Mehr als 3000 Flüchtlinge im letzten Jahr ertrunken

Laut einem jüngst vorgelegten Bericht sollen letztes Jahr über 3000 Menschen beim Versuch, das Mittelmeer als Flüchtlinge zu überqueren, ertrunken sein:

Several groups running rescue missions in the Mediterranean are calling for a change in the EU’s policies, which they say are partly to blame for the drownings of more than 3,000 people last year.

A 2023 decree has severely reduced the response capacity of the NGO-run civil fleet’s search-and-rescue missions, routinely putting the lives of people crossing the Mediterranean at risk.

The order, implemented by the Italian interior minister Matteo Piantedosi, states that once a rescue has been completed, civil fleets must immediately head to an assigned port of disembarkation without delay, using the most direct route. This stops additional rescues happening, the groups said.

At the same time, Italy has begun assigning rescue boats to its ports far away from where they operate, which forces them to sail hundreds of extra miles, hindering their Mediterranean patrols. According to an SOS Humanity report, in 2023, these vessels wasted 374 days making the longer journeys.

Rescue boats covered more than 150,500km (93,500 miles) – the world’s circumference is 40,000km – in one year to take “unnecessarily long” routes, the report said, saying these demands only target humanitarian boats, and not the Italian coastguard.