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The UN refugee agency on Saturday urged European nations to let in hundreds of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean by humanitarian ships, including one funded by British street artist Banksy.
UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that more than 200 rescued refugees and migrants needed to get off the non-profit search and rescue boat Louise Michel immediately, saying it was well beyond their safe capacity.
The UNHCR and IOM petition also named hundreds of migrants on two other charity ships in dire need of a safe harbor. The agencies said 27 migrants who left Libya, including a pregnant woman and children, have been stranded on the commercial oil tanker Maersk Etienne for an unacceptable three-week period since their rescue on August 5.
Another 200 people rescued on the SeaWatch4, which has waited days to enter a port, also needed urgent help, the agencies added.
The humanitarian imperative to save lives should not be penalized or stigmatized, especially in the absence of dedicated state-led efforts, they said. They also reiterated their concern about the lack of specific EU-led search and rescue operations in the central Mediterranean, and the lack of coordination between European nations to support countries like Italy and Malta, which are bearing the brunt of immigrants. arriving. by sea.
A boy greets the crew of the Astral rescue ship from the deck of the rescue ship Louise Michel, a French patrol vessel currently manned by activists and funded by renowned artist Banksy in the central Mediterranean Sea, 50 miles south of Lampedusa on Friday . . Photography: Santi Palacios / AP
Earlier on Saturday, the Italian coast guard responded to a distress call from Louise Michel, which was funded by Banksy, and took care of 49 of the migrants most in need of help, he said.
The ship was stranded at sea after the crew assisted 130 migrants, and ship leaders said requests for help from European authorities had been ignored.
The vessel, named after a French feminist anarchist, secretly set sail on August 18 from the Spanish port of Burriana, near Valencia, and headed for the central Mediterranean, where, on Thursday, it rescued 89 people, including 14 women and four children. She had been protecting more than 200 people off the coast of Libya.
On Friday, the crew of European activists responded to an emergency call from Moonbird, an aircraft monitoring the ship of migrants in distress in the central Mediterranean, which had detected a boat that was not moving and was entering water.
“Louise Michel sped forward,” said a spokesman for the ship. “We distributed life jackets to 130 people to ensure the situation.”
The rubber boat is in the search and rescue area of Malta, dangerously crowded and filling with water, with several on board suffering fuel burns and injuries, after spending several days at sea. When the Louise Michel made contact, there was also a corpse on board the ship, which the coast guard has now removed.
On Saturday, Banksy posted a short video on his personal Instagram account accompanied by a comment: “Like most people who do in the art world, I bought a yacht to sail the Mediterranean.
“It is a French navy ship that we turned into a lifeboat because EU authorities deliberately ignore calls for help from ‘non-Europeans’.” The video ends with the words All Black Lives Matter.
The passengers had previously contacted the Alarm Phone, an emergency hotline that helps refugees at sea, and requested immediate rescue. Activists from Alarm Phone and Moonbird alerted European authorities to the ship in distress. The crew claimed that neither the Maltese nor the Italian authorities had reacted adequately.
The Louise Michel can safely accommodate a maximum of 120 passengers. The ship has moved dozens of the most vulnerable migrants and deployed life rafts for the others while they wait for help.
The crew said on Twitter: “We cannot move safely and no one comes to our aid. The rescued people have experienced extreme trauma. We need immediate help. “
Lea Reisner, Louise Michel’s chief operating officer, said: “People have been sitting in a mixture of salt water and fuel for days.” She accused European states of not doing their job, saying: “They deny responsibility while we try to keep everyone alive. . . We need immediate help. “
Moonbird’s Neeske Beckmann said: “We were surprised when we saw the rubber boat – it was incredibly crowded and the people on board were trying to get the water out of the boat with their bare hands.
“We knew that it was a serious emergency situation and we decided to send an emergency relief to all the authorities and actors in the surroundings. The responsible European authorities did not react to our distress call and only Louise Michel responded to this serious distress case. “
Painted bright pink and featuring a Banksy artwork depicting a girl in a life jacket holding a heart-shaped safety buoy, the Louise Michel sails under a German flag. The 31-meter motor yacht, formerly owned by French customs authorities, is smaller but considerably faster than other NGO rescue boats.
So far in 2020, more than 500 refugees and migrants are known to have died in the Mediterranean Sea, and the actual number is estimated to be considerably higher.
On Wednesday, 45 people, including five children, were killed when their ship’s engine exploded off Libya, in the country’s deadliest shipwreck this year, the UN said. More than 19,500 migrants have survived the Mediterranean crossing along the central sea route this year and have reached Italy or Malta. – Guardian
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