Investigation: No One Held Accountable for Deadliest Shipwreck of 2016
An investigation by Reuters and BBC Newsnight into a shipwreck that left 500 people dead in the Mediterranean Sea found that no one has been held accountable for the deaths.
The report on the April 9 sinking of the boat off the Egyptian coast identified the boat’s owners and alleged people smugglers in Egypt. Yet the incident has not been investigated by Egypt, Italy (where the boat was heading) or Greece (where the 37 survivors were brought) or by any international body, the report found.
The shipwreck, thought to be the most deadly of 2016, is among many boat sinkings that fall between the cracks of international law, with no national or international authority required to investigate.
Rob Wainwright, director of Europe’s police agency Europol, pledged to look into the incident again after the reporters’ investigation. “The absence of any clear answers in this case is uncomfortable,” Wainwright said.
The boat sank after smugglers pushed 200 people on a fishing trawler onto a bigger ship with 300 passengers while at sea, causing the overloaded boat to capsize. The smugglers then abandoned the drowning passengers. An estimated 190 Somalis, 150 Ethiopians, 80 Egyptians and some 85 others were killed.
Dutch Prime Minister Calls for Europe to Return Migrant Boats to North Africa
The Dutch prime minister has called for Europe to return intercepted migrant boats to North Africa.
“European ships currently pick up migrants and bring them to Italy. That is a ferry service. We have to pick them up and bring them back to Africa,” Mark Rutte said at a Dec. 3 conference in Warsaw.
Rutte said Europe should reach deals with North African countries such as Egypt and Morocco similar to the March E.U.–Turkey deal, which offered aid and political incentives in exchange for curbing migration.
His statement echoes a proposal last month from Germany’s interior ministry. Critics say returning boats would undermine refugees’ right to claim asylum. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2012 that Europe cannot return migrants rescued at sea without giving them a chance to claim refugee status.
Where Refugees Settled in the United States Last Year
Nearly all U.S. states took in more refugees in fiscal year 2016 than a year earlier, while just 10 states admitted more than half of all refugees settled in the U.S., according to Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. State Department data.
President Barack Obama increased the refugee resettlement limit by 15,000 – to 85,000 – in the year from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. The U.S. took in 84,995 refugees during that period.
Pew found that 54 percent of refugees were resettled in 10 states, and nearly a quarter, 24 percent, in the top three resettlement states: California, Texas and New York. Less populous states including Minnesota and Idaho had some of the largest resettlement rates per capita.
The largest number of newly arrived refugees – 16,370 – came from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the next largest group was of 12,587 Syrian refugees.
Recommended Reads:
- IRIN: The Human Cost of Chad’s War Against Boko Haram
- The New Yorker: The Soccer Star Refugees of Eritrea
- Reuters: In Cairo, Ethiopia’s Oromos Lose Hope With U.N. Refugee Agency
- PRI: Refugees in Pennsylvania Keep Musical Traditions Alive With Kids’ Songs
- Devex: Migration Takes Center Stage After IOM Joins the U.N.