Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 28 June 2018

Rescuers face scrutiny as 234 migrants reach safe haven

By COLLEEN BARRY and he hugged the crew
STEPHEN CALLEJA before getting into a wait-
VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — The ing police car for question-
captain of a German hu- ing.
manitarian ship that spent Once settled, the migrants
nearly a week searching will be vetted to determine
for safe harbor before be- if they are eligible for po-
ing allowed to bring 234 litical asylum or if they are
migrants rescued at sea economic migrants that will
to Malta on Wednesday be sent back to their coun-
declared during the odys- tries of origin, Muscat said.
sey: "Saving people is not a Malta opened its port only
crime." Still, once he was on after seven other coun-
land he was placed under tries also agreed to take
investigation for allegedly in those deemed eligible
breaching maritime regu- for refugee status. Besides
lations. Malta, France, Italy, Luxem-
It is part of a growing trend bourg, Portugal, Ireland,
in Europe and the United Migrants wait to be disembarked from the ship operated by German aid group Mission Lifeline, the Netherlands and Bel-
States: Private groups re- carrying 234 migrants, as it docked at the Valletta port in Malta. gium agreed to take in ref-
sponding to images of hu- Associated Press ugees. It was unclear how
man suffering and deaths many each would take.
targeted by authorities tions is steering the EU to- head into a summit Thurs- man aid group Mission Life- Muscat said Malta had
who are often under politi- ward very dangerous wa- day where migration poli- line that operates the ship. no legal obligation to act
cal and popular pressure to ters," Human Rights Watch cies are expected to be On the Lifeline's approach since the rescue happened
stem the migration tides. said in a statement. the focus. to Malta on Wednesday, in Libyan waters, but it was
In announcing that Captain Italy's new, hard-line interior Reisch is accused of dis- migrants crowded the willing to offer its port "be-
Claus-Peter Reisch would minister, Matteo Salvini, has obeying orders to turn over deck wearing orange life fore the situation escalates
face investigation, Malta's been instrumental in rais- the migrants, who were res- vests, many waving, as it to a humanitarian crisis."
Prime Minister Joseph Mus- ing the level of confronta- cued in Libyan waters, to entered the main port in The standoff comes ahead
cat placed the blame for tion, closing Italian ports to the Libyan Coast Guard. Valletta under escort by a of a two-day EU sum-
the impasse that kept the humanitarian groups that Muscat also said the Lifeline Maltese patrol boat. The mit that begins Thursday,
migrants at sea while Euro- he accuses of acting like turned off its transponder to ship's captain sounded the where Italy will propose a
pean nations haggled over taxi services for migrant hide the ship's location. He boat's horn with two long new system for distribut-
their fate squarely on the smugglers operating out of cited Dutch authorities as blasts to salute the migrants ing migrants more evenly
captain, who he said went lawless Libya. His refusal to saying the ship's registration after their shared journey, among EU countries, along
"against international rules grant safe harbor, coupled document is merely a proof and raised a yellow flag to with ways to discourage
and ignored directions." by that of Malta, forced the of purchase and that it is signal permission to authori- economic migrants from
French President Emman- French aid ship Aquarius to listed as a pleasure craft, ties to board and a Maltese leaving Africa. Italy and
uel Macron also criticized sail an additional 900 miles which precludes it from flag as a courtesy for allow- Greece have borne the
the captain, saying he (1,500 kilometers) to Spain, participating in rescues. ing the ship to dock. brunt of the arrivals in re-
"acted against all the rules," which agreed to take in Lifeline said it obeyed all One by one, the migrants cent years as people make
by not turning the migrants the migrants at its port in maritime instructions as were escorted off by offi- the dangerous sea jour-
over to Libyan authorities Valencia. long as they were "in com- cials and medical person- ney to seek a better life in
after they were found float- While Muscat empha- pliance with international nel in white coveralls and Europe, often fleeing war
ing in rubber dinghies in sized that the latest case law." gloves. A girl in pink shorts and oppression. Salvini,
Libyan waters. involving the ship Lifeline "It is important to underline — one of five children on who visited Libya earlier this
Humanitarian groups have was unique because of that the only order the ship the ship — was cradled week, warned Wednesday
pushed back. Doctors with- the alleged violations of its denied was to hand over by an official. One man that there are 662,000 mi-
out Borders, Amnesty In- captain, the refusal until people to the so-called walked unsteadily, leaning grants from 40 countries in
ternational and two other Wednesday to let the ship Libyan Coast Guard, as this on a helper, while another the northern African nation
NGOs asked to meet with dock — and the haggling would have been not in line wearing shorts and a white waiting to make their way
Macron over his assertion. among EU states over how with the Geneva Refugee polo shirt was barefoot and to safer countries, mostly in
"Engineered panic and to distribute the migrants Convention and therefore wrapped in a red blanket. Europe. He cited data from
fear-mongering by Europe- — showed a hardening criminal," said Alex Steier, Ship's captain Reisch was the International Organiza-
an politicians over migra- of positions as EU leaders the co-founder of the Ger- the last to get off the ship, tion for Migration.q