Islamic State targets vulnerable refugee children for recruitment

German MP invites Eritrean asylum seekers to live with his family

4 August 2015

A conservative German politician has welcomed two asylum seekers into his home and is urging other citizens to do the same.

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Martin Patzelt, an MP in the ruling Christian Democrats Party, invited the young men to live with him and his family after meeting them at his local church.

The two men, 19-year-old Haben and 24-year-old Awet, fled conflict in Eritrea and crossed the Mediterranean from Libya in a small wooden boat , the Daily Telegraph reports.

They have been in Germany for 18 month and are currently learning German with the Patzelt family as they await a verdict on their asylum application and take part in work placement schemes.

The Patzelts have five grown children and ten grandchildren of their own. One of their sons still lives at home, sharing the top floor of the house with Haben and Awet.

The invitation to the two men came after Patzelt wrote an open letter suggesting that German citizens should open up their home to refugees instead of housing them in migrant hostels.

It comes at a time when hostility towards migrants and refugees is increasing in many parts of the country, with Germany receiving the highest number of asylum applications out of any EU nation.

Earlier this year, the country witnessed the rise of the far-right group Pegida which calls for stricter immigration laws and limits to the country's refugee intake.

But Patzelt believes initiatives like his would go a long way in getting rid of the "polarisation and hostility" some people in Germany feel towards migrants and refugees.

"Partnership, providing shelter, looking after people, welcoming them – these small bridges help to give refugees a face and a name, so that they emerge from the anonymous mass of asylum seekers," he told German ARD TV. "If more people did that... we'd be on a good path."

Italy navy threat as EU debates Mediterranean migrant quotas

16 June

European leaders will discuss introducing quotas on migrants arriving in Europe each year in upcoming talks in Luxembourg, with Italy threatening a "strong response" if no deal can be reached.

One of the key areas of discussion will be how to distribute asylum seekers more evenly between the 28 EU states. Italy, Greece and Malta are experiencing "a large strain on resources", The Independent notes, as the number of arrivals from Africa and the Middle East continues to grow.

Some EU countries, including Germany and Austria, support a deal that would seek to distribute 60,000 asylum seekers across Europe, but others argue that migrants should be able to choose where they settle, rather than being sent to arbitrary countries.

More than 100,000 boat people have landed in Italy and Greece this year. Italy alone has taken in 60,000 new arrivals, mainly from Libya.

The Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, said that if the EU could not come to an agreement on how to handle the growing crisis, Italy would enact a "Plan B", which would "hurt" Europe.

While the details of Renzi's Plan B have not been announced, reports suggest that Italy could prohibit foreign navies from dropping off migrants rescued from international waters in its ports.

Asked whether such reports were true, Italian European Affairs Minister Sandro Gozzi told the BBC that "we are not there yet".

"It is clear that in a possible second phase we will apply international maritime law in all its aspects," he said.

Migrant crisis: UK to play key role in plan to destroy boats

18 May

Britain is set to play a key role in European Union plans to stop people smugglers trafficking migrants across the Mediterranean, and could send warships into Libya's territorial waters.

EU ministers meeting in Brussels today are widely expected to approve a mission to destroy boats used by traffickers to ferry people from war-torn Libya to Europe.

According to The Times, Britain is poised to provide drones and intelligence support and will help establish a military headquarters in Italy to lead armed operations against the people smugglers.

"One of Britain's biggest warships [HMS Bulwark], which is already playing a part in search-and-rescue efforts to save people at risk of drowning on rickety boats, could also be switched into a combat role to help in any push to take on the smuggler networks," says the newspaper.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon are expected to present the measures at the EU meeting today.

But plans to send gunships into Libya's territorial waters must first win legal backing from the UN Security Council, says the BBC. Britain is said to be leading the efforts to obtain the UN's approval for a resolution that reportedly involves limited ground operations as well as high-seas boat seizures.

The Libyan ambassador to the UN has already complained that his country has been left in the dark about the EU's military intentions and wants to know how they will distinguish between fishermen's boats and traffickers' boats.

Amnesty International has also warned that a military operation against traffickers that does not provide safe alternative routes for migrants would mean that many are left trapped in appalling conditions in Libya.

A recent report by the human rights group showed that thousands of foreign nationals, many from Syria and sub-Saharan Africa, face abductions, torture and sexual violence in Libya, often on the basis of their immigration status or religion.

It called on EU governments to increase the number of resettlement places and humanitarian admissions for people in need of international protection.

Migrant boat crisis talks: what options are up for discussion?

23 April

EU leaders are meeting today to decide how to respond to the growing number of migrants risking the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe.

Prime Minister David Cameron is breaking off from the election campaign to attend the emergency summit in Brussels after at least 800 migrants drowned at the weekend in one of the deadliest incidents ever recorded in the Mediterranean.

The 27-year-old Tunisian captain of the boat – Mohammed Ali Malek – has been charged with causing a shipwreck, multiple manslaughter and aiding and abetting trafficking. A 25-year-old Syrian – Mahmud Bikhit – has also been charged with aiding and abetting trafficking.

Prosecutors believe Malek crashed the boat into a larger Portuguese vessel, causing the passengers to panic and rush around. The boat then tipped and sank, with many people allegedly locked below deck.

Experts have warned that up to 30,000 migrants – almost 20 times the number of people who died on the Titanic – could be killed this year if the crisis is not tackled.

