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Madrid (AFP) – A Spanish NGO announced Saturday that it had saved 59 migrants while they were trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya and land in Spain after Italy and Malta refused to allow them to escape. to enter there.
were found dead and 100 others disappeared in a shipwreck off Libya that Proactiva Open Arms, whose rescue boat was in the area, could have been avoided.
It also follows a controversial agreement concluded by the EU member states. the arrival of migrants. The agreement reached on Friday provides for the establishment of secure centers for migrants in the bloc, "landing platforms" outside the bloc and distribution of refugees between member states.
The Spanish NGO said on Twitter that "Despite the obstacles, we continue to protect the right to life of invisible people and their stories about what they experienced in Libya are terrifying."
Reacting to the Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Facebook: "The nearest port is Malta, the organization and the flag are Spanish: they can forget to come to an Italian port . "
The Maltese Minister of the Interior replied He was saved between Libya and the Italian Lampedusa
"Stop broadcasting incorrect information by pointing to Malta for no reason", declared Michael Farrugia
. The new populist government of Italy and Malta earlier this month refused to let the rescue vessel of the French NGO Verseau carrying 630 migrants. Malta then left another rescue boat, Lifeline, docking with 230 migrants on board
Proactiva Open Arms also accused the coastguards of impeding their work as a country. The NGO said Friday's sinking could have been avoided, as the official call for help from the Italian relief operation control center only intervened hour after Apen Arms had heard a warning from the EU warning the Libyan. Another NGO, SOS Mediterranean, denounced Saturday "the failure of European states to respect maritime conventions", saying that NGOs were unfairly accused.
"NGOs have become easy scapegoats," he said, adding that Libyan ports could not be considered safe ports for migrants.
Libyan coastguards widely suspected Humanitarian organizations have carried out relief operations in the sea between war-ravaged Libya and Italy for several years, tearing tens of thousands of people out of the country. men and women. Thousands of migrants from dangerously overcrowded and poorly equipped boats, sometimes from the sea itself.
But critics, including French President Emmanuel Macron, say NGOs help violent gangs that make millions of African migrants
Concerns about charities have been expressed by the European Border Agency Frontex in a confidential 2016 report, which indicated that they were using powerful night lights on their ships that acted "like a ray for migrants". politicians in Italy as well as right-wing figures across Europe have regularly questioned rescue missions near or sometimes inside Libyan territorial waters [19659014] Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the country "can not be the refugee camp of Europe" and accused the charity boats of operating as a "taxi service" for smugglers and migrants
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