The Turkish Coastguard (TUR CG) received in Antalya two search and rescue vessels. The vessels are part of a EUR 20 million agreement between the European Union and the UN Migration Agency (IOM). The Turkish Government responded to the increase in irregular migration by rescuing, since the beginning of 2015, nearly 135,000 migrants and refugees as … Read more
The migrants pouring into Europe have changed routes: the crossing between Turkey and Greece is practically closed, but ever greater numbers are risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy. A criminal industry has flourished, while the European Union has beefed up its border agency Frontex to try to check the mass … Read more
Interior ministers mainly from the central Mediterranean region met in Rome on Monday to ramp up efforts to curb migration from Libya amid a sharp rise in the number of people trying to cross to Europe. One year after a controversial deal with Turkey to stop migrants setting out across the Aegean Sea for Greece, … Read more
The head of EU border agency Frontex on Monday criticised charities that rescue migrants off Libya, arguing that they encourage the traffickers who profit from the dangerous Mediterranean crossings. Such rescue operations “should be reevaluated”, Fabrice Leggeri told Germany’s Die Welt daily, also accusing the groups of not effectively cooperating with security agencies against human … Read more