Here are some of the proposals due to be discussed today:

Increasing search and rescue

One proposal is to "rapidly reinforce" the Triton and Poseidon search and rescue operations by doubling their financial resources in 2015 and 2016. The UK's Ministry of Defence is said to be "looking at options" to see if British forces might also be sent in to help.

Fighting the traffickers

Italy has called on the EU to fight the "slave traders of the 21st century". General proposals include disrupting trafficking networks, bringing the perpetrators to justice and seizing their assets, with increased intelligence and police co-operation with countries outside of the EU. Europol would also be tasked with detecting and requesting the removal of internet content used by traffickers to lure in migrants and refugees.

Destroying boats

EU leaders are likely to commit to efforts to capture and destroy vessels before they are used by traffickers, although the exact details of how this might work are unclear. The Wall Street Journal suggests this might require people on the ground in Libya, which many EU member states are reluctant about doing.

Preventing illegal migrant flows

Another proposal is to increase support to countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Mali and Niger to help them control their land borders and prevent potential migrants from reaching Mediterranean shores. A new "return programme" would also be set up to return "irregular migrants" to their home countries from Europe.

Stabilising Libya and Syria

The draft proposals for today's meeting, published by the FT, acknowledge that instability in Syria is a key factor behind the increase in migration, while the chaos of Libya has created an "ideal environment for the criminal activities of traffickers". The EU wants to actively support all UN-led efforts towards re-establishing government authority in Libya and to step up efforts to address conflict and instability in Syria.

Resettling migrants

Germany has publicly backed a proposal to spread migrants out more equally among EU countries, with an initial voluntary project to resettle 5,000 migrants who qualify for protection. However, this looks likely to be a divisive proposal. Teams from the European Asylum Support Office would be deployed to "frontline" member states to process asylum applications and take fingerprints from migrants.

Migrant boat disaster: two arrested for human trafficking

21 April

Italian officials have arrested the captain and a crew member travelling on board the migrant boat that sank at the weekend, one of the deadliest migrant disasters in the Mediterranean.

More than 800 people, including many children, died when their vessel capsized 60 miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to the United Nations refugee agency. One survivor suggested the number was as high as 950, with up to 50 children and 200 women.

The passengers, from Syria, Eritrea and Somalia, left Tripoli at around 8am on Saturday. Only 28 people were rescued when the boat sank that night.

The Tunisian captain and his Syrian first mate were arrested on suspicion of people trafficking after they arrived in Sicily with other survivors late on Monday.

Prosecutors said hundreds of people had been locked below deck and hundreds more were crammed onto the boat's upper deck. The vessel is believed to have capsized when an attempted rescue by a Portuguese merchant ship caused panic.

A fisherman from Lampedusa helping with the rescue described seeing children's shoes, life jackets and then a "little boy face down in a huge oil slick" that he said "marked the grave" of the drowned victims. "But I could not find even one survivor. Not one," he told The Independent.

EU leaders, who met in Luxembourg for crisis talks yesterday, have set out a ten-point package in an attempt to prevent more tragedy on the Mediterranean.

Measures included a campaign to destroy traffickers' boats and an increase in financial resources for the rescue service Triton, which replaced the larger Mare Nostrum operation last year. Triton's operational area will also be expanded.

Katya Adler, BBC Europe editor, says the proposals are "not new but the sense of EU solidarity and common purpose is" – however even this is unlikely to last long.

"Arguing and wrangling will almost certainly be back on the agenda at an emergency summit of EU leaders this Thursday as they hammer out the details of what to do next," she says.

Even as the talks took place, two rescue missions took place to save 350 people in the Mediterranean.

EU Crisis talks held after 700 migrants drown on way to Italy

April 20

The European Union is facing mounting pressure to stop the Mediterranean turning into a "graveyard" after one of the deadliest refugee drownings between Libya and Europe in years.

A 70ft long boat, said to be carrying as many as 700 people, capsized 60 miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa late on Saturday. Only 28 survivors have been rescued.

EU leaders are due to meet in Luxembourg to discuss the crisis, six months after they ended their rescue operation Mare Nostrum, replacing it with a more limited border control operation.

Some members, including Britain, oppose expanding the search-and-rescue operation amid fears that it would encourage more migrants to take the dangerous journey. But Sweden and Malta have said that more needs to be done.

"A tragedy is unfolding in the Mediterranean and, if the EU and the world continue to close their eyes, it will be judged in the harshest terms, as it was judged in the past when it closed its eyes to genocides," said the Maltese prime minister, Joseph Muscat.

But Italy's prime minister, Matteo Renzi, pointed out that a Portuguese-registered merchant ship had attempted a rescue. Renzi said the real problem was the "new slavery" of traffickers who organised the trips.

"Governments across Europe have expressed dismay at Sunday's huge loss of life," says BBC Europe editor Katya Adler. "But while the EU talks, the Mediterranean is turning into a graveyard."

The number of migrants reaching Italy by sea last year reached more than 170,000, four times higher than the previous year. Around 3,500 are believed to have died on the way.

If the death toll from the weekend's disaster is confirmed it "could be the worst single migrant drowning of the current crisis, and mean 1,600 people will have died attempting to reach Europe by boat in 2015 alone", says The Independent.

The International Organisation for Migration has linked the rise to the "multiple and complex" humanitarian crises near Europe's borders, including the war in Syria and the unrest caused by the political instability in Libya.