UN Refugee Agency Slams States For Politicizing Migrant Sea Rescues Amid Rising Death Toll

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) slammed the global community on Tuesday for politicizing migrant rescues in the Mediterranean Sea and called for a boost in rescue capacity in light of the sharp increase in death rates

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2019) The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) slammed the global community on Tuesday for politicizing migrant rescues in the Mediterranean Sea and called for a boost in rescue capacity in light of the sharp increase in death rates.

Charlie Yaxley, the UNHCR spokesperson, said that over the past few days around 170 people had died in two accidents � one vessel with 117 people on board sank off Libya's coast and another, carrying 53 people, sank in the waters between Morocco and Spain. He also voiced concerns over reports that the Libyan coast guard had been unable to respond to incidents that happened in its designated search and rescue region of the Mediterranean due to fuel shortages.

"At present, the politicking around sea rescues is preventing serious focus on a solution to the problem ... Politicians must stop using human-beings for political point-scoring, and to instead address this as a humanitarian issue, with saving lives the priority. Reducing arrivals cannot be the only barometer for success when people are drowning on Europe's doorstep," Yaxley said as quoted in the UNHCR's press release.

He called on nations to "reassert effective rescue capacity" by "increasing coordinated multi-state rescue, restoring rapid disembarkation in a place of safety, and lifting impediments to the work of NGO [non-governmental organizations] rescue vessels.

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Yaxley added that the UNHCR was particularly concerned over the fate of 144 migrants who were rescued in the Mediterranean on Sunday and disembarked in Libya under instructions from the Tripoli Joint Rescue and Coordination Centre.

He stressed that no rescued migrants should be returned to Libya, since the country was shaken by outbreaks of violence and human rights violations.

On Monday, Human Rights Watch said in a report that the EU authorities were contributing to a "cycle of extreme abuse" by supporting the Libyan Coast Guard in intercepting EU-bound migrant vessels and detaining migrants. According to the watchdog, the European Union is contributing to gross rights violations when it assists the interceptions in a bid to reduce the migrant flow coming to Europe.

For years, African and middle Eastern migrants have been using the Mediterranean as a route to enter Europe. According to the UNHCR, over 138,000 migrants have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean in 2018, and a total of 4,507 people have made the crossing in 2019 so far.

Since last summer the issue of migrant rescue vessels has been especially acute, with a number of European states refusing to accept new arrivals.