The German frigate "Hamburg" set sail from Wilhelmshaven in the north of Germany on August 4. It is expected to reach its Mediterranean patrol zone off the Libyan coast by mid-August. The boat will be part of the EU operation Irini, designed to help enforce a UN weapons embargo on Libya in the hope of stabilizing the country.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has urged Libya to release more than 200 migrant children who have recently been intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea and returned to Libya.
Protesters in Rome took to the streets on Monday, July 27, to call on the Italian government to stop financing the Libyan coast guard and to close detention centers. They also called for a transfer of migrants from Libya through humanitarian corridors.
Libyan authorities shot dead three Sudanese migrants in a coastal town when they tried to escape after they were returned to Libya by coast guards, the UN migration agency said Tuesday. Over 6,500 migrants have reportedly been intercepted and brought back to Libya this year.
In an unprecedented case, the captain of an Italian commercial vessel is to be taken to court for returning migrants he rescued in the Mediterranean to civil war country Libya. The man is accused of violating international law, under which Libya is not a safe harbor.
Thirteen migrants who tested positive for COVID-19 in Italy and were taken amidst protests by local residents to the town of Amantea, in Calabria, have been transferred to the Celio military hospital in Rome. Meanwhile, the Italian government is still looking for a new quarantine ship to use for migrants who disembark in Italy.
The UN migration agency (IOM) has said Libya's coast guard over the weekend returned 83 Europe-bound migrants to Libya and brought them to detention centers. Around 6,000 migrants have reportedly been intercepted and brought back to Libya this year.
The German NGO Sea-Watch has recently acquired a new aircraft in cooperation with the Swiss Humanitarian Pilots Initiative (HPI). The aircraft, which has been named Seabird, will be used for civil air reconnaissance missions off the coast of Libya, from where hundreds of migrants depart on makeshift boats to Europe every week . The new aircraft is an addition to the Moonbird, which has been active since 2017.
Pope Francis has likened the living conditions in migrant detention centers in Libya to concentration camps. The comments came during a mass commemorating the pontiff's journey to the Italian island of Lampedusa seven years ago.
Migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean are regularly being picked up by the Libyan authorities and returned to Libya. Charities report their rescue ships are often out-run by Libyan coast guards who beat them to take the migrants back. Nearly 500 migrants have been returned to Libya in recent days, according to the UN migration agency IOM.
Libyan coast guards have intercepted 71 migrants including women and children and returned them to the Libyan capital Tripoli, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.
Several people have died following another shipwreck along the Libyan coast over the weekend. The incident took place near the capital, Tripoli. The exact number of victims is so far unknown; however, according to initial reports, there were three bodies washed up on the beach near the town of Al-Zawiya, about 50 kilometers west of Tripoli.