Boat People

The summer is the busiest time. Illegal boat traffic tends to peak during the warmer months, with trawlers washing up on the shores of southern Europe on an almost daily basis, carrying would-be immigrants from Africa. These are the lucky ones. All too often, the boats and their passangers are shipwrecked on the way and never arrive.

The most recent deaths occurred in southern Italy, where 17 drowned at the weekend after two boats broke up whilst attempting to land.

In its latest report on border protection and human rights, the German Institute for Human Rights has accused the EU of jeopardizing the lives of these immigrants with its border protection strategies. One objective of the Institute's report is to clarify the human rights aspects these strategies entail.

A worsening problem

With some 500 clandestine immigrants attempting to reach Italy by boat in the past week alone, the United Nations has warned that the number of immigrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe is increasing dramatically.

This year, the UNHCR estimates that over 500 boat people have drowned trying to reach Europe from Africa. And given that many boats simply disappear, the figure could well be even higher.

In Brussels, draft guidelines are currently being developed to make clear the obligations vis-à-vis persons encountered during interception-, search- and rescue- measures at sea.

Human rights groups are increasingly concerned that the EU's human rights obligations are being swept under the carpet.

EU fails to draw up clear rules

"The drownings are partly the result of EU nations being unable to agree on their human rights obligations and on how to share the burden among themselves," the institute said at the presentation of its report on Wednesday, Oct 31.

This results in a lack of will to save people and diminishes the chances of those who are rescued to be treated humanely, said Ruth Weinzierl, one of the study's authors.

Countries such as Malta, Greece, Italy and Spain feel they are left to deal with the problem by themselves, she added. Consequently, the refugees are ignored for too long.

The watchdog accused EU countries of contravening United Nations human rights conventions by intercepting boats carrying clandestine immigrants on the high seas and then accompanying them back to their ports of departure.

It said the practice was flourishing in the absence of clear rules forcing the EU to do otherwise.

"Those who were saved must under all circumstances be taken to an EU country so that their situation and need for protection can be assessed," stressed Weinzierl.

"There is a lack of concrete rules obliging EU nations to bring people who are intercepted on the high seas into the EU, so that the validity of their request for refugee status can be examined," she explained.

Legal gray area

A further problem cited by the Institute is the fact that anyone who picks up refugees can be charged with aiding illegal immigrancy.

Crews or captains who act in accordance with the law of the sea that demands that everything possible be done to rescue vessels in distress, can face charges of assisting illegal immigration, an offence that carries a prison sentence of between one and 15 years.

Seven Tunisian fishermen are currently on trial in Sicily, after they rescued passengers from a dinghy in distress carrying 44 migrants.