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INPRIMATU
100 migrants have died in two days in the Mediterranean in the face of the "indifference" of the European Union
  • Médecins Sans Frontières has denounced that the European Union’s policy against migrants in the Mediterranean Sea has caused dozens of deaths in recent days. More than 23,000 migrants have died in the transit of migrants since 2014 to other Western European countries, according to the organization.
Urko Apaolaza Avila @urkoapaolaza 2022ko apirilaren 07a
Mugarik Gabeko Medikuen arabera erreskatatuak diren pertsonen herena bakarrik doazen adingabeak dira. (argazkia: MGM / Andrea Monrás)

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has denounced the "unacceptable indifference" of the European Union in defining its immigration policy in recent years. A terrible fact: in two days more than 100 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in the last week have died.

On 2 April, 90 people died on board a boat when they were trying to reach the shores of Europe, and on 31 March 11 people were found dead on an inflatable boat, four of them children.

The MGB has denounced that the remaining 126 crew members of the ship were returned to Libya, where they have been arrested by court order. "These people fled Libyan Hell and witnessed the deaths of dozens of people, after several days of diving into the sea. After this unthinkable situation, they were returned to Libya."

Why "train" the Libyan guards?

Médecins Sans Frontières have also denounced the "negligence" of Italy, Malta and other countries. The countries of the European Union (EU) do not enter rescue operations at sea and leave them in the hands of Libya, providing resources and training for the Libyan police. "The protection afforded to the guarantors of the Libyan coast is behind many deaths and human rights violations," they say.

The agreement leaves in Tripoli the possibility of saving at sea, but insists that violence and torture on migrants prevail. Precisely, Germany has recently decided not to train the Libyan Guard on the coast because of these ill-treatment, which they have described as "unfair".

Since 2014, MSF has recorded 23,000 drowned deaths in the Mediterranean, according to MSF data. The centre of that sea, which links North Africa with Italy and Malta, is now, according to the UN, one of the most dangerous in the world, and associations working with migrants say that these thousands of deaths are many more.