The Tunisian Coast Guard recovered 31 bodies of migrants on Monday, including those of two minors, who died in different shipwrecks on the Mediterranean route to Europe and ended up being dragged by the waters to the Tunisian coast.
In a statement, the Tunisian Coast Guard said the bodies, several of them “decomposing”, washed up on the beaches of Kerkennah, Sfax, Mahdia and Gabes, further expressing the deadliest year for migrants who have followed the route. to Europe since 2017, currently accounting for 440 deaths since the beginning of the year.
On Sunday, the Libyan Red Crescent recovered 17 more bodies of migrants on the beaches of the northwestern Libyan city of Sabrata, after the precarious boat sank in unfavorable weather conditions.
The improvement in weather conditions, however, made it possible for more than 800 migrants to arrive on the Italian island of Lampedusa (Sicily) in the last few hours, in 21 landings after four days without arrivals.
Most of the boats departed from the Tunisian city of Sfax and reportedly included citizens of Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone, as well as devastated Sudan. since the 15th of this month with a new armed conflict.
Since January, more than 35,000 people, almost four times more than in 2022, have reached Italian shores, prompting the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni to declare a state of emergency on the 11th of this month.
According to data released today by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the main points of departure are Tunisia (19,247 migrants), followed by Libya (15,509) and Turkey (1,247).
The European Parliament presented an emergency plan that will oblige the 27 Member States to cooperate in the event that the reception capacity of a partner country is devastated by the “sudden and massive” arrival of asylum seekers and migrants, having, in a period of one year, reforming the asylum system.
In January and February of this year, more than 19,000 asylum applications were submitted, against 8,160 applications registered in the same period of 2022.
“With more than 20,000 registered deaths on this route since 2014, it is fearful that these deaths have normalized,” warned the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which highlighted the important role of various organizations that defend and promote rights humans.
On Thursday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned about the precarious situation of asylum seekers and migrants and asked that they be rescued, obtaining “dignified, effective and comprehensive treatment in a safe place.” .
Libya is considered an insecure country for the return of migrants and human rights organizations have recently denounced that the “extreme violence and persecution” carried out by the Tunisian authorities does not guarantee the protection of migrants returning from rescues in the Central Mediterranean.
Source: TSF
