Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Europes externalised immigration controls lead to mass drowning in mediterranean

Tom | 02.04.2009 09:34 | Globalisation | Migration | Social Struggles

Over 500 migrants are likely to have drowned crossing the mediterranean from Libya as two boats sank and a third is still missing . The true circumstances are unknown except to the migrants themselves .
The Libyan authorities put responsibility on strong winds rather than on the border regime they are implementing on behalf of Italy and European governments and paid for by the taxpayers of Italy and of the European Union.

Shipwreck in the high sea off Libya : an announced tragedy. Until when ?
presse release Migreurop
par réseau migreurop | 1er avril 2009 |

Traductions : [français] [italiano] [Español]

On 29 March 2009, 30 km away from the Libyan coast, there was one of the largest shipwrecks in the history of immigration into Europe : out of three boats that set off from Libya, two sank and the third disappeared.
Provisional figures refer to 23 survivors, 21 corpses recovered and over 500 disappeared people, undoubtedly swallowed up by the Channel of Sicily. As always happens for this sort of events, information is opaque and often contradictory. At first, the Libyan press agency limited itself to announcing that a majority of the migrants were Egyptian and that the three vessels had set off from the port of Sid Belal Janzur, with a total of 257 people on board. As for the International Organisation for Migrations (IOM), two days later, on 31 March, it announced that the number of victims from the three boats was estimated at 300. In Italy (the passengers’ destination), the press switched between repetition of the news from Libya and reports that the 257 people referred to were all on one of the three boats : which, if it were revealed to be true, would throw up a far more appalling estimate of the total number of people who have disappeared.
Beyond these hideous estimates, the statements from Libya are shocking, as they explain away this tragedy as the consequence of a very strong wind that was prevalent at the time. Rather, should responsibility for this slaughter not be attributed to the European Union, which promises 20 million Euros to the Libyan state in exchange for its co-operation in the fight against « irregular » immigration ? Or to Italy, which has been signing various « friendship agreements » that include migration clauses with this dictatorship since 2000 ? And also to Libya, which, like its neighbours in the Maghreb, use migrants as an exchange currency to obtain a privileged position in international negotiations ?
It is to be feared that the authorities’ reaction to this new tragedy will, once again, be to exploit these dramatic events without regard for the real causes that push migrants to take on deadly risks to reach Europe, in order to justify a hardening of controls.
On this portion of the maritime borders, the effects of the Italian policy to externalise patrolling operations along the Libyan coasts are also to be feared, as they will only result in an increase in the number of tragedies at sea and of the instances in which people who are refouled are placed at risk in the country not governed by the rule of law that is Libya.
Migreurop demands that the European Union, and particularly Italy, cease their negotiations with Libya. In the shorter term, Migreurop demands that events concerning this shipwreck be clarified, that search operations continue, so as to give a name to these migrants in order for them not to be destined, as is always the case for migration shipwreck victims, to oblivion. It is no less indispensable for those who are truly responsible for this veritable war that Europe has waged on migrants, at its borders and beyond, to be investigated and condemned.

Tom
- e-mail: goldfish1967@hotmail.com

Comments

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech