A boat carrying around 190 migrants was intercepted by the Mauritanian coast guard on Friday, the UN migration agency said. This comes less than two days after 63 migrants drowned when their vessel sank in the same waters en route from The Gambia. The country's president has vowed to crack down on people traffickers.
Under international law, ships have a clear duty to help those in distress at sea. But when the ships are run by non-governmental organizations, and the people in distress are migrants, there are very often questions about what is 'the right thing to do'. The German news agency epd asked a maritime law expert for some answers.
The Alan Kurdi and Ocean Viking rescue ships were given permission to dock in Italian ports on Wednesday morning and safely offload their 121 passengers. Both ships rescued migrants from the Mediterranean on November 28 and had been waiting for approval to enter a safe port.
Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese has called for a "code of conduct" for private vessels carrying out rescue operations in the Mediterranean. She wants the EU to introduce "rules for the security of migrants and crew members."
The Libyan coast guard has reportedly taken 30 migrants off the supply ship "OOC Panther" that rescued them on Saturday in the Central Mediterranean. According to charity search and rescue groups, armed Libyan guards had previously boarded the ship in an attempt to force the migrants to return to Libya.
The bodies of five migrants who died when a boat capsized in rough waters off the southern Lampedusa coast a week ago have been found, Italy's coast guard said on Sunday. This brings the overall death toll to 18.
The organizations Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee are appealing once again to European governments to stop obstructing migrant search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean.
Two charity boats, carrying a total of 140 migrants saved from Mediterranean waters, have been given permission to board and disembark their passengers in Italian ports after a number of EU nations agreed to take in some of the rescued migrants. However, there have also been more deaths at sea over the weekend.
Italian Admiral Giovanni Pettorino has said that the Coast Guard rescued 55,000 unaccompanied children between 2015 and 2018.
Libya's interim national unity government has issued a decree forcing NGOs running migrant rescue vessels to obtain the permission of Libyan authorities to carry out search and rescue missions in Libyan waters. Italian non-profit Arci said the measure "criminalizes NGOs."
Malta reportedly asked the Libyan coast guard to rescue a migrant boat in Maltese waters. The UN agency has said that this may be a violation of maritime laws.
The Ocean Viking has reportedly rescued 104 migrants from a rubber dinghy off the coast of Libya. Among them are 40 minors, ten women and two babies, according to MSF, which operates the migrant rescue ship.