WEEKLY REPORT 12 - MAR 22-28, 2021

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 Two years ago, on 28 March 2019, the merchant vessel ElHiIblu1 arrived in Malta and three teen- agers were arrested and accused of having committed a multiplicity of crimes, including acts of terrorism. An alliance of human rights activists calls on Malta to drop the charges immediately. On 26 March 2019, 108 people were rescued from a rubber boat in distress. The boat had departed Lib- yan shores trying to escape to Europe. Co-ordinated by an airplane of the EUNAVFOR Med operation, the people in distress were found and rescued by the merchant vessel ElHiblu1. After the rescue operation, the captain of the ElHiblu1 reassured the rescued that they would be brought to a port of safety in Europe. Yet, following the order of European authorities, the crew tried to return the 108 survivors to the inhumane conditions in Libya from which they had just escaped.When the survivors realised they were being returned to Libya, they began to protest the attempted push-back. Three of them, who we collectively refer to as the ElHiblu3, acted as translators and me- diators between crew members and the rescued. The captain of the ElHiblu1 redirected its course and steered north to Malta. Upon arrival, the three teenagers aged 15,16 and 19 at the time were arrested and accused of having committed multiple crimes, including acts of terrorism. The three, who we collectively refer to as the ElHiblu3, were imprisoned for seven months before they were bailed out in November 2019. Since then, they have remained on parole in Malta. They have to register every day at the police station and attend monthly hearings during which the prosecution seeks to establish the potential charges to be brought forward. If found guilty by a jury in Malta, they could face a lengthy prison sentence. Until recently, none of the people rescued by ElHiblu1 were heard in court. While members of the Mal- tese police and crew members of the merchant vessel were heard promptly after the landing of the ElHiblu1, it took the Maltese prosecution two years to ask one of the rescued witnesses to testify. Only in March 2021 the first, and so far only, survivor was asked to testify. On the second anniversary of their landing in Malta, the ElHiblu3 campaign asks the Maltese and international public for support: Solidarity, they say, is not a crime. [1, 2, 15]

Another flight has landed in Germany, bringing with it 162 refugees who had previously been in Greek migrant camps. They are part of a contingent of recognized refugees that Germany agreed to relocate from Greece. 42 refugee families, comprising 77 adults and 85 minors, landed in the German city of Hanover on Wednesday (March 24), the German interior ministry announced in a statement. Their cases for protection have already been approved by the Greek authorities. [3]

After several days at sea, the 116 migrants rescued by the Ocean Viking at the end of last week and over the weekend have disembarked in the Sicilian port of Augusta. Six persons tested positive for COVID-19. There was "relief on board" the Ocean Viking on March 23, when the crew and the rescue organization SOS Mediterranee got the message that they had been assigned a port in which to disembark the 116 migrants. According to SOS Mediterranee, the weather had been rough with "strong wind and high waves." In total, the Ocean Viking crew had made five requests for a port of safety to the Italian and Maltese authorities before being assigned the port of Augusta on Sicily. On Tuesday night, SOS Mediterranee tweeted that disembarkation had been completed. [4, 5, 6]

Meanwhile the 116 survivors on board the Ocean Viking rescue ship continue four-day wait to be allowed to come ashore A civilian refugee-rescue ship was detained in Italy on Sunday night after the authorities accused the crew of “saving too many people.” The Sea Watch 3 saved the lives of 363 people in the central Mediterranean between February 26 and March 1. The crew also found another 90 people but, since there was no room left on the ship, they were placed in the Sea Watch 3’s life rafts until the Italian coastguards took care of them. On March 3 the ship was finally given permission to begin disembarking those rescued in Augusta, on the Italian island of Sicily. But the authorities took days to bring everyone ashore. The ship was blocked in on Sunday night, following a two-week off-shore quarantine. It was only last month that the ship was allowed to leave Sicily after being held there for seven months. [7, 8]

A freight truck overturned early on Monday in Croatia killing four migrants who were hiding inside and injuring a number of others, AP reports. Police said that the truck was transporting tons of heavy paper rolls which crushed some of the migrants when the vehicle overturned. [9]

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed confirmed for the first time on Tuesday that troops from neighbouring Eritrea entered the northern Tigray region during the five-month-old conflict, the first such acknowledgement after months of denials. Abiy said Eritrean troops had crossed the border because they were concerned they would be attacked by TPLF forces, but the Eritreans had promised to leave when Ethiopia’s military was able to control the border. The TPLF repeatedly fired rockets at Eritrea after the conflict began. [10, 11]

MEPs overseeing budgets of the EU institutions and agencies are now looking into the agency's accounts. The agency has come under considerable scrutiny following allegations of illegal push-backs of prospective asylum seekers. It has denied any wrongdoing. But it is also under a separate probe by the EU's anti-fraud office Olaf amid reports of harassment and misconduct. MEPs, in the some 85 amendments tabled on the Frontex budget, have cited the allegations as reasons not to sign off on its accounts. On Monday, the majority on the committee voted against signing off on its account, in what is likely an embarrassment for the agency. A final plenary vote is set to take place in April. [12, 13]

Over the past days many boats were in distress and some are missing in the Atlantic and Alborean Sea. On the Atlantic route, Salvamento Maritimo proactively search for boats for days, but in the Alboran they often leave travellers at sea with no hope of being rescued. Travellers on 4 boats spent the night at sea in the Alboran and are now safe in Spain. Three boats on the Atlantic route are still missing. [14] 

𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦

[1] https://elhiblu3.info/st/EH3_2021.pdf

[2] https://www.aljazeera.com/.../heroes-not-terrorists-the...

