Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/853507
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 26 JULY 2017 5 News for refugee rescue ships lives', charities warn smugglers, without citing evi- dence, despite two parliamenta- ry committee inquiries in Italy finding no evidence of miscon- duct. Academic studies have found no link between rescues and rising Mediterranean crossings and deaths, while a parliamen- tary report in the UK branded the EU's anti-smuggling mis- sion a "failure". The House of Lords EU Ex- ternal Affairs Sub-Committee found that Operation Sophia, launched to replace the Italian government's rescue efforts in 2015, "has not in any meaning- ful way deterred the flow of mi- grants, disrupted the smugglers' networks, or impeded the busi- ness of people smuggling". The committee also conclud- ed that the mission was driving refugee deaths by destroying smugglers' boats and forcing them to switch to unseaworthy dinghies that are launched en masse. The Lords report said a naval mission was the "wrong tool" to gather intelligence on land- based smuggling networks lead- ing to the Libyan coast, which is now the main departure point for boats heading towards Eu- rope. It also raised concern over reports of "serious abuses of the human rights of migrants by the Libyan coastguard", which is being trained by the UK and equipped by the EU as it seeks to gradually unburden itself of responsibility for rescues. Recent incidents include a near miss between a Libyan coastguard patrol ship and a vessel operated by German charity Sea-Watch, gunfire dur- ing a rescue and widespread al- legations of the beating, torture and robbery of refugees forced back to shore in violation of in- ternational law. The UN has warned of wide- spread torture, arbitrary deten- tion, rape, forced labour and "slave auctions" in Libya, where people smugglers have set up a lucrative business in the chaos of its continuing civil war. The dawn of non-governmental search and rescue missions THE large number of deaths at sea has turned the Cen- tral Mediterranean into the theatre of a complex humanitarian emergency. Both large international NGOs and small local chari- ties have long played a key role in addressing the suf- fering caused by large-scale migrations. The direct in- volvement of humanitarian organisations in the provi- sion of Mediterranean SAR, however, is a more recent phenomenon. The German NGO Cap Anamur was the first organ- isation conducting a migrant rescue operation in the Strait of Sicily in 2004. Upon dis- embarking migrants to Italy, Cap Anamur's personnel were prosecuted for abetting illegal immigration, which forced the NGO to suspend its activities. Italy's approach to migrant rescuing changed by October 2013, when its navy launched the large- scale SAR Operation Mare Nostrum. One year after, Mare Nostrum was replaced by the Frontex Operation Triton, a mission focusing primarily on border control which only operated within 30 miles from Italian territo- rial waters. The growing number of casualties along the Central Mediterranean migratory route, in combination with Italy's commitment to allow for the disembarkation in its ports of all migrants saved offshore Libya, has provided new possibilities for NGOs' involvement in SAR. Non-governmental SAR operations restarted with the creation of the Malta- based Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), which in the summer of 2014 launched the first non-gov- ernmental rescue operations from a reconverted fishing vessel, equipped with drones and manned with former Maltese navy personnel. By May 2016, MOAS was joined by the operational branches of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) headquar- tered in Barcelona and Brus- sels and the German NGO Sea-Watch. In 2016, six other NGOs – SOS-Méditerranée, Sea-Eye, Pro-Activa Open Arms, Cadus, Jugend Rettet, the Boat Refugee Founda- tion and Save the Children – also started SAR missions offshore Libya. NGOs' humanitarian op- erations offshore Libya are based on two different mod- els. MOAS, MSF, SOS-Mé- diterranée and Save conduct fully-fledged SAR missions that include rescuing mi- grants in distress and trans- porting them to the Italian port indicated by the Mari- time Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Rome. Organisations with smaller boats, such as Sea-Watch, Sea-Eye, Jugend Rettet, Pro- Activa and the Boat Refugee Foundation, by contrast, focus on patrolling interna- tional waters offshore West- ern Libya, providing mi- grants with lifejackets and only temporarily hosting them aboard until they are transferred on a larger vessel shuttling them to Italy. TEC LTD - A well-established company made up of a strong team of professionals. Our company offers provision of event services, project management and marketing campaigns. The company is looking for: an economic consultant, riggers, cleaners, truck drivers, welders, and carpenters. Those interested to apply for this opportunity are to contact or send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, two references, and a Police Conduct to TEC LTD either on info@tecmalta.com or at 9, No. 1, Tenisla Street, Qormi, QRM 1840, by not later than the 4 th August 2017. OPPORTUNITIES A migrant taken aboard a rescue vessel after daring his life at sea