Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain say that the new migration pact – as proposed by the European Commission – fails to do enough to systemically redistribute new migrants arriving in the southern EU member states. The four Mediterranean countries expressed their demands in a discussion paper seen by the German news agency dpa.
For migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Libya towards Europe on Tuesday, November 10, it was literally a matter of life and death. News agencies reported that 13 people drowned off the Libyan coast, and on a different boat 88 people were rescued and transferred to the humanitarian rescue ship Open Arms.
Malta's government is facing legal action over alleged rights abuses. Migrants say Maltese authorities left them stranded at sea before ordering their return to Libya in a fishing boat.
The UN-recognized government in Libya has detained a coastguard commander Abdalrahman Al-Milad in connection with human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The UN Security Council previously accused him of intentionally sinking migrant boats.
The European Union looks poised to find broad political agreement on a new EU migration pact. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that the 27 member states might be able to adopt the new legislation before the end of the year.
The UN Human Rights Office OHCHR has called for urgent action to deal with the horrors faced by migrants trying to cross the central Mediterranean sea and the situations they confront in Libya as well as once they reach Europe.
There have been mixed reactions to the new EU pact on migration. The European Commission sought consensus ahead of the pact in order to pass the policy into law even through countries which had been resisting the idea of mandatory quotas. Many human rights organizations though have slammed the proposals.
The southern French port city of Marseille has declared itself “ready to welcome” the migrant rescue ship Alan Kurdi when it arrives. On Wednesday the ship’s crew said it was heading for France after being refused entry by Italy and Malta.
The humanitarian rescue ship Alan Kurdi, operated by the organization Sea-Eye, has announced that it is setting sail for France after it was refused entry to ports in Italy and Malta. The ship rescued 133 migrants over the weekend.
Italy has given permission for 140 migrants to disembark the Spanish rescue ship Open Arms. Over the past two days more than 100 migrants jumped off the rescue ship stranded off Sicily and tried to swim to shore.
Denmark has appointed a new special migration envoy to "help open doors" towards a new EU migration policy which would push reception centers outside EU borders. The government on Thursday also said that Tunisia should take in the 27 migrants aboard the Danish-flagged tanker Maersk Etienne which has been stranded off Malta for weeks.
A video published on the website of the Maltese newspaper Times of Malta shows footage purporting to be from inside the Safi military barracks on the island nation where migrants claim they are being held for months at a time. Conditions are so bad, some are begging to be allowed to return home.