MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2020) The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) global humanitarian organization said in a press release on Thursday it had entered a partnership with Germany's Sea Watch non-governmental organization to resume search and rescue operations for irregular migrants in the Mediterranean Sea amid the European Union's brutal push-back policies, amplified by COVID-19.
"MSF has joined forces with NGO Sea-Watch and is returning to search and rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean Sea. MSF will provide medical care to rescued people aboard the Sea-Watch 4, which will soon launch its lifesaving mission," the press release read.
The partnership was prompted by what Sea-Watch 4 Head of Mission Philipp Hahn slammed as the European Union's "racist policy of letting people drown rather than reach European shores." He was referring, among other things, to the 2017 Malta Declaration that Brussels agreed upon with Libya to fund, train and equip the Libyan coast guard to intercept and return migrants en route to the EU via the Mediterranean.
"European member states brazenly exploit the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to further curtail search and rescue activities, while perpetuating cycles of abuse in Libya and condemning people to drown by policies of deliberate non-assistance," MSF said, adding that countries like Italy and Malta have systematically denied civilian search and rescue vessels entry to their ports over "flimsy technicalities," which means that hundreds of migrants were stranded on boats for days and even weeks.
At the same time, the number of irregular migrants who tried to cross into the EU by sea in June was four times higher than in June of last year, MSF said.
According to the organization, 5,650 people have been intercepted and forcibly returned to Libya since January while at least 101 people were reported dead or missing in the Central Mediterranean in June alone.
