A European rights watchdog yesterday said that the EU was contravening international law with its increasingly restrictive stance on migration and should step up sea rescues — an element that is not part of the bloc’s new five-year action plan.
The EU has become tougher on immigration since a 2015 spike in Mediterranean arrivals caught it by surprise, stretching social and security resources and feeding support for right-wing and eurosceptic forces across the bloc.
The EU has since tightened its external borders and asylum laws, and given aid to non-EU states on the eastern and southern rim of the Mediterranean to help them contain migration to Europe.
The bloc’s 28 national leaders plan to restate their commitment to these policies in a new “Strategic Agenda for 2019-2024,” a document they are due to endorse at a summit in Brussels tomorrow and on Friday and a draft of which was seen by reporters.
“Effective control of the external borders is an absolute prerequisite for guaranteeing security, upholding law and order, and ensuring properly functioning EU policies,” it says.
UN data shows irregular sea arrivals from the Middle East and North Africa dropped from more than 1 million in 2015 to about 141,500 people last year.
Fewer than 23,000 refugees and migrants have made it across the sea to Europe so far this year.
The data also shows that nearly 15,000 people are estimated to have died or gone missing in the perilous sea voyage since 2015, including more than 500 so far this year.
The Council of Europe, the continent’s leading rights organization, which includes EU states and others as members, said that the bloc had failed in its duty to save lives and prevent returning people to where they are at risk.
“[EU member states] have adopted laws, policies and practices which have often been contrary to their legal obligations to ensure effective search and rescue operations, the prompt and safe disembarkation and treatment of rescued people, and the prevention of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment,” the rights watchdog said in a report yesterday.
The report outlines 35 recommendations for the EU to “reframe their response according to human rights standards,” including by reversing the scaling back of its sea rescue operations and ending pressure on aid groups who do it.
“Outsourcing” border controls to third countries came at a “terrible human cost,” it said. “Not only do migrants continue to die at sea, but in some cases they are intercepted and brought to countries — such as Libya — where they are often subjected to torture, rape, slavery, exploitation or indefinite and unlawful detention.”
Another practice that has raised alarm with rights advocates are repeated instances of EU states barring rescue boats from their ports, keeping them floating for days to avoid taking responsibility for the people on board.
The council said its was the EU’s obligation under international humanitarian law to run effective sea rescue missions, guarantee entry for those picked up and provide legal migration avenues to Europe.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese