The entity, which has provided medical-humanitarian assistance in the main crises and conflicts of the last 52 years, affirms that its complaint is documented in “numerous cases in which European coastal states consciously put people's lives in danger. by delaying, failing to effectively coordinate rescues and/or facilitating returns to unsafe locations.”
“While our teams in the Mediterranean continue to witness forced returns to Libya, new agreements with third countries, such as Tunisia and, more recently, with Albania, are the latest worrying attempts in Europe to deviate from States' obligations to assist people seeking protection,” says MSF.
It mentions, among other things, that the Italian Government adopted new rules at the beginning of 2023 that obstruct the rescue activities of NGOs at sea, which “severely limits humanitarian assistance and widens the gap in rescue operations in the Mediterranean Central”.
The European Union and its member states are not only indifferent to the immense suffering occurring on their doorstep but “have continued to invest in harmful immigration policies, laws and practices that show little or no regard for the human cost they have,” he denounces. .
MSF's accusation is supported not only by medical data but also by reports from the teams on board the Geo Barents, its rescue ship that has been operating since May 2021 and which has been used to recover migrants in danger, provide assistance emergency medical care to those who need it and amplify the voices of survivors in what is considered “the deadliest sea voyage in the world.”
The entity has been working in the Central Mediterranean for almost a decade and has rescued more than 90,000 people.
So far in 2024 there are already 100 migrants dead or missing in the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which admits that the situation could worsen even more and break the statistics of 2023, until now the year with most deaths in the area since 2016. “How many more deaths do European states need to stop their hostile and inhumane approach?” asks Juan Matías Gil, coordinator of MSF search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean.
The report
In Nobody Came to Rescue Us, the title of the most recent MSF report on the subject, it is stated that the number of migrants who reached Italian shores through the Central Mediterranean route skyrocketed in 2023. “It has more than doubled in comparison to 2022.”
Tunisia surpassed Libya as the main departure point for migrants and this significant increase in departures, added to the lack of state rescue capabilities and resources, increased the number of boats in danger and shipwrecked people, he maintains.
“The European agreements with Tunisia or Libya, where migrants are subjected to inhuman treatment, torture, extortion, slavery and other various forms of violence, have been expanded with the sole objective of reducing boat arrivals,” wrote Jairo Vargas Martín in Público, Spanish digital newspaper.
What is happening today in the Mediterranean is, furthermore, “a gigantic violation of human rights,” denounces MSF.
He explains that, aboard his rescue ship Geo Barents, they have witnessed flagrant violations “in which Italy and Malta failed to coordinate rescues or ensure assistance to people at risk of drowning, leading to delays in rescues or no rescue at all.”
“On several occasions, the Italian authorities have ordered NGO ships (such as Doctors Without Borders) not to provide assistance to vessels in danger and have forced them to go to port immediately,” highlights MSF.
Regarding Malta, it states that it has ignored rescues in recent years and that the authorities have ignored calls for help, despite existing conventions and regulations and Maltese legislation itself, “which obliges them to provide a search service.” and adequate and effective rescue.”
For this reason, MSF invited the European Union and its Member States, especially Italy and Malta, “to immediately change course to prioritize the safety of those seeking refuge on European coasts,” Gil said.
The Mediterranean is, therefore, a gigantic, bleeding open wound that needs to be treated urgently.
The Catalan singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat recognizes that he is no longer the same person who inspired Mediterráneo, his famous song, because thousands of people have left their lives there when fleeing to safety.
Other migrations
Although the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) defines migration as “the change of residence that involves the transfer of some duly defined geographic or administrative limit,” other entities also consider it as a traumatic process, internal or external. and painful.
“Migrants do not abandon their family, their friends and their lives on a whim. Because of misery, deteriorating environment and oppression, existence can become unsustainable. And when war directly threatens, the only option to preserve life is to leave,” says the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Migration is also seen as one of the phenomena with the greatest demographic, social and economic impact in the world.
Globally, there are 281 million international migrants, that is, people who move from their country to another, equivalent to 3.6% of the world's population, according to a 2022 IOM report.
By region, according to that document, Europe and Asia have received 173 million international migrants or 61% of the world total; North America, 59 million or 21% and Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania 9, 5% and 3%, respectively.
Latin America has presented high levels of migration between the countries of the region and towards North America and Europe.
Latin Americans emigrate because they are looking for better salaries, due to the high level of local unemployment or to flee political instability and corruption, according to Statista, a German statistics portal.
It is estimated that at least 41 million Latin Americans live outside their country of origin, making the region the one with the largest number of migrants in the world.
Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia have been the main countries receiving migration in Latin America in recent years, and smaller countries such as Costa Rica, where migrants represent 9% of the population, has also increased reception, but the United States remains the main destination for Central Americans, Statista says.
Immigration to Venezuela comes mainly from Colombia, 69.31%, Spain, 5.31% and Portugal, 3.89%, and the number of immigrants residing there has increased by 5.71% (about 80,255 people). , according to Dsatosmcro.com estimates for 2022
On the other hand, Statista maintains that in America in 2023 Venezuela was the country with the highest number of emigrants to Colombia, Peru and the United States, Brazil, Ecuador and Chile.
In colombia
A recent report from Migration Colombia revealed that there is an alarming increase in irregular migration, especially of minors and women, and that more than half of the 901,700 cases reported since 2012 were registered in 2023 alone.
The Colombian migration crisis is represented by some 96,572 children and 180,018 women in 2023 alone, according to Migración Colombia, which points out, Likewise, that the migratory flow from Venezuela “leads the statistics with 326,086 people, followed by Haitians, with 56,112 cases and an increase of 121%.”
It also mentions the 171% increase in the migratory flow from Ecuador with 57,396 cases and a notable increase of 1,698% in migrants from China, with 29,934 cases.
Internally, in the Antioquia municipalities of Neoclí and Turbo, the Colombia Migration report detected 426,517 cases of irregular migrants during 2023.
But the entity explains that the immigration challenge not only involves transit through Colombia, but also the situation of Colombians trying to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, since last May, taking into account that figures for November and December are not included, It was the one with the highest detection of Colombians on the border with 18,130 cases.
Remember that between January and October 2023, 122,370 cases of Colombians in this situation were reported, placing the country fifth after Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala and Honduras in the number of arrests. The main detection points were in El Paso, Texas.
“It is necessary to mention that the kidnapping of a group of migrants (four Colombians, among them) on the border between Mexico and the United States and the abandonment of two African children at the El Dorado airport have highlighted the urgency of the global migration crisis,” says Migración Colombia.
But, despite the tragedy, pain and trauma generated by migration, there are those who now consider it as an opportunity, as long as it is handled legally.
The Inter-American Development Bank, IDB, considers, for example, that “migration enriches our lives and contributes to the economic and social development of destination communities,” and remembers that the majority of people migrate in search of new and better economic opportunities. and this directly impacts remittance shipments to Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Amy Pope, the Director General of the IOM, has just stated in Mexico that migrations are necessary in the face of the current global economic situation. What she insists on is that they be legal processes, Because the migration that hurts, in his opinion, is the irregular and forced one, which “has reached unprecedented levels and imposed increasingly complex challenges.”
GLORY HELENA KING
For the time
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