• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > World

13,000 Refugees Rescued by Italy as Europe's Tough Fix Crumbles

  • A woman disembarks from the Italian Navy vessel Sfinge in the Sicilian harbor of Pozzallo, southern Italy, Aug. 31, 2016.

    A woman disembarks from the Italian Navy vessel Sfinge in the Sicilian harbor of Pozzallo, southern Italy, Aug. 31, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 1 September 2016
Opinion

Asylum seekers are now being pushed to travel the far riskier path of crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.

An astounding 13,000 people have been rescued off the coast of Italy arriving from North Africa in the last four days, the Italian Coast Guard said as Europe scrambles to fix its refugee policy and stem the arrivals to Greece and Italy which have hit up to 300,000 this year alone.

RELATED:
5 Ways the EU and Turkey Have Just Completely Betrayed Refugees

More than 5,500 were rescued in different Italian locations off the Mediterranean Sea Wednesday after more than 6,500 were rescued in one day Monday, with Italian aid workers reporting reception centers are overcrowded.

According to Interior Ministry figures, in 2016, a total of 112,097 people had landed at Italian ports by Wednesday morning.

A controversial agreement between Turkey and the European Union this year, which has resulted in the crackdown on migrants and refugees arriving from Turkey to Greece via the Aegean Sea, seems to have backfired.

Asylum seekers are now being pushed to travel the far riskier path of crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa, which has resulted in the death of more than 2,700 people this year alone, just 1,000 shy of 2015’s total, when arrivals were more than 1 million people.

Desperate European heavyweights Germany, France and Italy will discuss the refugee crisis with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a meeting of the G20 countries in China next week, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Thursday.

OPINION:
The Making of the Migration Crisis

Turkey, for its part, said Thursday it would not implement the agreement with the EU if it does not get the visa-free travel to Europe for Turks that it has been promised. European officials, including Merkel, insist that Turkey can only get visa-free travel privileges if it fulfills all 72 conditions set as part of that agreement.

As their policies backfire, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Merkel agreed Wednesday to step up efforts to send refugees with no right to asylum in Europe back to their homelands, which would affect many refugees coming from African countries and Afghanistan which Europe sees as “safe countries” despite major conflicts there.

The Save the Children organization said 14,700 unaccompanied minors have arrived since the beginning of 2016.

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.