Non-governmental organizations have been recently facing unprecedented pressure in connection with their migrant rescue activities at sea, which has forced many of their vessels to shut down their activities in the Central Mediterranean, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) told Sputnik in an interview
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st November, 2019) Non-governmental organizations have been recently facing unprecedented pressure in connection with their migrant rescue activities at sea, which has forced many of their vessels to shut down their activities in the Central Mediterranean, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) told Sputnik in an interview.On Tuesday, 104 migrants who were rescued off the coast of Libya were finally allowed to disembark from the Ocean Viking rescue ship, which was stranded at sea for 11 days. The vessel was authorized to dock in the Italian port of Pozzallo after Rome received assurances that France and Germany will take in 70 passengers.
According to Michael Fark, the MSF head of mission for Libya and the Mediterranean, now there are actually "very few" search and rescue ships that operate in the region.
"Like MSF and the SOS MEDITERRANEE, all dedicated search and rescue organisations are facing ever-increasing obstacles in providing humanitarian assistance in the Central Mediterranean. The same campaign of attacks that ultimately led to the end of the [MSF ship] Aquarius has also hindered the work of all other NGOs trying to assist migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers," Fark said.
In December, MSF ceased operations of Aquarius over what it called was an EU-wide campaign to defame aid organizations. It came after Italy ordered the seizure of the vessel, which was at the center of the rescue ship crisis in Europe in summer 2018, amid allegations of illicit disposal of hazardous on-board waste.
Meanwhile, migrants continue dying while risking a perilous journey through the central Mediterranean Sea, with at least 692 fatalities registered since the start of the year, the MSF mission head noted.
Though the number of migrants attempting to cross the Central Mediterranean this year has "reduced by around 80% from peaks seen in 2015," Fark went on, some countries still experience a rise in arrivals.
"While there may have been a reduction in arrivals to Italy, there were increases in arrivals in the Western and Eastern Mediterranean routes over the past couple of years, with a 40% increase in sea arrivals to Greece in the first nine months of 2019 compared with 2018, and nearly triple the number of arrivals to Spain alone in 2018 compared to 2017," he said.
There is, however, no prospect for this flow to come to an end "as long as people are subjected to violence, insecurity, war, poverty and food insecurity" at their homes, Fark concluded.
Over the past several months, the EU states namely, Malta, Italy and Spain, have been at odds over the migrant rescue vessel issue, while some Mediterranean states have taken a tougher stance on the new arrivals.
The European Union has been in discord for years amid the attempts of multiple migrant rescue ships to enter its ports. Some Mediterranean countries, such as Italy, have taken a tough stance on the new arrivals and demanded that other EU nations share their migrant burden.
The previous Italian government, for instance, has repeatedly denied ships entrance to its ports and introduced heavy penalties for vessels entering the country's territorial waters without permission.
