#Save_the_Children Suspends Mediterranean Migrant Rescues – gCaptain
▻http://gcaptain.com/save-the-children-suspends-mediterranean-migrant-rescues
International humanitarian group Save the Children said on Monday it had suspended migrant rescues in the Mediterranean Sea as departures from Libya slow and security conditions worsen.
Save the Children has operated a ship, the Vos Hestia, since September last year, rescuing more than 10,000 migrants from dangerous and overcrowded boats launched by people smugglers.
“For too long we have been the substitution for the inexistent and inadequate European policies for search and rescue and for hosting migrants,” Save the Children Director General Valerio Neri said in a statement.
Italian police searched the Vos Hestia on Monday as part of a wider investigation into the role non-government organisations are playing in picking up migrants off the Libya coast and bringing them to Italy. Save the Children said its decision to halt rescues was already planned before the police search.