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EUROPE-MIGRANTS-LIBYA
UN urges EU to take in 160 migrants stranded at sea
GENEVA, May 21, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The United Nations called on the EU
on Thursday to reach a deal to take in 160 migrants who have been
stranded in the Mediterranean for two weeks.
UNHCR refugee agency and the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), urged “Malta and the other European states to speed
efforts to bring some 160 rescued refugees and migrants… on to dry
land and to safety.”
The migrants are onboard two commercial vessels outside Malta’s
territorial waters.
Malta and Italy have officially closed their ports to migrants
during the coronavirus pandemic, a decision heavily criticised by aid
groups.
The agencies said in a statement that the migrants, a large number
of whom have fled conflict-torn Libya, must be brought ashore in
Malta, but other EU countries must show solidarity by accepting some
of them.
“A clearly agreed system for post-disembarkation relocation is
urgently needed if we are to finally move away from a perpetual cycle
of negotiations and ad-hoc arrangements that put the lives and health
of people at further risk.”
The statement noted that the 160 migrants have been at sea for two
weeks, “the standard quarantine period for COVID -19 – without any
clarity on disembarkation.
“It is unacceptable to leave people at sea longer than necessary,
especially under difficult and unsuitable conditions.”
The agencies hailed the relocation of 17 people on Wednesday from
Malta to France, which “shows that solidarity at the time of COVID-19
is possible, with all necessary precautions and measures to ensure
preventing further spreading of the virus in place.”
Malta, which is facing a wave of migrant arrivals, has threatened
to block funding to Operation Irini, the EU’s naval mission to enforce
an arms embargo on Libya, if its European partners do not agree to
accept some of them.
BSS/AFP/MRU/2024hrs