[3] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../162-refugees-land-in...

[4] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../migrants-disembark-ocean...

[5] https://twitter.com/sosmedintl/status/1373656316787429377...

[6] https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/.../116.../amp/...

[7] https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/.../sea-watch-3.../amp/

[8] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/...

[9] https://twitter.com/infomig.../status/1373966939962306564...

[10] https://www.reuters.com/.../us-ethiopia-conflict...

[11] https://eritreahub.org/a-dangerous-confrontation-on-the...

[12] https://euobserver.com/migration/151314

[13] https://english.alaraby.co.uk/.../frontex-the-eu-agency...

[14] https://twitter.com/alarm.../status/1375478826864672771...

[15] https://www.spiegel.de/consent-a-...

Illegal mass pushback to Turkey: 22 people, left adrift in life rafts near Samos. The Turkish Coast Guard reported a total of 7-8 life rafts with 100 people in this area, all of whom were pushed back. [1]

Refugee rights groups condemned the European Union’s migrant deal with Turkey today on its fifth anniversary. The 2016 deal, officially known as EU-Turkey Statement, allowed the Greek authorities to return to Turkey any person who had crossed into the country irregularly. In return the Turkish government was to receive €3 billion Euros (£2.5bn) for refugee projects in the country. Under the “temporary and extraordinary measure,” Greece was supposed to assess individual asylum claims at “Reception and Identification Centres.” Due to the Greek authorities’ slow handling of asylum claims, these “reception centres” quickly became nothing more than overcrowded migrant detention camps. [10]

Afghan migrant to sue Greek coast guard over son's drowning. A refugee charged over the death of his son is preparing to take the Greek coast guard to court. He says they delayed the rescue and accepted that people would die. [11]

Health facilities across Ethiopia’s Tigray region have been looted, vandalised and destroyed in a deliberate and widespread attack on healthcare, according to teams from MSF. Of 106 health facilities visited by MSF teams between mid-December 2020 and early March 2021, nearly 70% had been looted, and more than 30% had been damaged; just 13% were functioning normally. In some health facilities across Tigray, the looting of health facilities continues, according to MSF teams. While some looting may have been opportunistic, health facilities in most areas appear to have been deliberately vandalised to make them non-functional.  In many health centres, such as in Debre Abay and May Kuhli in North-West Tigray, teams found destroyed equipment, smashed doors and windows, and medicine and patient files scattered across floors. [2, 3, 4] 

Mediterranea Saving Humans is under attack in Italy. Several members of Mediterranea are accused by the Office of Public Prosecutor of Ragusa of “facilitating illegal immigration.” It is definitely not the first time that such an accusation has been used to criminalize civil migrant rescue operations at sea. One of the prosecutors in Ragusa had initiated in 2004 the case against Cap Anamur, which ended in the full acquittal of all charges. In recent days other NGOs have been targeted with similar charges in Sicily.  Solidarity with migrants and refugees reaching Italy across the “Balkan route” is also at the center of judicial investigations and police operations. Also migrants are criminalized, as in the case of the “El Hiblu 3” in Malta and Moria in Greece. Once again, we are confronted with attempts to give priority to border security over the duty to rescue people at risk. While lawyers continue to fight in court against such violations of international and human rights law, there is also a need to stand up politically and to affirm the key role of migrant sea rescue and solidarity practices in the struggle for a more open and democratic Europe. The criminalization of Mediterranea is emblematic of the current conjuncture. For all these reasons we launch an international fundraising campaign in support of Mediterranea. [5, 6, 7]

10 years war. When Syrians fled their country to escape the horrors of the now 10-year-old war, it gave Europe its biggest refugee crisis since the Holocaust. About one million Syrians have since settled on the continent, the majority in Germany, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands. In 2016 the EU struck a deal with Turkey: in exchange for €6bn (£5.1bn) in aid, Ankara agreed to stop refugees and migrants making the deadly crossing over the Mediterranean and the long walk through eastern Europe. Syrians and others who have made it over the sea to Greece since the deal are now mostly held in camps. As a result, Turkey is far and away the world’s biggest refugee host nation, with 3.7 million registered Syrians already, and a population that keeps growing – about 500,000 Syrian children have been born here since the crisis began. [8, 14, 17, 18, 19]

Senegal suffers as young men risk all to reach Europe. As tourism plummets and fishing nets go empty, more are attempting the treacherous 1,000 mile journey to the Canaries. [9]

OceanViking performed the rescue of 10 people in distress on a fibreglass boat, 36NM off Libya. The operation was conducted under the coordination of an on-scene Libyan coastguard vessel who requested our intervention. Among the survivors are two women, one baby and three children. All women and children, including a baby, were constantly vomiting onboard the fibreglass boat. A medical assessment was performed by the medical doctor. She feared severe dehydration and exhaustion, especially for the children. [12]

Frightened of being sent back to their country of origin, migrants are leaving their accommodation centers in Gran Canaria to sleep on the streets of the Spanish island. Sometimes they find refuge high up on the edge of the cliffs. [13, 15]

The living conditions of migrants in Lipa are regularly denounced by NGOs and the European Union. Brussels has already called on the Sarajevo authorities several times to rebuild the camp to make it more habitable. Trapped in this Balkan country, the exiles claim that they want above all to leave Bosnia to reach Western Europe. But the border with Croatia - which also marks the entrance to the EU - is extremely difficult to cross and push-backs from Croatia, Slovenia and even Italy to Bosnia are frequent. Like some other 8,000 people stranded in Bosnia, Ali is also demanding the right to work. The best way to regain his dignity, he points out, is to buy his own food, for example. "We are young and fit men, we can work," Ali implores. "Being stuck here with nothing to do is making us sick."  [16]

𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦

[1] https://twitter.com/alarm.../status/1371427162113314820...

