UN agency calls for safe disembarkation of 43 migrants

By Busra Nur Bilgic

ANKARA (AA) - The UN migration agency has called for a safe disembarkation of migrants rescued by a humanitarian ship Sea-Watch 3 earlier this month.

On June 12, the Sea-Watch 3, operated by a non-governmental organization Sea-Watch, rescued 53 people -- 9 women, 39 men, two toddlers and three unaccompanied minors.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 10 migrants were disembarked in Lampedusa, Italy due to health issues, but 43 people remain in limbo at sea.

“In recent days, the Sea-Watch 3 had been invited to bring migrants to Tripoli. Yet, in the eyes of the international community, Libya is still considered an unsafe port to disembark migrants,” the UN agency said.

According to a report by the IOM last week, more than 24,000 irregular migrants and refugees reached Europe via sea since the beginning of 2019. The report documented deaths of 555 migrants.

In Friday’s statement, the agency said: “To IOM, it remains of serious concern that in the absence of state-led approaches to reduce loss of life at sea, rescue operations of non-government organizations are deliberately discouraged.”

Italian Interior Ministry has recently passed a new decree law, forbidding humanitarian ships from entering its territorial waters, Carola Rackete, captain of Sea-Watch 3 ship, said in a Twitter post on Wednesday.

“It is crucial, today more than ever, that Member States of the European Union make a shared effort to find adequate solutions to what cannot be considered as an emergency in terms of numbers, but as a humanitarian emergency,” IOM said.

A total of 30,510 migrants died between 2014 and 2018 while making the treacherous journey to Europe, the UN agency had said in January 2019.