Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/849592
16 I T was a simple recipe that worked. Saving refugees and asylum seekers at sea. But the death of Mare Nostrum at the hands of populist concerns and an unwillingess to share Italy's burden changed the field of search and rescue. In came the NGOs, shoring up the rescue effort that was seemingly left wanting by European states. The involvement of NGOs in search and rescue in the Mediter- ranean has been shown to have brought down the mortality rate of migrants crossing at sea, an analysis by Amnesty International on the failure of European policies on rescue at sea has confirmed. Even though deaths at sea in- creased in 2016, when the pres- ence of NGOs increased, a closer, month-by-month look at the trend of deaths compared with the presence of NGO vessels, shows that deaths were higher before the NGOs' presence picked up in 2016 and went down when more NGO vessels were at sea. Since 2015, some nine NGOs have been currently deploying or about to deploy their vessels in the Central Mediterranean: MOAS, MSF, Jugend Rettet, Life Boat, Proactiva Open Arms, Save the Children, Sea-Eye, Sea-Watch, and SOS Mediterranee. Some of these boats are capable of rescuing and taking on board hundreds of people and safely transporting them as far as Italy. And while commercial vessels continue to contribute to rescuing lives at sea – in 2014 they rescued over 40,600 people – these are not sited to mass rescues, while NGO vessels come equipped for such refugee rescues at sea. In their report 'A Perfect Storm', published earlier in July, Amnesty said that NGOs had provided a sort of "division of labour" where EU coast guards contribute to search and rescue from a distance through sightings, while NGOs take refugees on board and trans- port them to Italy. But this remains ultimately a task for governments at inter- national law. "The situation as it stands is hardly sustainable for NGOs, which depend on volun- tary contributions and whose op- erations can easily be disrupted by decisions of governments, such as restrictions on disembarkation," Amnesty said. Amnesty said that a reckless Eu- ropean strategy to cut down on search and rescue, and instead delegate this role to the Libyan coastguard, "exposes refugees and migrants to even greater risks at sea and, when intercepted, to dis- embarkation in Libya, where they face horrific conditions and vio- lations in detention, torture and rape." Since 2014, there were over 170,000 arrivals of migrants in Italy, down to 153,800 in 2015 and up to 181,400 in 2016. According to the International Organisation of Migration, 3,165 deaths were recorded in the Cen- tral Mediterranean in 2014, 2,876 in 2015, 4,581 in 2016, and 2,072 as of 28 June 2017. At current rates, 2017 promises to be just as deadly. Indeed, in July 2015 Amnesty called the central Mediterranean a "a safer sea" in the light of the Mare Nostrum mission that saw EU leaders strengthening search and rescue capacity – with deaths falling to 1 in 112 (0.89%) as at 31 December 2015. But that death rate peaked to 1 person in 16 (6.2%) between Jan- uary-April 2016, when European leaders ended Mare Nostrum, "motivated by the fear of a politi- cal backlash as tens of thousands of people disembarked in Italy [to continue] their journey towards northern European countries." Between the Lampedusa tragedy of October 2013, and 2014, Mare Nostrum ensured the disembarka- tion of 166,000 people. "European leaders wrongly re- garded Mare Nostrum as a pull- factor, arguing that the increased safety was encouraging more and more people to risk the jour- ney," Amnesty said, pointing to the prelude of Operation Triton, a Frontex-led mission that was equipped with far fewer resources. The shipwrecks of 12 and 19 April 2015, claiming over 1,200 lives, brought home to European leaders that the decision to end Mare Nostrum had been wrong. Operations Triton and Poseidon had their resources tripled, and on 22 June, 2015, the EU launched EUNAVFOR MED, a joint mili- tary operation to disrupt human smuggling in the Mediterranean. By the end of 2015, 152,343 peo- ple had been rescued at sea: 41,341 by the Italian coastguard, 29,178 by the Italian navy, 6,290 by the Italian custom police, 16,158 by merchant ships, 20,063 by NGO rescue boats, 15,428 by Frontex Triton assets (excluding Italian), and 23,885 by EUNAVFOR MED and foreign navies. In 2016, rescuers started notic- ing new trends in smuggling: mass departures taking place at night and in inclement weather, a de- crease in the use of large, wooden boats – which carried up to 500 people and could be re-used when recovered at sea – and replaced by cheaper rubber boats, and no sat- ellite phones being provided for skippers and half the fuel neces- sary provided for the voyage. "Reaching European mainland, Malta or even Lampedusa is very difficult for these boats… effec- tively the migrants' vessels are SOLAS (International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea) cases from the moment they launch," the op- eration commander of EUNAV- FOR MED noted. This effectively pushed the need for rescue efforts closer to the Libyan search and rescue region and even inside Libyan waters, but Amnesty says European lead- ers failed to adapt to the changing search and rescue scenario in the Central Mediterranean, leaving a dangerous gap which NGOs have had to fill." Concerns on Libyans In the past 18 months, search and rescue cases occurred closer and closer to the Libyan coasts, as it became clear that smugglers were making refugees sail in con- ditions requiring rescue from the moment they depart. The EU's response was to sup- port Italy's bilateral efforts to co- operate with Libya, by providing financial and technical support to the Libyan coastguard and the Libyan ministry of the interior. But despite the training and co- operation with the Libyan coast- guard and navy, there remains considerable uncertainty on the level of control exercised by the internationally recognised govern- maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 JULY 2017 News Rescued Africans aboard the MOAS's Phoenix in July 2016. Photo by Mathieu Wilcocks/MOAS 'A simple recipe that Amnesty International says Europe's response to migration from Africa degenerated into a lose-lose situation allowing smugglers to create a more dangerous search and rescue situation inside Libyan waters. By MATTHEW VELLA Left and below: In 2016, rescuers started noticing new trends, with a decrease in the use of large, wooden boats which were now being burnt and destroyed by rescuers,instead of being re-used for mass depatures of up to 500 people, and replaced by cheaper rubber boats. Right: the port of Messina - arrivals in Italy have been peaking but EU member states have closed off borders to stop the migration northwards.