Lampedusa, April 6th, 2011. On the night of Monday 22nd, 335 sub-Saharan refugees, including women and children, mostly Ethiopians and Eritreans, set sail from Tripoli (Libya) hoping to reach the Italian coast and flee from persecution. The boat, driven by a smuggler, went missing just a few hours later. A relative of two of the passengers on the boat raised the alarm by contacting Habeshia and EveryOne Group, who immediately alerted the authorities to ask for patrols to be sent into international waters and requested the intervention of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
"This morning, after two weeks of inaction and indifference from the authorities and international institutions, we heard from Don Mussie Zerai that the bodies of those migrants, riddled with bullets, are being washed ashore." The news was reported by Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau, co-presidents of the international humanitarian organization EveryOne Group. "It would appear that the boat carrying the refugees was attacked in the Mediterranean, and that the shots were so rapid that the migrants did not have time to sound the alarm with the satellite phone they’d taken on board. This is a disturbing episode which suggests a very dramatic scenario that NATO, in cooperation with the United Nations, should look into. We are calling on the Italian Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, to report to Parliament on the matter, and the European Parliament to establish a commission of inquiry. We also believe it is necessary for the Council of Europe, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to exert pressure so that the European States convene the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission in Berne (http : / / www.eda.admin.ch / eda / en / home / topics / intla / humlaw / ihci.html), whose secretariat is managed by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in Switzerland, which is the depositary state of the Geneva Convention and Additional Protocols. The authorities must do everything in their power to identify the perpetrators of this massacre which is not only a serious violation of international humanitarian law, it also represents a crime against humanity as understood by the statute of the International Criminal Court of the Hague."
EveryOne Group also criticizes Europe’s failure to send personnel and vessels to patrol the international waters between Italy and Libya, especially after the tragedy last night when a boat capsized with 200 Somalis and Eritreans on board (of which only 47 were rescued). "These tragedies out at sea" continue Malini, Pegoraro and Picciau, "highlight the lack of rescue plans for refugees. We need to deploy resources - both boats and aircraft - and modern rescue equipment, seeing the great number of migrants who are setting sail as we write despite the adverse weather conditions. There is a lack of advanced monitoring and logistics able to act urgently and effectively when the engine failure of a vessel is reported or an SOS is launched. It would appear that Europe is more focused on actions that will prevent the flow of refugees and getting round the Geneva Convention than implementing the necessary humanitarian policies."
EveryOne Group
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