It's been one year since Italy announced it was closing its ports to humanitarian vessels. Since then, at least 1,151 men, women and children have been reported dead while over 10,000 have been forcibly taken back to Libya and exposed to further suffering, SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) say. They want EU states to change their policies.
The illegal immigration situation in the EU has "significantly improved," with 30,000 irregular crossings of EU borders since the start of 2019, Fabrice Leggeri, the director of the European Union border agency Frontex, said in a recent interview.
More than 2,500 people have fled their homes in southwest Libya following devastating floods caused by heavy rains that began in late May, according to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR. Four people have died in the flooding.
The European Commission has reiterated that its position on migrant detention centers in Libya has remained unchanged and that the facilities must be closed.
In Tripoli, a group of migrants who were being held in the Zintan detention center have been relocated to a UN facility awaiting evacuation from Libya. There are still concerns for more than 5,000 detainees suffering ‘dire’ conditions.
The UN agency for migration has reported that at least 519 migrants have died in the Mediterranean since the start of 2019. Over half of the victims died between the coasts of Italy and Malta. Meanwhile, Greece has become the top destination for migrants.
Clashes in Tripoli have displaced over 60,000 people, according to the Libyan chapter of the International Red Cross. Many are living in public schools while others have fled to different cities.
The Libyan coast guard recovered the bodies of a woman and a child and rescued 73 people after a migrant boat sunk off the coast of Libya on Sunday. Up to 25 migrants remain missing.
There have never been so many people on the move worldwide, and they must be guaranteed healthcare, says the World Health Organization (WHO). This is why they just approved a five-year global action plan for migrant health.
A group of 75 people has been taken to Malta after they were found stranded on a tuna pen in the Mediterranean. The navy said it picked up the migrants on Wednesday night.
500 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea this year as of May 20, according to figures released by UNHCR. Meanwhile, 18,408 migrants arrived in Europe. The risk of death has grown exponentially for those who undertake a journey across the Mediterranean Sea to reach Italy.
The Libyan coast guard says it rescued 290 migrants from two rubber dinghies off the eastern coast of Tripoli on Friday. The migrants were returned to Libya and handed over to the country's "Anti-Illegal Migration Agency" while clashes in the capital Tripoli continue.