The European Parliament has called for the restoration of a European Search and Rescue (SAR) mission in the Mediterranean Sea following a series of deadly shipwrecks in the region.
The resolution approved on Thursday (13 July) asks “member states and Frontex to provide sufficient capacity in terms of vessels, equipment and personnel dedicated to SAR and a more proactive and coordinated approach in order to effectively save lives at sea”. It was backed by the European People’s Party, the socialist, the liberals, the Greens and the Left.
They also called for authorities to make “full use of vessels operated by NGOs” and that the EU mission be implemented by member states and the EU border agency Frontex.
However, EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson told MEPs on Wednesday that SAR operations are a national competence and did not mention the possibility of forming such an EU mission.
“Although national competence the EU must do everything in its power to support search and rescue from tanks, planes and ships supporting search and rescue operation,” Johansson argued.
Meanwhile, the new executive director of Frontex told the Italian media Corriere della Sera, ahead of a visit to Catania, in Sicily, on Thursday, that search and rescue is a member state competence.
The situation on the ground
Search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea have revealed a lack of coordination in operations, due to the lack of accountability of member states to international and EU law.
Lack of coordination and Libyan interceptions impede search and rescue at sea
The lack of coordination with member states and the Libyan coastguard’s presence in international waters create a ‘hostile’ environment for search and rescue (SAR) activities in the area, EURACTIV has learned from the Ocean Viking crew during a mission in the Mediterranean Sea.
An increasing number of migrants are intercepted by the Libyan coastguard or other militias where they are illegally returned to the war torn North African country. According to international law, rescues are concluded when survivors are disembarked in a place of safety.
Returns to Libya violate the principle of non-refoulment which states that “no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm”.
Libyan militia illegally returned 250 migrants near Malta
A vessel belonging to the militia of Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar illegally returned about 250 migrants onboard a fishing boat in distress in Malta’s waters to Benghazi, in an operation at the weekend.
During a debate in the Parliament’s Civil Liberties committee last week, Johansson said that the EU can “indirectly” invest in search and rescue operations, financing the surveillance of the Mediterranean. Then, if a boat patrolling the sea encounters a boat in distress, it has the duty to proceed to rescue.
Johansson also mentioned the EU Commission SAR contact group, which aims at elaborating recommendations to better coordinate SAR operations in the area.
However, the group is not delivering concrete results, according to a source close to the matter that spoke with EURACTIV.
“The next meeting of the group, which will be held in October, will probably be the funeral of the contact group,” the source said.
[Edited by Benjamin Fox]
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