[2] https://www.msf.org/health-facilities-targeted-tigray...

[3] https://www.channel4.com/.../the-horrors-of-the-hidden...

[4] https://eritreahub.org/british-government-joins-president...

[5] https://mediterranearescue.org/.../international.../

[6] https://www.opendemocracy.net/.../lawfare-solidarity-sea.../

[7] https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/.../naomi.../amp/...

[8] https://www.theguardian.com/.../what-happened-to-the...

[9] https://www.theguardian.com/.../i-woke-up-he-was-gone...

[10] https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/.../refugee-rights.../

[11] https://www.dw.com/.../afghan-migrant-to-sue.../a-56819773

[12] https://twitter.com/sosmedintl/status/1372543997185552384...

[13] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../gran-canaria-migrants...

[14] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/...

[15] https://twitter.com/infomig.../status/1371841183169789958...

[16] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../help-the-refugees-stuck...

[17] https://www.spiegel.de/consent-a-...

[18] https://www.france24.com/.../20210319-paris-area-set-for...

[19] https://time.com/5946800/syrian-war-environmental-impact/

“European countries are failing to protect refugees and migrants trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. Backsliding in the protection of the lives and rights of refugees and migrants is worsening and causing thousands of avoidable deaths each year” said Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, while releasing a report entitled “A distress call for human rights. The widening gap in migrant protection in the Mediterranean”. The report takes stock of member states’ implementation of the Commissioner’s 2019 Recommendation on rescuing migrants at sea and provides a set of actionable measures to be urgently taken by European states to ensure a human rights compliant approach to sea crossings. It covers developments from July 2019 until December 2020 in five key areas: effective search and rescue; timely and safe disembarkation of rescued persons; cooperation with non-governmental organisations; cooperation with third countries; and safe and legal routes; and focuses mainly on developments on the Central Mediterranean route. However, many of the required actions set out in this document are applicable to all other major migration routes in the Mediterranean region and on the Atlantic route from West Africa to Spain. This report stresses that, despite some limited progress, the human rights situation in the Mediterranean remains deplorable. Shipwrecks continue to be worryingly recurrent, with more than 2400 registered deaths in the period under consideration, a number which may well under-represent the real tally of deadly incidents. The growing disengagement of states’ naval capacity from the Mediterranean and the hindrance of NGOs’ rescue activities, as well as decisions to delay disembarkation and failure to assign a safe port, have undermined the integrity of the search and rescue system. Cooperation activities with third countries have been enhanced despite the undeniable evidence of serious human rights violations, and without the implementation of human rights safeguards including transparency and accountability principles. “On the Central Mediterranean route specifically, many developments appearing to be aimed at ‘clearing the field’ for interceptions by the Libyan Coast Guard have become institutionalised, leading to almost 20,000 recorded returns to serious human rights violations in Libya'', wrote the Commissioner. The COVID-19 pandemic has also led to the adoption of more restrictive measures, which have a direct negative impact on the human rights of migrants.   In order to halt the widening of the gap in the protection of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean and reverse the situation, the Commissioner renewed her call on Council of Europe member states to implement swiftly her recommendations to ensure the preservation of human life and the protection of the human rights of people in distress at sea. In particular, she recommends guaranteeing the presence of adequate and sufficient state-led search and rescue capacity at sea; ensuring safe and prompt disembarkation of those rescued; allowing NGOs involved in search and rescue activities or human rights monitoring to carry out their work; ending pushbacks and other actions that expose refugees and migrants to return to serious human rights violations; and expanding safe and legal routes. “It is high time for European countries to put an end to this shameful tragedy and to adopt human rights compliant migration policies. Member states must no longer delay taking action to save lives. It is a matter of life or death – and of the credibility of European countries’ commitment to human rights,” concluded the Commissioner. [1, 12]

According to Tunisian media reports, at least 39 people have died in two shipwrecks off the coast of Sfax, Tunisia. [2, 9, 10]

Seventy migrants who were reportedly beaten and tortured in six secret prisons in the Libyan city of Bani Walid have been released. The city is considered a hub of human trafficking in Libya. [3]

The SeaWatch4 has arrived in the port of Burriana. [4]

The OceanViking left Marseille after a port call and self-isolation period for the crew. In the coming days, our rescue, medical and care teams will conduct drills while on their way to the central Mediterranean, where at least 194 people died or went missing since January. [5]

Moroccan police accused of burning migrant shelters near Spanish enclave. [6, 7, 11]

Refugee children in Greece have long lacked access to public education, and the coronavirus pandemic has made things even worse, according to a letter published by 33 organizations. They are demanding immediate action from Greek und EU authorities. [8] 

Bosnian authorities have announced that over 100 migrants who had been sleeping rough have been moved into asylum centers. Nearly half of those moved were reportedly children. The 115 migrants in question had been staying in eight abandoned houses and buildings in the northwest of the country, where they lacked basic amenities such as running water, electricity and heat. A total of 53 child migrants stuck in Bosnia were among the migrants. [13, 14, 15] 

A supporter of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko hurls stones during clashes with security forces in Dakar, Senegal March 3, 2021. Senegal's main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, was arrested on Wednesday after hundreds of his supporters clashed with police in the capital while protesting against a rape accusation he denies. [16, 17, 18]

𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦

[1] https://rm.coe.int/a-distress-call-for-human.../1680a1abcd

[2] https://twitter.com/TapNewsAgency/status/1369308807428513793

[3] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../libya-70-migrants-freed...

