EU accused of leaving migrants to die at sea
Bianca Rahimi
Press TV, London
The number of desperate people trying to reach Europe has not decreased despite ports being closed. For migrants fleeing war and persecution it is business as usual and the same goes for the coastguards trying to hold them back.
Europe has offered countries like Libya and Niger, both conduits for migrants embarking on this perilous journey, incentives to stop them. But some migrants say they would rather die at sea than end up in a detention center where according to the UN, torture is rife.
Roughly 16-thousand migrants and refugees have drowned in the Central Mediterranean since 2014. Under the current circumstances no one knows how many are dying out there right now.
According to both the EU Council and UNHCR international protection and humanitarian assistance should not stop because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes search and rescue at sea but for more than a month now many rescue operations in the Mediterranean have been halted indefinitely.
Distress calls to hotlines are being disconnected or put on hold and in recent days at least three boats carrying more than 200 people from Libya, were left without assistance. Two of the three boats eventually reached the coast of Sicily on their own, while the fate of the last boat remains unknown.
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