A delegation from the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee is on the Italian island of Lampedusa between Monday and Thursday to discuss search and rescue operations on the Central Mediterranean migration route.
The delegation of the Civil Liberties, Interior and Justice committee is made up of ten MEPs and will focus its visit on disembarkation activities and reception conditions for immigrants arriving on this Italian island.
Lampedusa, with just over six kilometers in length and less than six thousand inhabitants, is close to the African continent, just 113 kilometers from the Tunisian coast.
According to the most recent data from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), between January and May, the central Mediterranean route -used to reach the EU (Malta and the Italian regions of Lampedusa, Calabria and Sicily) from North Africa: remains the most active, with more than 50,300 detections reported in the first five months of the year, the highest number since 2017 and an increase of 160% compared to the same period in 2022.
In October 2013, Lampedusa was the scene of a shipwreck where it is estimated that more than 300 migrants died, and was later visited by Pope Francis and the then president of the European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso.
Source: TSF
