Mediterranean to turn into ‘sea of blood’ without rescue ships: UN warns
10 Jun 2019 07:39
Islam Times - The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned that the Mediterranean will soon turn into “a sea of blood” if the international community does not help in sending enough rescue ships to save the lives of thousands of refugees desperately wandering in the rough sea.
“If we do not intervene soon, there will be a sea of blood,” said Carlotta Sami, the UNHCR spokeswoman, in Italy on Sunday, warning that there has been a “sharp increase” in refugees’ Europe-bound departure from North African countries, particularly conflict-wracked Libya.
She also said that the risk of migrants and refugees becoming shipwrecked in the Mediterranean and dying at sea was the highest it had ever been due to the insufficient number of NGO rescue ships, noting that the persisting conflict and chaos in Libya increasing departures at an alarming rate.
Thousands of people in Libya are now preparing to leave the war-ravaged and flood-hit country by boats completely unfit to cross the Mediterranean. But without rescue ships, the number of shipwrecks is likely to rise dramatically, the UN warns.
Aid groups say that nearly 700 people have ventured into the sea in the recent days, only 5 percent of whom were intercepted by the Libyan coastguard and returned to detention centers.
Forty percent arrived in Malta, an archipelago in the central Mediterranean between Sicily and the North African coast, and 11 percent in Italy. It is not yet known what happened to the others.
A study by the Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), an Italian thinktank, based on interior ministry figures, revealed that one in eight people departing from Libya and in an attempt to reach the European shores between January and April had died en route.
“Obviously, migrants have no say in how or when to leave. The traffickers make that decision for them. They couldn’t care less if the people arrive dead or alive. In recent days, more and more vessels have been overflowing with people. Who will save them if they [become] shipwreck[ed]?” further said Sami.
Anti-refugee policies enforced by the Maltese and Italian governments have driven the sharp decrease in rescue missions.
Story Code: 798667