Malta's migrant centers are steadily emptying out partly due to a drop in the number of sea arrivals since 2020. The island has drastically decreased its search and rescue activities, a European report says.
Three private rescue ships in the Mediterranean are now waiting for ports in which to disembark the more than 500 migrants they collectively rescued. Sea-Watch 4 has 145 on board, the Geo Barents 470, and 34 people are on deck the Sea-Eye 4.
Frontex is losing credibility following further allegations it was involved in pushbacks. Now, the private sea rescue organization Sea-Watch is alleging that the European border agency is implicated in so-called pullbacks near Malta as well, launching legal proceedings at the EU Court in Luxembourg.
All 106 migrants rescued by German NGO vessel Sea-Eye 4 have gone ashore at the Italian port town of Augusta on the island of Sicily. The Sea-Eye 4 crew had rescued the migrants in the central Mediterranean in two separate operations.
Malta is a key location as concerns the issue of migration, Pope Francis said Wednesday during his general audience in speaking about his trip to the island this week. He then called for the world to become more "fraternal, more liveable" in order to save itself from a "shipwreck that threatens all of us".
Pope Francis took an elevator to board his flight to Malta to "avoid unnecessary strain." The trip to Malta comes one day after he apologized to Canada's indigenous communities for abuses at residential schools there.
German NGO vessel Sea-Eye 4 has picked up 106 migrants in the central Mediterranean in two days. After taking over 32 people a freighter had rescued earlier, the crew rescued 74 people from a rubber dinghy after receiving several distress calls. The Sea-Eye 4 is currently waiting off Malta for a safe port.
The private rescue organization Sea-Eye transferred 32 migrants to its ship Sea-Eye 4 on Tuesday after a container ship with a Ukrainian captain rescued the group in the Mediterranean on Monday. They are now headed for Malta in the hope of finding a port for disembarkation, said the organization.
The three young African men, known as El Hiblu 3, have been on trial in Malta since 2019. They face a long list of charges including terrorism, violence and hijacking the El Hiblu. Now, as the trial continues, they have decided to speak out and tell their own stories.
The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, has called on Malta to review its cooperation with Libya, which she said is not a safe place to return migrants to.
The private migrant rescue ship 'Ocean Viking' has rescued more than 200 people in the Mediterranean Sea within 24 hours. Nearly a quarter of the migrants were under 18 years old.
The latest hearing in a three-year inquiry takes place this week for three African migrants, arrested as teenagers in Malta in 2019. Amnesty International and other human rights activists have been campaigning for the charges against the teens to be dropped. InfoMigrants spoke to Amnesty in Malta for this week's hearing.