[4] https://twitter.com/seawatc.../status/1369335304549720066...

[5] https://twitter.com/sosmedintl/status/1369737999777402883...

[6] https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1369660534895878152

[7] https://www.theguardian.com/.../moroccan-police-accused...

[8] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../greece-refugee-children...

[9] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../tunisia-at-least-39...

[10] https://www.reuters.com/.../us-tunisia-migrants-europe...

[11] https://www.theguardian.com/.../moroccan-police-accused...

[12] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../a-distress-call-for...

[13] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../bosnia-moves-over-100...

[14] https://reliefweb.int/.../north-balkans-project-coordinator

[15]https://www.theguardian.com/.../croatia-landmine-from...

[16] https://www.reuters.com/.../protesters-clash-with-police...

[17] https://www.amnesty.org/.../senegal-restraint-needed-as.../

[18] https://www.nytimes.com/.../1000000.../senegal-protests.html

On Monday morning, March 1, a major police operation against Mediterranea Saving Humans was carried out. Ragusa’s public prosecutor’s office executed search warrants involving dozens of agents throughout Italy: in homes, in social centers, and on the ship, Mare Jonio. The charges are serious but the real target is the civil rescue operation at sea that Mediterranea has carried out since 2018 through the shipping company Idra social shipping, which provides the association with the search and rescue ship and manages its crews and equipment. Ragusa’s public prosecutor has made public his personal crusade against NGOs many times having declared that “it is necessary to not allow for the idea that removing migrants from the hands of the Libyans is acceptable.” What happened today is a true and real “judiciary theorem” in which the activities of search and rescue are assumed to be pre arranged as profit-making schemes. This hypothesis so contrived that the primary and true objective of this operation is obvious: to create “a mud slinging machine” as we have often seen in action in our country from the case of Mimmo Lucano to present-day investigations of anyone involved in supporting migrants who travel the Baltic route, and the shooting point blank of anyone, who like us, does not resign themselves to the already hundreds of deaths of women, men and children left to die in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year or to the already thousands captured at sea and deported to the Libyan concentration camps that are financed with the money of the European Union and Italy. The searches are meant to find “evidence” because the charges, despite thousands of hours of phone taps and surveillance, are, in reality, founded on speculation that will melt like snow under the sun. The rescue of 27 shipwrecked people by the Maersk Etienne who were abandoned at sea in between Malta and Lampedusa for 38 days on board a container ship which brought them to safety is the event under examination. This event was named “the shame of Europe,” this inhumane abandonment, the longest standoff in memory involving shipwrecked people who in theory, according to International Conventions, have the right to reach a safe port “promptly.” Idra social shipping has never been involved in anything illegal and will prove this in the appropriate venue. And, Mediterranea will not stop because of this sad and predictable attack. Mediterranea will continue to be at sea- there where crimes of slaughter, torture, rape and persecution are carried out. [1, 2]

On Friday, SeaWatch4 set sail from the port of Palermo, where she was blocked for 6 months due to arbitrary detention. It is now headed to Spain, where the shipyard crew will prepare it to get back as soon as possible to where it is needed the most. Leoluca Orlando, mayor of Palermo, was there to say goodbye. [3]

After an investigation lasting almost four years, Italian prosecutors have charged dozens of rescuers, from charities including Save the Children and Médecins Sans Frontières, who were accused of collaborating with people smugglers after saving thousands of people from drowning in the Mediterranean. Investigators in Trapani, Sicily, formally closed the inquiry on Monday and charged more than 20 people, including boat captains, heads of mission and legal representatives, with crimes carrying sentences of up to 20 years. As reported by La Repubblica, at least three rescue boats are at the centre of the charges: Iuventa, a former fishing vessel run by the German NGO Jugend Rettet, Vos Hestia, operated by Save the Children, and Vos Prudence, run by MSF. Prosecutors claim rescuers arranged a direct handover of the refugees and migrants from smugglers’ boats, returning the boats to be reused. The Iuventa crew, MSF and Save the Children deny all the accusations. [4, 5, 17]

Sea-Watch 3 disembarked the 363 boat migrants it had rescued in Augusta, Sicily. [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Leader of Tigray's forces accuses Ethiopian and Eritrean governments of genocide. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation against leaders in the Tigray region, sending in troops from the neighboring Amhara region. CNN has previously reported that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea have perpetrated many of the extrajudicial killings, assaults and human rights abuses in the Tigray region. [11, 12, 13, 16]

For two days, Alarmphone has been searching for a boat in distress with 35 people on its way to the CanaryIslands. The Moroccan authorities have found the 35 people in distress and returned them to Morocco. [14]

On Friday, Alarmphone was called by a group of people who arrived in the South of Lesvos and is stuck in the woods. The group was scared to be pushed back. They were exhausted and have serious medical problems. They informed UNHCR Greece and the Authorities, that told them they could not find the group in distress in the South of Lesvos. [15] 

Thousands of refugees are at risk of being left homeless by the abrupt termination of an EU-funded programme providing cash assistance and temporary shelter to people granted asylum in Greece. Appeals from aid groups have mounted, amid fears more than 2,000 men, women and children will face destitution if action isn’t taken. [18, 19]

References:

𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦

[1] https://mediterranearescue.org/.../press-release-monday.../

[2] https://maersktankers.com/.../maersk-etienne-company...

[3] https://twitter.com/seawatc.../status/1367868226064052227...

[4] https://www.theguardian.com/.../refugee-rescuers-charged...

[5] https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/.../charges.../amp/...

[6] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../hundreds-of-migrants...

[7] https://twitter.com/seawatc.../status/1366294045555892227...

[8] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/...

[9] https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SeaWatch3&src=hash

[10] https://twitter.com/seawatc.../status/1367808037860356099...

[11] https://edition.cnn.com/.../ethiopia-mfa-us.../index.html

[12] https://www.aljazeera.com/.../we-are-dying-tigrayans...

[13] https://eritreahub.org/eritrea-fights-with-itself-over...

[14] https://twitter.com/alarm.../status/1367460866204049420...

[15]https://twitter.com/alarm.../status/1367865594582863876...

[16] https://www.dw.com/.../ethiopia-un-officials.../a-56777495

[17] https://www.cbc.ca/.../captain-charged-after-saving...

[18] https://www.theguardian.com/.../greece-thousands-of...

[19] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../greek-authorities...

[20] https://twitter.com/SeaWatchItaly/status/1365957466131955714

[21] https://twitter.com/seawatch_intl/status/1365998916374843393

Thousands of refugees and migrants wait in Bosnia for the possibility to enter the EU. Disagreements over how to distribute aid threaten to leave many in cold if it weren't for volunteers working on their own. [10]

Libyan authorities say they have raided a secret prison in a southeastern city used by human traffickers and freed at least 156 African migrants – including 15 women and five children. The raid in the city of Kufra took place on February 16 after a migrant managed to escape a house-turned-prison last week and reported to authorities that he and other migrants were held and tortured by traffickers there, the Kufra security bureau said. [5]

45 people were rescued by the ship SeaWatch3. There were 5 women and 15 minors among them, escaping Libya on a boat in distress as reported by Alarmphone. 102 people rescued in a 2nd operation. One of the boat's tubes was already deflated, but the people could be brought safely on board, where there are now a total of 147 guests. A 3rd operation on Saturday, so 220 people saved are on board. A 4th operation on Saturday, so 317 people saved are on board. [9, 19, 20, 21]

On Friday, Alarmphone reported a boat with approximately 150 people in severe distress off the coast of Libya and alerted authorities. During the night the so-called Libyan coastguard captured 142 people and reported them in Libya. They should be the same group but it is not confirmed by authorities. [12]

102 migrants, including two pregnant women and a seven-month-old baby, were disembarked from the Aita Mari rescue ship at the Sicilian port of Augusta on Monday. They had all been rescued last week in the Mediterranean Sea. [8]

Thousands of people are reported to have been killed, and about two million have been internally displaced. About 100,000 Eritrean refugees who had been living in UN-run camps in Tigray have also been caught up in the conflict. Conflict broke out in November after the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) seized federal military bases in the region following a breakdown in relations with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government in Addis Ababa. [1, 2, 3, 4]

While a total of 5,000 people, including all the unaccompanied minors, have been transferred from Lesbos — according to the Greek government — more than 7,000 remain in Moria 2.0, where conditions have been described as worse than the previous camp. [6, 13, 14] 

The Cypriot government has lashed out at Turkey, saying it was indirectly involved in helping create a new migration route that "disproportionately burdened" Cyprus. The island nation and EU member state has had the bloc’s highest percentage of asylum seekers for several years. The Republic of Cyprus has seen an influx in asylum seekers in recent weeks and months, with many migrants entering the southern part of the country by illegally crossing the UN-patrolled buffer zone that divides the island between the Greek-majority south and a self-declared breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north. Cyprus said it has had the highest proportion of asylum applications in the EU for four consecutive years. About four percent of Cyprus' population is currently made up of asylum seekers — a number that is more than four times as high as the EU average. Cyprus also has the highest number of first-time asylum applications in the EU per capita. Authorities say they are overwhelmed and cannot cope with the high number of arrivals. [7]

Elementary school children don't typically venture far from home on their own, but 11-year-old Abou managed to cross a stretch of the Atlantic Ocean, from Africa to Europe, in the hands of strangers. Abou, from West Africa's Ivory Coast, boarded an inflatable dinghy alongside four other children, and a mother and her baby, all bound for the Canary Islands, in search of a better life. They arrived on the island of Fuerteventura in June 2020 after a full day's journey from southern Morocco. [11]

UN appeals for rescue of Rohingya adrift in Andaman Sea
The UN refugee agency is calling for the immediate rescue of a group of Rohingya refugees after their boat broke down in the Andaman Sea leaving them adrift for days without food or water.
Hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya have been living in refugee camps in Bangladesh since they were forced out of Myanmar in a brutal military crackdown in 2017.
Muslim-majority Malaysia has long been a favoured destination for the group who are among the world’s most persecuted peoples. And although boat journeys have declined in recent years, governments around Southeast Asia have tightened borders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are currently some 102,250 Rohingya registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia but rights groups say there are many more who are undocumented. Neither Malaysia nor Indonesia are signatories to the UN convention on refugees. [17]

