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EU under fire as migrant boat horror revealed

European governments came under increasing pressure on Tuesday to tackle the Mediterranean's migrant crisis ahead of an emergency summit, as harrowing details emerged of the fate of hundreds who died in the latest tragedy.

Published: 22 April 2015 08:18 CEST
EU under fire as migrant boat horror revealed
Boats transporting migrants are getting more and more clapped out and crammed. Photo: Marina Militare/AFP

Allegations of callous disregard for Arab and African lives are haunting Europe's politicians as it was revealed that around 800 victims, including an unknown number of children, died in hellish circumstances off the coast of Libya on Sunday.

The migrants had been been locked in the hold or the middle deck of the 20-metre boat, according to survivors, which capsized when it collided with a Portuguese vessel.

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the incident had occurred due to a "monumental failure of compassion" by the continent's rulers.

Stung by the full horror of the disaster, the UN Security Council called for a strengthened global response to migration and human trafficking, and the 15-member council voiced support for southern European countries struggling with the refugee influx.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker called for a show of "financial solidarity" towards the countries bearing the brunt of the drama.

Mere "compassionate rhetoric" was not enough, he said during a visit to Austria, whose Chancellor Werner Faymann would like to see massive refugee camps built in North Africa to shelter would-be migrants and refugees.

British Prime Minister David Cameron called for a halt to what he termed the "cargo of death" and the Times reported that Britain was considering sending a warship to help with rescue efforts.

French President Francois Hollande urged Europe "to go much further" in tackling the migrant crisis, and repeated calls for more maritime and aerial surveillance over the Mediterranean.

Hundreds crammed into rickety boats

As the boats get ever more rickety, the numbers crammed into them increase and the chances of catastrophe get higher.

It is not just the scaling back of Italy's naval search and rescue operation that has led to this year's surge in the number of people drowning in the Mediterranean as they seek to reach Europe from north Africa.

At least 1,750 asylum seekers or migrants have perished in the waters between Libya and Italy since the turn of the year, 30 times the total registered in the same period of 2014.

But the dramatically higher death toll does not reflect more people risking their lives to get to Europe: the numbers arriving in Italy are broadly flat – 22,000 up to April 20, compared with 26,600 for January-April 2014, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

"The boats are getting more clapped out and more packed at the same time," IOM spokesman Flavio di Giacomo told AFP. "Whether it is wooden fishing boats or rubber dinghies, the one thing they have in common is that they are always very, very old."

"After a few hours at sea, they start to take on water. That is why it is getting harder and harder to rescue them."

When an Italian coastguard vessel disembarked at Augusta in Sicily last week with 600 migrants rescued from five different boats over the course of two days, the aid workers at the scene all acted as it had been a totally routine operation.

But in reality each of the five incidents involved boats that came perilously close to sinking, according to the migrants on board.

"The water started coming in. We called for help at 1pm and then we waited, and waited," recounted Malik Tourey, a Nigerian who was on board one of the vessels.

"We had to bail out the boat, everyone together, everyone shivering, women crying. It wasn't until 3.00 a.m. the following day that the coastguard arrived."

Italian navy captain Michele Maltese, a spokesman for the coastguard based at Catania on Sicily's eastern coast, said the boats used by people smugglers have always been barely seaworthy.

"What is happening now is they are having more and more people packed onto them," he told AFP.

"On a fishing boat designed for a crew of ten, the traffickers find a way to squeeze between 400 and 500 on board. They become so unstable that a 30-centimetre (one-foot) high wave is enough to result in them taking on water," he said.

"Every boat that puts to sea is doing so at a very high risk (of sinking)."

The traffickers are so cynical they sometimes charge their passengers extra for a life jacket. Maamadou Dialo, who arrived earlier this month, was among those who stumped up, but soon discovered it was far from sound investment.

"It must have been made in China – after five minutes in the water you would have sunk!"

Maltese said Italian authorities tried to ensure traffickers' boats were confiscated and destroyed in Italian ports. But difficult sea conditions meant that was not always possible in the heat of a rescue operation and many are left to drift.

"Human safety is our priority," the coastguard said.

Twice this year traffickers have threatened Italian coastguards with weapons in order to recover and reuse boats from which the human cargo has been taken to safety.

Frontex, the European border agency, interpreted those incidents as a sign that the traffickers are running short of vessels. Others say it simply reflects their belief that they can pretty do what they like in the waters off lawless Libya.

BREXIT

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

The EU has drawn up plans to make it easier for non-EU citizens to gain longterm EU residency so they can move more easily around the bloc, but Italy-based citizens' rights campaigner Clarissa Killwick says Brits who moved to the EU before Brexit are already losing out.

