"
The real tragedy is that much of the suffering and deaths along the Central Mediterranean route can be prevented,
" UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Michelle Bachelet said today, commenting on an Agency report on the subject entitled 'Lethal contempt' and made known in Geneva
. Bachelet calls on the Libyan government and the EU to "urgently reform their current search and rescue policies and practices in the central Mediterranean Sea which too often deprive migrants of their lives, dignity and basic human rights", reads a press release.
The UN calls on the EU to ensure that all agreements or cooperation measures on migration governance with Libya are consistent with international law. "The answer cannot be simply to prevent departures from Libya or to make travel more desperate and dangerous," says Bachelet. "As long as there are not enough safe, accessible and regular migration channels, people will continue to attempt to cross the central Mediterranean, regardless of the dangers or consequences," he added. "I urge EU member states to show solidarity to ensure that frontline countries, such as Malta and Italy, are not left alone to take disproportionate responsibility."Despite a significant decline in the overall number of migrants arriving in Europe via the central Mediterranean in recent years, hundreds of people continue to die, with at least 632 deaths since the beginning of the year, the United Nations recalls. According to the report, evidence suggests that the lack of human rights protection for migrants at sea "is not a tragic anomaly, but rather a consequence of concrete policy and practice decisions by Libyan authorities, EU Member States and institutions, and other actors "who together create an environment" in which the dignity and human rights of migrants are at risk. "The report, which covers the period January 2019 - December 2020, notes with concern that theThe EU and its member states have significantly reduced maritime search and rescue operations, while humanitarian NGOs are hindered in rescue operations. Furthermore, private merchant ships increasingly avoid going to the aid of migrants. "Every year people drown because aid arrives too late or never arrives," the UN deplores. Those rescued are sometimes forced to wait days or weeks before being safely disembarked and the wait is prolonged by health quarantines to cause of the pandemic or, more and more often, they are being returned to Libya, "which is not a safe haven", reiterates the High Commissioner. In 2020, at least 10,352 migrants were intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard at sea and returned to Libya, compared to at least 8.403 in 2019, the UN specifies.
