281 migrants rescued before their arrival in Western Europe

Two boats sent by France rescued about 140 migrants trying to reach England irregularly on board two boats on Saturday off the French coast and the English Channel, the Maritime Administration said on Sunday.

The Marine Department in Pas-de-Calais (northern France) stated that five others were rescued yesterday after their boat sank.

The road to England

The Maritime Administration of the Canal and the North Sea explained that the authorities initially rescued 57 migrants on Saturday morning who sailed from the coast of Gravelin (north) on Saturday night, after their boat was damaged.

The “Redin” ship, which participates in the surveillance and rescue system established by the state in the Pas-de-Calais Strait, rescued these survivors and they were “disembarked and cared for by emergency services on land” in the port of Calais, according to a statement issued by the Maritime Department in Pas-de-Calais.

At noon, 75 migrants who were asking for help on a boat were also rescued and returned by the “Abbie Normandie” aid and rescue tug.

The statement added, “They were disembarked in the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the presence of rescue teams.” Five people were also rescued, including a four-month-old baby, after their boat capsized near Boulogne-sur-Mer (north), according to what the Maritime Administration in Pas-de-Calais said. She explained in her statement, “Due to hypothermia, they were transferred to the nearest hospital,” but their condition is stable.

The newspaper “La Voie du Nord” indicated that all of these people are Kurds from the same family.

About 36,000 migrants attempted to reach England in 2023 by crossing the Channel illegally from the French coast, a decline of 30 percent in one year, according to a census issued by the Maritime Administration in early February, which counted 12 deaths during the year. the past.

Spanish Canary Islands

For its part, the Moroccan Navy said that it rescued 141 African migrants on Sunday on a boat that was facing imminent danger after it sailed from Mauritania on its way to the Canary Islands.

The Navy added that the migrants, including three women and two children, left the coast of Mauritania on February 10.

Data from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior showed that the number of migrants sailing in rickety boats from West Africa to reach the Spanish Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean has increased seven times so far this year compared to the same period in 2023.

Spanish officials say that Mauritania has recently become a major departure point for migrants heading to Europe, as eight of the 10 boats that arrived in the Canary Islands set off from it last January.

Official data showed that the Moroccan Navy rescued 16,818 people at sea in 2023, an increase of 35 percent compared to the previous year.

Italian rule

In another context, the highest court of appeal in Italy ruled that it was illegal to return migrants from the sea to Libya, in a ruling that was praised by charitable organizations and human rights groups.

The court upheld the conviction of the captain of the Italian tugboat (ASO 28), which rescued 101 migrants in 2018 from a rubber boat and returned them to Libya.

The court stated that the rescue took place in international waters, about 105 kilometers from Libya, and the court added that pregnant women and children were among the migrants.

The captain, whose name was concealed during the ruling for privacy reasons, was sentenced to one year in prison for the crimes of neglect of minors or vulnerable persons, arbitrary disembarkation from a ship, and willful neglect of individuals.

But it is unlikely that the captain will go to prison because the Italian prison system does not usually require sentences of less than four years to be spent behind bars.

The ruling is final and is an endorsement of previous decisions ruled by two lower courts. The ruling was issued on February 1, but the Italian media announced it on Saturday.

Italy and other European governments have begun to take an increasingly tough stance on immigration in recent years, amid growing support for right-wing parties that want to impose severe restrictions on people arriving by sea from North Africa.

The journey from Libya to Italy is one of the most used routes for migration by sea.

Mediterranea Saving Humans, a migrant rescue group, said in a post on the “X” platform, “Now we also have a judicial precedent that confirms what we have been calling for for years, which is that Libya is not a safe country.”

Amnesty International’s office in Italy praised the ruling, and criticized the government for cooperating with Libyan authorities on immigration.

Under international humanitarian law, migrants are not allowed to be forcibly returned to countries where they face serious mistreatment, and many cases of widespread mistreatment of migrants have been documented in Libya.

In 2018, the behavior of (ASO 28) attracted the attention of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which expressed concern about the potential “violation of international law.”