European Union search and rescue (SAR) authorities have worked to ‘pull back’ migrants away from Maltese shores, a recent study from the United Nations has found.
The study, titled ‘“Lethal Disregard”: Search and rescue and the protection of migrants in the central Mediterranean Sea’, was published by Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). It focuses on the human rights challenges that migrants face in the context of SAR and the protection of migrants in the central Mediterranean Sea.
The report covers the period from January 2019 until December 2020, and takes a close look at the obstacles migrants face when crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Malta was mentioned a number of times in the report. Among other things, it highlighted the problems migrants went through when landing on Maltese shores and the dangerous living conditions they endure in detention centres on the island.
According to the report, at least 2,239 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea between 2019 and 2020. Over 500 migrants have died in 2021, it adds.
The report exhibits a myriad of first-hand perspectives showcasing the difficulties that migrants face when crossing to Malta– particularly the resistance from the Armed Forces Malta (AFM).
One account recounted that on 9th April 2020, a group of 70 migrants in distress were approached by the Malta military, who proceeded to cut off the cable operating the boat’s motor. The military told the migrants that they will be left to die in the water, and that no one will be allowed into Malta, it read.
The accounts also noted how AFM vessels would deliberately manoeuvre tactics to detract migrants from arriving in Malta, including small AFM vessels that would create rapid, strong waves that threatened to capsize and damage the migrants’ safety boats.
The migrants also faced a number of “pull back” measures, whereby their passage to Malta was deviated, in order that they land in Libya instead.
One account from a Somali woman outlined how, on their way to Malta, a boat of migrants was approached by the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) who reassured the migrants that they would be disembarked in “a place of safety”.
Hours later, the migrants realized that they were being deviated to Libya, instead of Malta.
Upon disembarking in Libya, the woman recounted that the Libyan Coast Guard mocked the migrants, saying “Welcome to Malta!” She added that many of the women and girls who were on the boat with her were sold to traffickers upon arrival.
Covid-19
The threats to migrants’ human rights only intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic, the report says.
Two men who travelled to Malta in the same boat reported that, after four days at sea, they were given a GPS by an AFM vessel to make their own way to Lampedusa because Malta was in lockdown. They refused to leave and were approached by the Maltese authorities who told them they had three options: return to Libya, continue to Lampedusa or continue to Malta and be arrested upon arrival.
Offshore ships were used to quarantine migrants before allowing them to disembark in Malta. The accounts recall the concerning living conditions that the migrants faced on board these vessels.
“Water was coming inside the boat”, one account says. “We had no toothbrush, no shampoo. We were sleeping on the floor”.
Other accounts outline how the only medicine available on the offshore ships was paracetamol.
Detention centres
Migrants who finally made it on to Maltese shores were automatically placed in closed reception centres, the report outlines.
With migrants being forced into close quarters with other migrants, Covid-19 spread significantly. One Nigerian man who contracted Covid and was taken to hospital to be treated noted that, other than the short period of time he spend in hospital, he was “deprived of liberty for the entire six months since he arrived in Malta”.
Use of force was also noted in detention centres, where a number of accounts outline how detention guards used pepper spray, physical violence and rubber bullets on the migrants.
A Bangladeshi man also noted that there were “countless cases” of attempted suicide and self-harm in the centres. In some cases, he added, detention guards would taunt migrant detainees, telling them “go ahead, kill yourself”.
With these accounts in mind, the OHCHR recommends that safe places for arrival and disembarkation that meet international human rights are prepared to welcome migrants.
These disembarkation points should be staffed with trained personnel, who are able to provide arrivals with shelter, food, water, sanitation and legal assistance.
Psychological support after rescue is also essential, OHCHR added, and that specialized support is provided as a priority to those in the most vulnerable situations.
Lastly, the use of immigration detention for migrants should be refrained after rescue from sea, it read. Instead, it recommends the expansion of availability of human rights-based alternatives.