action" towards the governments of Egypt and Tunisia by main member states and the EU as a whole was "crucial". That would also mean financing and technical assistance, as well as expertise from the United Nations' refugee agency and the International Organisation for Migration, to help these countries deal with the influx of different categories of migrants and asylum seekers, and to offer them protection or return them to their country of origin. "This approach, based on an ef- fective responsibility sharing be- tween the EU and third countries concerned, should be developed, of course, in full compliance with the EU and international legal frame- work. In any case, it necessarily im- plies a serious and strong commit- ment of member states and the EU as a whole in enhancing the institu- tional and operational capacity of the partners," the non paper reads. 'Dangerous approach' But Africa's envoy to the EU – Af- rican Union Ambassador Ajay Ku- mar Bramdeo – says that the plan to process migrants inside their coun- tries is a "dangerous approach" to the migration phenomenon. He told EU lawmakers that by outsourcing migrant management, the EU would be "shirking its own responsibility in receiving refugees and migrants, also in footing the bill for managing and controlling migra- tion." The head of the International Or- ganization for Migration's EU office, Eugenio Ambrosi, cautioned against any rush to set up processing cen- tres. "The priority has to be about protecting people and not protecting borders," he said. "It's a little bizarre that we ask other countries outside Europe to show solidarity toward Europe in sharing the burden when within Europe we still haven't got there," he said. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Plan to 'outsource' asylum centres to Africa has Malta's support File photo shows a 12-year-old unaccompanied minor watching a game of football at a site for Somalis and Eritreans in Tripoli, Libya. Photo: UNHCR/L.Dobbs The plan to process migrants in their countries is a 'dangerous approach' to the migration phenomenon – Africa's envoy to the EU