Migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean took refuge on a Shell oil platform before being handed over to Tunisian authorities on Tuesday. Rescue charities have accused the oil giant of complicity in the 'pullback'.
The private rescue ship Sea-Eye 4 has saved a total of more than 800 migrants in the Mediterranean in recent days while other NGO ships and the Italian coast guard rescued nearly 600. The Sea-Eye 4 is now heading for the Italian port of Lampedusa.
Private rescue groups including SOS Mediterranee and Sea-Eye overnight picked up hundreds of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
More and more human rights groups, NGOs and international bodies are joining calls to free three migrants who convinced the captain of a merchant ship to not return more than 100 migrants to Libya two years ago. Meanwhile, a new report Malta and the EU's treatment of migrants overall.
Hundreds of migrants rescued from the Central Mediterranean by the Geo Barents remained at sea over the weekend, waiting for permission to disembark. Two other private vessels have brought more than 500 rescued migrants to the Italian island of Sicily over the past two days.
Thirty-two asylum seekers have filed a complaint for human rights violations against the Maltese government. In the spring of 2020, the cabinet decided to leave them for weeks on two tourist boats outside territorial waters as a precautionary measure against Covid-19.
Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said relying on the EU Pact on Migration is not enough in the fight against undocumented migration, and called on individual governments within the Med5 region to make use of their own legal frameworks for better results.
Survivors rescued by the NGO ship SOS Mediterranee say that they had been subjected to violence during their journey towards Europe.They say that had spent three days at sea prior to the rescue and had run out of water and fuel shortly after the journey began.
The two NGO rescue vessels "Ocean Viking" and "Sea-Watch 3" now carry a total of more than 800 people on board, all of whom were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend.
Two NGO vessels have saved some 250 migrants from distress in the Mediterranean Sea over two days. The number of arrivals to Italy via the central Mediterranean, at present one of the most dangerous migration paths in the world, continues to rise.
The German government has not received any migrants who were rescued from boats in the central Mediterranean since September. A total of 913 people have been transferred to Germany since June 2018, according to the interior ministry.
Three men were found dead on board a boat carrying 81 other migrants that was rescued by Malta early on Wednesday. The charity Sea-Watch has claimed that authorities purposely delayed the rescue.