Syria: Pressuring France to Bring Them Home, Women Who Joined ISIS Stage Hunger Strike.
UN human rights experts urged 57 states, including France, to repatriate women and children whose “continued detention, on unclear grounds” in the camps “is a matter of grave concern and undermines the progression of accountability, truth and justice.”
Rights groups have pressed the governments to at least bring home their citizens’ children, arguing that the minors did not choose to go to Syria and that having them raised in camps that have become cauldrons of Islamist radicalization would only aggravate the situation. [18]

25 years since the Sarajevo Siege
On the 29th of February 2021 it's been 25 years since the end of the siege of the city of Sarajevo, perpetrated by the Army of the Republika Srpska.
The siege was the longest (1425 days) in the history of Europe and was watched, but by no means stopped by the international community.
11.000 people (1600 children) were killed and 56.000 severely wounded.
The war in Bosnia claimed 100,000 lives. The number of internally displaced persons and refugees was over 2,200,000. And even though several of the commanders involved in the several massacres were arrested, surrendered to the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia and then prosecuted, the tensions in the area are far from being over. [15, 16]

References:

𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56147512

[2] https://www.fanabc.com/.../ethiopian-army-chief-on.../

[3] https://www.amnesty.org/.../ethiopia-eritrean-troops.../

[4] https://www.reuters.com/.../us-ethiopia-conflict-fires...

[5] https://www.aljazeera.com/.../libya-more-than-150...

[6] https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/.../living-in-this.../

[7] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../cyprus-accuses-turkey-of...

[8] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../over-100-migrants...

[9] https://twitter.com/savinghumansusa?s=11

[10] https://www.infomigrants.net/.../bosnia-refugee-aid...

[11] https://edition.cnn.com/.../child-migrants.../index.html

[12] https://twitter.com/alarm.../status/1365225900015509504...

[13] https://www.theguardian.com/.../woman-who-set-herself-on...

[14] https://www.nytimes.com/.../lesbos-greece-refugee-arson.html

[15] https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a6d20.html

[16] https://republica.ro/bosnia-si-balcanii-25-de-ani-de-la...

[17] https://www.aljazeera.com/.../un-appeals-for-rescue-of...

[18] https://www.nytimes.com/.../isis-frenchwomen-hunger...

[19] https://twitter.com/seawatc.../status/1365615825592410112...

[20] https://twitter.com/SeaWatchItaly/status/1365957466131955714

[21] https://twitter.com/seawatch_intl/status/1365998916374843393

After a forced stop of over 7 months, SeaWatch3 has left the Burriana port with a certified confirmation of safety by Spanish authorities.
They will carry out the last training in the open sea before the crew can finally set sail towards the search and rescue zone. (9)

~120 people in severe distress in international waters!
AlarmPhone was asked to send urgent rescue. All authorities & merchant vessels in the area had been alerted. The so-called Libyan coastguard refused to help. This week there have been several reports of boats in distress, but authorities have not responded. (8)

Greek NGOs denounce inaction over illegal migrant pushbacks on the Greek-Turkish border. After the Greek government denied allegations human rights groups deplored the lack of "an efficient investigation" by Greece.

The Hellenic League for Human Rights and five other rights groups stressed that the alleged pushbacks -- which have been reported since March 2020 -- were not just illegal but were endangering the lives of migrants.
Deploring the lack of "an efficient investigation" by either the country's justice system or any independent authority, they said they had sent a detailed report to the UN on February 1. (6)

Athens accused of ‘downplaying’ risks of lead contamination at Lesbos camp
Human Rights Watch is calling for further comprehensive testing at the Mavrovouni camp after results revealed that one area had particularly high levels of lead contamination.

About 21,000 sq m of the former military camp adapted to accommodate refugees in September last year had previously been used as a firing range, raising concerns about the potential for lead exposure.

~ 7,000 people, including thousands of children, live in the temporary camp, which is now five months old and was built after the nearby Moria camp went up in flames last September.

After calls for transparency, Greek authorities released the test results of 12 soil samples taken from the camp, also known as new Kara Tepe, one of which showed 2,233 milligrams of lead a kilo. The normal limit for residential areas in Greece is 500 milligrams a kilo. (10), (11)

Lampedusa: Migrant memorial to be created at former quarry

A memorial and a theater will be created at a former quarry on the Italian island of Lampedusa. The memorial will be dedicated to those who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean, especially the more than 360 migrants who died in the tragic October 2013 shipwreck. (2)

Five Eritreans take legal action against Italy over alleged pushback

The Eritrean citizens, with the support of the Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI) and Amnesty International Italia, have filed a suit with the civil court in Rome against Italian authorities, the private company Augusta Offshore and the skipper of one of its vessels, the Asso Ventinove, because on July 2, 2018 they were "pushed back to Libya by the ship 'Asso Ventinove' run by Augusta Offshore as part of operations coordinated by Italian authorities in collaboration with the so-called Libyan coast guard." (3)

EU Urges Bosnia to Share Migration ‘Burden’ More Equally

The EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson called for all parts of the country to share the burden of migration equally – in an implicit dig at Bosnia’s Serb-led entity, which has refused to host migrant camps.

