Rescue Group Rejects Accusation of Collaborating With Smugglers
An independent group conducting search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea said it “strongly rejects” accusations by the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, that it was collaborating with smugglers.
Earlier this month, Frontex accused charities of cooperating with smugglers launching migrant boats in the Mediterranean, according to reports seen by the Financial Times.
Sea-Watch, a private German rescue initiative started in 2014, said the accusation was groundless and was an attempt to criminalize charities saving lives at sea.
Axel Grafmanns, the Sea-Watch chief executive, accused Frontex of being “at least complicit” in the record death toll in the Mediterranean in 2016 through its enforcement of border closures.
“Trying to make the civilian rescue forces responsible for this is insidious,” Grafmanns said. “A criminalization of those who help where the E.U. fails seems to become the European strategy in the 2017 super-election-year.” Elections are due in France, Germany and the Netherlands, among other states.
Germany Plans to Extend Border Controls
German officials want to extend the operation of border controls when it is due to expire in February.
Germany is one of several European states that reimposed border checks last year as large numbers of refugees and migrants traveled to Europe.
The European Union allowed the countries – which are part of the free-travel Schengen area – to reintroduce controls temporarily amid the crisis.
That permission was last renewed in November and is set to expire in February, but German officials are expected to seek another extension.
Interior minister Thomas de Maiziere told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper that he intends to ensure border checks continue “well beyond February.”
Police denied entry to 19,720 people between January and November 2016 at Germany’s land borders, ports and airports, compared with 8,913 people in 2015, the public international broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported.
Saudi Arabia Launches Fundraising Drive for Displaced Syrians
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz has launched a fundraising campaign for Syrians displaced by war, the kingdom’s state news agency reported.
King Salman allocated 100 million riyals ($27 million) to the campaign, including 20 million riyals of his own funds, which will be used to set up a refugee camp and provide food, medicine and blankets, SPA said, without providing further details.
More than 11 million Syrians have been displaced by war, including 5 million who have fled the country, mostly to neighboring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
Recommended Reads:
- The Associated Press: ‘It Was a Deception’: Ex-Somali Refugees Regret Coming Home
- The Nation: Meet the Central American Women the United States Is Detaining and Deporting
- Al Jazeera: Refugees in Greece Work Together and Build Communities
- France 24: 2016: A Look at Europe’s Ongoing Migrant Crisis
- PBS FRONTLINE: Exodus