The European Union has condemned rescue boats picking up drowning refugees in the Mediterranean, in a dramatic hardening of the bloc’s border policy that brings it in line with the continent’s anti-immigration populists.
After a summit in Brussels EU leaders backed the approach of Italy’s new populist government to the boats, suggesting the vessels should stay away and could be breaking the law by picking up those in distress.
A communiqué issued by the European Council warns the vessels’ operators that they should defer to the Libyan coastguard, which NGOs say amounts to “deliberately condemning vulnerable people to be trapped in Libya, or die at sea”.
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The new policy, part of a raft of measures unveiled by the bloc in the wake of a populist anti-immigration backlash across the continent, comes hours after 100 people were reported to have drowned off the Libyan coast.
Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-right League party, said this week ahead of the meeting that “voracious” NGO boats were aiding “human traffickers” and that that they should not be “disturbing” the coastguard and “causing trouble”.
When the Libyan coastguard picks up refugees and migrants in distress on the sea it returns them to Libya, which is currently in the throes of a civil war and where torture and inhumane detentions have been recorded. NGO boats tend to take people rescued onwards to Europe where they can apply for asylum. The NGO rescue boats operate outside of Libyan territorial waters and had the backing of the Italian authorities until the change in government at the start of June.
The EU leaders echoed Mr Salvini’s condemnation in their European Council conclusions published on Friday. “Efforts to stop smugglers operating out of Libya or elsewhere should be further intensified. The EU will continue to stand by Italy and other frontline member states in this respect,” they said.
“[The EU] will step up its support for the Sahel region, the Libyan coastguard, coastal and southern communities, humane reception conditions, voluntary humanitarian returns, cooperation with other countries of origin and transit, as well as voluntary resettlement.
“All vessels operating in the Mediterranean must respect the applicable laws and not obstruct operations of the Libyan coastguard.”
Leaders were accused by charities and human rights group of having “chosen to pander to xenophobic governments” with the bloc’s new policies.
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Karline Kleijer, head of emergencies at Médecins Sans Frontières, which supports some of the boats, said: “Saving lives at sea is not a crime. EU member states are abdicating their responsibilities to save lives and deliberately condemning vulnerable people to be trapped in Libya, or die at sea.
“They do this fully aware of the extreme violence and abuses that refugees and migrants suffer in Libya. MSF urges European governments to show some basic decency and remember that we are talking about human lives and human suffering. They can start by committing to search and rescue, and facilitate swift disembarkation in places of safety. This does not mean Libya.”
Iverna McGowan, director of Amnesty International’s European institutions office, said: “After days of bickering, EU leaders have signed off a raft of dangerous and self-serving policies which could expose men, women and children to serious abuse.
“The summit was a chance to fix Europe’s broken asylum system and create policies based on fairness, effectiveness and compassion. Instead EU leaders have chosen to pander to xenophobic governments who are hellbent on keeping Europe closed, and to push even more responsibility onto countries outside the EU.”
EU leaders agreed at the summit that they would explore the establishment of processing centres for migrants in North Africa, step up funding for the Libyan coastguard, and create a new funding system to help member states fight irregular migration. They also agreed in principle to establish controlled areas to hold migrants that do reach Europe, though it is not clear where these would be located.
The Libyan coastguard said about 100 people are feared dead at sea after a boat capsized near Tripoli. The country’s coastguard said it managed to rescue about 16 migrants. A spokesperson for the organisation quoted a Yemeni survivor from the disaster, who said the boat had carried around 125 migrants, including women and children, before it capsized.
Unpacking the concept of “disembarkation platform”, Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council told reporters: “It is a place for secure processing and the main aim is to disembark migrants saved in search and rescue operations, distinguish economic migrants from genuine refugees, then return migrants and resettle refugees.
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A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016.
AFP/Getty Images
2/27
Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea
3/27
Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016.
Getty Images
4/27
Refugees flash the ‘V for victory’ sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border
5/27
Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia.
6/27
A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale’s Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece.
Getty Images
7/27
A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany
8/27
Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees
9/27
A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale’s Kucukkuyu district
10/27
Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast.
11/27
A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos
12/27
A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said
13/27
Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year
14/27
The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos
15/27
Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija
Getty Images
16/27
A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija
Getty Images
17/27
Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos
Reuters
18/27
An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey
Getty Images
19/27
A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos
EPA
20/27
A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey
Getty Images
21/27
Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija
Getty Images
22/27
People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija
AP
23/27
Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers – many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia – entering the country every day
Getty Images
24/27
An aerial picture shows the “New Jungle” refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France
Getty Images
25/27
A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea
EPA
26/27
Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey
Getty Images
27/27
Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.
1/27
A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016.
AFP/Getty Images
2/27
Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea
3/27
Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016.
Getty Images
4/27
Refugees flash the ‘V for victory’ sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border
5/27
Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia.
6/27
A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale’s Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece.
Getty Images
7/27
A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany
8/27
Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees
9/27
A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale’s Kucukkuyu district
10/27
Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast.
11/27
A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos
12/27
A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said
13/27
Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year
14/27
The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos
15/27
Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija
Getty Images
16/27
A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija
Getty Images
17/27
Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos
Reuters
18/27
An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey
Getty Images
19/27
A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos
EPA
20/27
A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey
Getty Images
21/27
Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija
Getty Images
22/27
People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija
AP
23/27
Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers – many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia – entering the country every day
Getty Images
24/27
An aerial picture shows the “New Jungle” refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France
Getty Images
25/27
A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea
EPA
26/27
Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey
Getty Images
27/27
Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.
“It could be and I am absolutely sure it will be the most effective mechanism to break the smugglers’ business model – to discourage migrants and smugglers to use this very risky route using vessels on the Mediterranean Sea.”
The European Council’s statement noted that “the number of detected illegal border crossings into the EU has been brought down by 95 per cent from its peak in October 2015”. Despite the massive fall, the subject has hit the top of the agenda in recent weeks after gains for far-right and anti-immigration parties in elections in some countries.