She called the new program for migration and asylum at the level of the European Union a “new beginning” in solving the problem, for which it is first necessary to obtain the consent of all EU members.

The international rights watchdog Human Rights Watch, warned last month that Bosnia’s authorities were not providing adequate winter-suitable accommodation for migrants and asylum seekers “stranded in freezing temperatures in the northwestern part of the country”.

HRW also noted that while many of the migrants are seeking to enter EU member Croatia, “Croatia has responded with violent police pushbacks that breach EU, human rights, and refugee law and exacerbate the degrading conditions for migrants”. (7)

Relocated: 116 refugees arrive in Germany from Greece

26 family groups of refugees have arrived in Germany, the German interior ministry said in a press release on Wednesday. The 53 adults and 63 children have already been granted refugee status by the Greek authorities.

The latest 116 people to land in the German city of Hanover are part of an agreed contingent of people in need of protection. The agreement was signed between Germany and Greece in March 2020. (4)

German courts correct asylum decisions after 2018 scandal
In 2018, Germany's asylum office BAMF came under fire for supposedly wrongly issuing numerous positive asylum decisions. Now, German courts have ruled in favor of 66 refugees whose positive asylum decisions had been revoked.

According to the interior ministry, 184 lawsuits were filed in total. Nearly half of these cases (91) haven't yet been decided by the courts. Six cases were decided in 2017. (5)

Malta refuses to take 146 migrants rescued by Open Arms in its SAR area

On Saturday, the ship, which is operated by Open Arms, rescued 40 people, including a three-month-old baby, and later made a second rescue, where 106 people were found in Malta's search and rescue zone.

“The ship will be disembarking at Port Empedocle, Sicily, on Monday evening, after Malta once again denied port of safety requests several times,” an NGO spokesperson stated. (1)

References:

(1) https://timesofmalta.com/.../malta-refuses-to-take-146...

(2) https://www.infomigrants.net/.../lampedusa-migrant...

(3) https://www.infomigrants.net/.../five-eritreans-take...

(4) https://www.infomigrants.net/.../relocated-116-refugees...

(5) https://www.infomigrants.net/.../german-courts-correct...

(6) https://www.infomigrants.net/.../greek-ngos-denounce...

(7) https://balkaninsight.com/.../eu-urges-bosnia-to-share.../

(8) https://twitter.com/alarm_phone?s=09

(9) https://twitter.com/seawatch_intl?s=09

(10) https://www.tagesschau.de/fluechtlingslager-lesbos-blei...

(11) https://www.theguardian.com/.../athens-accused-of...

 After a forced stop of over 7 months, SeaWatch3 has left the Burriana port with a certified confirmation of safety by Spanish authorities.
They will carry out the last training in the open sea before the crew can finally set sail towards the search and rescue zone. (9)

~120 people in severe distress in international waters!
AlarmPhone was asked to send urgent rescue. All authorities & merchant vessels in the area had been alerted. The so-called Libyan coastguard refused to help. This week there have been several reports of boats in distress, but authorities have not responded. (8)

Greek NGOs denounce inaction over illegal migrant pushbacks on the Greek-Turkish border

After the Greek government denied allegations human rights groups deplored the lack of "an efficient investigation" by Greece.

The Hellenic League for Human Rights and five other rights groups stressed that the alleged pushbacks -- which have been reported since March 2020 -- were not just illegal but were endangering the lives of migrants.
Deploring the lack of "an efficient investigation" by either the country's justice system or any independent authority, they said they had sent a detailed report to the UN on February 1. (6)

Athens accused of ‘downplaying’ risks of lead contamination at Lesbos camp
Human Rights Watch is calling for further comprehensive testing at the Mavrovouni camp after results revealed that one area had particularly high levels of lead contamination.

About 21,000 sq m of the former military camp adapted to accommodate refugees in September last year had previously been used as a firing range, raising concerns about the potential for lead exposure.

~ 7,000 people, including thousands of children, live in the temporary camp, which is now five months old and was built after the nearby Moria camp went up in flames last September.

After calls for transparency, Greek authorities released the test results of 12 soil samples taken from the camp, also known as new Kara Tepe, one of which showed 2,233 milligrams of lead a kilo. The normal limit for residential areas in Greece is 500 milligrams a kilo. (10), (11)

Lampedusa: Migrant memorial to be created at former quarry

A memorial and a theater will be created at a former quarry on the Italian island of Lampedusa. The memorial will be dedicated to those who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean, especially the more than 360 migrants who died in the tragic October 2013 shipwreck. (2)

Five Eritreans take legal action against Italy over alleged pushback

The Eritrean citizens, with the support of the Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI) and Amnesty International Italia, have filed a suit with the civil court in Rome against Italian authorities, the private company Augusta Offshore and the skipper of one of its vessels, the Asso Ventinove, because on July 2, 2018 they were "pushed back to Libya by the ship 'Asso Ventinove' run by Augusta Offshore as part of operations coordinated by Italian authorities in collaboration with the so-called Libyan coast guard." (3)

EU Urges Bosnia to Share Migration ‘Burden’ More Equally

The EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson called for all parts of the country to share the burden of migration equally – in an implicit dig at Bosnia’s Serb-led entity, which has refused to host migrant camps.

She called the new program for migration and asylum at the level of the European Union a “new beginning” in solving the problem, for which it is first necessary to obtain the consent of all EU members.