Published: 8 December 2023 14:34 CET
OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

With all the talk about the EU long-term residency permit and the proposed improvements there is no mention that UK citizens who are Withdrawal Agreement “beneficiaries” are currently being left out in the cold.

The European Commission has stated that we can hold multiple statuses including the EU long-term permit (Under a little-known EU law, third-country nationals can in theory acquire EU-wide long-term resident status if they have lived ‘legally’ in an EU country for at least five years) but in reality it is just not happening.

This effectively leaves Brits locked into their host countries while other third country nationals can enjoy some mobility rights. As yet, in Italy, it is literally a question of the computer saying no if someone tries to apply.

The lack of access to the EU long-term permit to pre-Brexit Brits is an EU-wide issue and has been flagged up to the European Commission but progress is very slow.

READ ALSO: EU government settle on rules for how non-EU citizens could move around Europe

My guess is that few UK nationals who already have permanent residency status under the Withdrawal Agreement are even aware of the extra mobility rights they could have with the EU long-term residency permit – or do not even realise they are two different things.

Perhaps there won’t be very large numbers clamouring for it but it is nothing short of discrimination not to make it accessible to British people who’ve built their lives in the EU.

They may have lost their status as EU citizens but nothing has changed concerning the contributions they make, both economically and socially.

An example of how Withdrawal Agreement Brits in Italy are losing out

My son, who has lived almost his whole life here, wanted to study in the Netherlands to improve his employment prospects.

Dutch universities grant home fees rather than international fees to holders of an EU long-term permit. The difference in fees for a Master’s, for example, is an eye-watering €18,000. He went through the application process, collecting the requisite documents, making the payments and waited many months for an appointment at the “questura”, (local immigration office).

On the day, it took some persuading before they agreed he should be able to apply but then the whole thing was stymied because the national computer system would not accept a UK national. I am in no doubt, incidentally, that had he been successful he would have had to hand in his WA  “carta di soggiorno”.

This was back in February 2022 and nothing has budged since then. In the meantime, it is a question of pay up or give up for any students in the same boat as my son. There is, in fact, a very high take up of the EU long-term permit in Italy so my son’s non-EU contemporaries do not face this barrier.

Long-term permit: The EU’s plan to make freedom of movement easier for non- EU nationals 

Completing his studies was stalled by a year until finally his Italian citizenship came through after waiting over 5 years.  I also meet working adults in Italy with the EU long-term permit who use it for work purposes, such as in Belgium and Germany, and for family reunification.  

Withdrawal agreement card should double up as EU long-term residency permit

A statement that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries should be able to hold multiple statuses is not that easy to find. You have to scroll quite far down the page on the European Commission’s website to find a link to an explanatory document. It has been languishing there since March 2022 but so far not proved very useful.

It has been pointed out to the Commission that the document needs to be multilingual not just in English and “branded” as an official communication from the Commission so it can be used as a stand-alone. But having an official document you can wave at the immigration authorities is going to get you nowhere if Member State governments haven’t acknowledged that WA beneficiaries can hold multiple statuses and issue clear guidance and make sure systems are modified accordingly.

I can appreciate this is no mean feat in countries where they do not usually allow multiple statuses or, even if they do, issue more than one residency card. Of course, other statuses we should be able to hold are not confined to EU long-term residency, they should include the EU Blue Card, dual nationality, family member of an EU citizen…

Personally, I do think people should be up in arms about this. The UK and EU negotiated an agreement which not only removed our freedom of movement as EU citizens, it also failed to automatically give us equal mobility rights to other third country nationals. We are now neither one thing nor the other.

It would seem the only favour the Withdrawal Agreement did us was we didn’t have to go out and come back in again! Brits who follow us, fortunate enough to get a visa, may well pip us at the post being able to apply for EU long-term residency as clearly defined non-EU citizens.

I have been bringing this issue to the attention of the embassy in Rome, FCDO and the European Commission for three years now. I hope we will see some movement soon.

Finally, there should be no dragging of heels assuming we will all take citizenship of our host countries. Actually, we shouldn’t have to, my son was fortunate, even though it took a long time. Others may not meet the requirements or wish to give up their UK citizenship in countries which do not permit dual nationality.  

Bureaucratic challenges may seem almost insurmountable but why not simply allow our Withdrawal Agreement permanent card to double up as the EU long-term residency permit.

Clarissa Killwick,

Since 2016, Clarissa has been a citizens’ rights campaigner and advocate with the pan-European group, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice.
She is co-founder and co-admin of the FB group in Italy, Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy.

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