Two charts showing that ’deterring’ migrant boats is failing
Late last year the Italian government scrapped its Mediterranean search and rescue operation the #Mare_Nostrum after funding shortages. The project was partially replaced by Operation #Triton - but the service is far more restricted than its predecessor, both in geography (the patrols only go up to 30 miles off the Italian coast) and budget (roughly a third of Mare Nostrum). Critics have said it could leave tens of thousands of migrants at far greater risk.
The most common argument for the shift was deterrence. Previously, proponents argued, the migrants in the boats and their smugglers could be fairly certain that they would be rescued by one of Mare Nostrum’s ships.
Baroness Anelay, British Foreign Office minister, argued at the time that such rescue missions only encouraged more people to make the treacherous journey.
Yet if the ending of Mare Nostrum was intended to be a deterrent, so far it has failed. There has been a spike in the numbers of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean; to around 7,000 so far in 2015 from 3,338 in the same period in 2014, according to the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR (see chart below).
▻http://www.irinnews.org/report/101142/two-charts-showing-that-deterring-migrant-boats-is-failing
#graphique #migration #asile #réfugiés #Méditerranée #mourir_en_mer #statistiques #appel_d'air #dissuasion #2014 #2015
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