The international rights watchdog Human Rights Watch, warned last month that Bosnia’s authorities were not providing adequate winter-suitable accommodation for migrants and asylum seekers “stranded in freezing temperatures in the northwestern part of the country”.

HRW also noted that while many of the migrants are seeking to enter EU member Croatia, “Croatia has responded with violent police pushbacks that breach EU, human rights, and refugee law and exacerbate the degrading conditions for migrants”. (7)

Relocated: 116 refugees arrive in Germany from Greece

26 family groups of refugees have arrived in Germany, the German interior ministry said in a press release on Wednesday. The 53 adults and 63 children have already been granted refugee status by the Greek authorities.

The latest 116 people to land in the German city of Hanover are part of an agreed contingent of people in need of protection. The agreement was signed between Germany and Greece in March 2020. (4)

German courts correct asylum decisions after 2018 scandal
In 2018, Germany's asylum office BAMF came under fire for supposedly wrongly issuing numerous positive asylum decisions. Now, German courts have ruled in favor of 66 refugees whose positive asylum decisions had been revoked.

According to the interior ministry, 184 lawsuits were filed in total. Nearly half of these cases (91) haven't yet been decided by the courts. Six cases were decided in 2017. (5)

Malta refuses to take 146 migrants rescued by Open Arms in its SAR area

On Saturday, the ship, which is operated by Open Arms, rescued 40 people, including a three-month-old baby, and later made a second rescue, where 106 people were found in Malta's search and rescue zone.

“The ship will be disembarking at Port Empedocle, Sicily, on Monday evening, after Malta once again denied port of safety requests several times,” an NGO spokesperson stated. (1)

References:

(1) https://timesofmalta.com/.../malta-refuses-to-take-146...

(2) https://www.infomigrants.net/.../lampedusa-migrant...

(3) https://www.infomigrants.net/.../five-eritreans-take...

(4) https://www.infomigrants.net/.../relocated-116-refugees...

(5) https://www.infomigrants.net/.../german-courts-correct...

(6) https://www.infomigrants.net/.../greek-ngos-denounce...

(7) https://balkaninsight.com/.../eu-urges-bosnia-to-share.../

(8) https://twitter.com/alarm_phone?s=09

(9) https://twitter.com/seawatch_intl?s=09

(10) https://www.tagesschau.de/fluechtlingslager-lesbos-blei...

(11) https://www.theguardian.com/.../athens-accused-of...

The situation in the Central Mediterranean remains very tense. Since the beginning of the year, 2,274 people have been intercepted and pushed back to the detention centers in Libya by the so-called Libyan "Coast Guard." Even with the past week's freezing temperatures, many pushbacks, shipwrecks, independent landings, and unfortunately,  numerous missing were reported.

Sadly, yesterday, it was confirmed that a vessel capsized with 48 people on board after setting off on the night of February 12th from the port of Sfax, Tunisia. The Tunisian Military Marine Corps intervened and managed to save 25 people of which 6 were women.  Maritime weather conditions were so forbidding that rescue operations had to be suspended many times. The lifeless body of a man was also recovered.  However, there is no trace of the other 22 migrants who were swept away by waves and strong currents.

There is some good news. At this time, a  port of safety  (POS) has been finally assigned to the 146 people who were rescued during two separate operations by Open Arms’ Astral (40 on February 12th and 106 on February 13th). There were many women and children among them. The shipwrecked people will be disembarked at Porto Empedocle in Italy according to Covid-19 quarantine protocol procedures.

An episode involving the so-called Libyan Coast Guards is worth mentioning because it demonstrates how hostile and seriously threatening  their mindset is. On February 12th, the so-called Libyan Coast Guard attempted to hinder the intercession of the Spanish NGO while it was attempting to trace a vessel of 40 shipwrecked people among which there were 3 unaccompanied minors and a woman with a 3 month old child.

The Astral, one of Open Arms’ boats, following the geolocation coordinates provided by Seabird, Sea Watch International's aircraft, reported a swimmer 7 nautical miles from Zuwara, Libya. They were pulled back by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard's patrol boat, "Fezzan P658," for allegedly "intentionally violating Libya's national waters and for carrying out clandestine surveillance activities of migrant vessels." In spite of everything, Open Arms' crew courageously managed to rescue the shipwrecked people whose boat was sinking.

On February 11th, the same patrol boat  carried out another interception and an additional 209 people were pushed back - among them were 25 women and 13 minors. Concurrently, on the Garabulli coast, a lifeless body was pulled from the sea. Again, the same patrol boat, during a night time operation on February 12th, intercepted another 90 migrants and pushed them back to Tripoli. 

It is easy, therefore, to assume that there are many vessels present that have not been reported in the Central Mediterranean. Presently, adverse weather conditions have forced  another dinghy with a group of migrants that had not yet been reported to Zuwara's shore. 

Groups of people also continue to arrive on Italian shores. On February 12th, there were two independent landings in Lampedusa from Tunisia for a total of 99 migrants. The first vessel had 53 people on board (among them were 5 women and 4 minors); the second vessel had 46 people on board (among them were 15 women and 4 minors).

Yet another week ends with a considerable number of pushbacks by proxy, with European authorities and  governments failing to rescue those in distress and with independent landings. Rather than intervene, Europe, Italy, but also most of the national public media, are silent on the subject. Instead, they should denounce this, protect the lives and the rights of these people and ensure rescue and care in compliance with international law and  the Italian Constitution.