A new study has revealed that the vast majority of Germans do not see the migrants coming across the Mediterranean as legitimate refugees and want to see them deported back to North Africa.
The crew of the Golfo Azzurro, the migrant rescue vessel belonging to Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, was arrested by the Libyan coastguard and detained for several hours only a short time after claims they had turned off their transponders.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA (AFP) – On board the Aquarius, one of the last NGO ships still operating off the coast of Libya, rescuers are worried they are not seeing any more boatloads of migrants at sea.
Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms has criticised the Libyan coastguard after they fired warning shots near one of their rescue vessels looking for migrants off the Libyan coast.
The Libyan coastguard claims that since Friday it has intercepted over one thousand migrants in various boats attempting to head for Europe and returned them to the Libyan mainland.
The migrant rescue NGO vessel “Golfo Azzurro” has been refused access to Italian ports on the island of Lampedusa, with some blaming “right-wing hackers” for ship confiscations and NGO members being investigated for people smuggling. The Golfo Azzurro, which belongs to
Several fishermen in the Tunisian port city of Zarzis have blocked the Defend Europe vessel, the “C-Star”, from refuelling claiming that the ship and its mission to watch over migrant rescue NGOs is “racist”.
Former European Union Parliament president and current leader of the German Social Democrats Martin Schulz has rejected proposals from members of his own party to create asylum centres in Libya. The migrant crisis has become the focus of the ongoing
Italian former prime minister Matteo Renzi has demanded penalties for NGOs shown to be cooperating with people smugglers after NGO Jugend Rettet had their ship confiscated by the government on suspicion of collusion with smugglers. The former Italian Prime Minister,
Several major migrant rescue NGOs working in the Mediterranean have refused to sign a proposed “code of conduct” developed by the Italian government which could limit their access to Italian ports.
European Union member states have agreed to pay 100 euros a week to new recruits in the Libyan coastguard to boost the number of officers to tackle people smuggling.
Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti plans to fly to Libya later this week where he is expected to meet with mayors of various Libyan cities to discuss bringing an end to people smuggling in the country.
The Italian government has released its eleven-point migrant code of conduct which must be followed by pro-migrant NGOs or they will not be allowed to use Italian ports.
The UN’s refugee agency has warned Spain to prepare for an increase in migrants arriving from North Africa as landings double since last year, with more asylum seekers preferring the “safer” route to Europe from Morocco.
VIENNA (AFP) – Austria will “very soon” impose border checks and deploy soldiers on its frontier with Italy if the influx of migrants across the Mediterranean does not slow, Vienna’s defence minister was quoted as saying Monday.
Italian officials say the government has threatened to block foreign boats from delivering African migrants to its ports, declaring the situation to be “unsustainable”.
European Union officials, including EU Council President Donald Tusk, have admitted most of the migrants coming from Africa into Italy are not legitimate refugees or asylum seekers, but illegal migrants.
The hipster-right Identitarian youth movement has raised over 65,000 euros to track and disrupt pro-migrant NGOs who rescue migrants in the Mediterranean and bring them to Europe.
A new report has revealed that people smugglers in the Mediterranean may be making as much as £400,000 for every ship that crosses the sea to Europe. The people smuggling business in North Africa may be more lucrative than many have
A third migrant route appears to be opening up across the Mediterranean as the number of migrants landing along Spain’s coastline has tripled this year.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has complained that there is a “hate campaign” being directed against Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) rescuing migrants from the Mediterranean by Italy and others. The Director General of MSF in Italy, Gabriele Eminente commented on the current wave of
The Italian government is looking to create a stricter environment for pro-migrant NGO rescue ships operating out of the country which would include being deployed only under Italian coast guard discretion.
Several members of the hipster-right, anti-mass migration Identitarian youth movement blocked one of the ships of a pro-migrant NGO which was setting sail for Libya to pick up migrants and ferry them to Europe.
German Green Party leader in Hamburg Anna Gallina accompanied one of the several migrant rescue NGOs accused of either helping or encouraging people smugglers by the European Union.
Pro-migrant rescue NGO Sea-Watch has complained the Libyan coast guard has interfered in their rescue operations whilst the Libyans allege the NGO was operating within its territorial waters.
The European Union (EU) has slammed China for allowing the production of inflatable dinghies used by smugglers to bring migrants to Europe.
TRIPOLI (AFP) – Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Saturday held talks in Tripoli with top Libyan officials on peace efforts for the war-wracked country and ways to curb illegal migration to Europe. Alfano met Government of National Accord head Fayez al-Sarraj
ROME (AFP) – Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Saturday said he “agreed 100 percent” with a prosecutor’s repeated suggestions that some charity boats rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean are colluding with traffickers in Libya. Sicily-based prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro sparked a row
Charity boats rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean are colluding with traffickers in Libya, an Italian prosecutor was quoted as saying Sunday, stirring up a simmering row over aid groups’ role in Europe’s migrant crisis. In an interview with Italian daily
GAETA, Italy (AP) – Italy has given the Libyan coast guard the first two of 10 boats to rescue migrants from foundering smugglers’ boats, as part of a strategy Rome hopes will reduce the huge numbers of the rescued from reaching
Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka has called for the European Union (EU) to seal the Mediterranean route after 9,000 migrants were ferried from Africa during Easter weekend.
An “unprecedented” number of people tried to cross the Mediterranean over the Easter weekend this year, a migrant charity has said.
The European Union border agency Frontex has accused NGOs of leaving migrant boats for smugglers to recover while the head of one NGO has defended against accusations of cooperation between them and the smugglers.
Politicians and members of the public are growing frustrated with civilian volunteers who rescue migrants in the Mediterranean with some calling them “migrant taxis”.
VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — Tens of thousands of people seeking better lives are expected to trek across deserts and board unseaworthy boats in war-torn Libya this year in a desperate effort to reach European shores by way of Italy. More
Europe will see a huge increase in Africans migrating to its shores in the next few years if Brussels fails to protect the borders, according to Austrian military intelligence.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Beatrix von Storch has called for a “Merkel Investigation Committee” to be set up to probe the links between Angela Merkel’s open door immigration policy and the thousands of migrants lost at sea in the Mediterranean this year alone.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that 340 migrants have drowned in four major shipwrecks over the course of the week, bringing the reported total for November so far to 546. This compares with 141 for the entire month in 2015 and 22 in 2014.
BRUSSELS, Sept 15 (Reuters) – Some 23,000 irregular migrants arrived in Italy in August, the European Union’s border agency said on Thursday, most crossing the Mediterranean on what has become the main immigration route into Europe.
