{"id":26898,"date":"2023-09-30T18:07:16","date_gmt":"2023-09-30T18:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=26898"},"modified":"2023-09-30T18:31:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-30T18:31:13","slug":"a-cemetery-for-children-and-their-future-number-of-refugees-thought-dead-in-mediterranean-triples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2023\/09\/30\/a-cemetery-for-children-and-their-future-number-of-refugees-thought-dead-in-mediterranean-triples\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A cemetery for children and their future\u2019: number of refugees thought dead in Mediterranean triples"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following article by Glen Black was first posted by The Canary<\/a>. Refugees and asylum seekers are the most vulnerable of those facing the current socio-economic crisis, and hence are provided very little individual state or EU protection. But this attitude is extended to other precariously paced groups, as the billionaire elite seek only to protect themselves at the expense \u00a0of others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘A CEMETERY FOR CHILDREN AND THEIR FUTURE’: NUMBER OF REFUGEES THOUGHT DEAD IN MEDITERRANEAN TRIPLES<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Image by Tim L\u00fcddemann\/Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The number of Europe-bound\u00a0refugees<\/a>\u00a0who died or went missing in the Mediterranean this summer has tripled since last year, the\u00a0UN<\/a>\u00a0has said.<\/p>\n

Thousands of refugees died in 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 2500 migrants died or went missing in the Mediterranean between 1 January and 24 September 2023. That\u2019s 50% more than during the same period in 2022.<\/p>\n

Between June and August this year, at least 990 people perished or vanished trying to get to Europe from northern Africa. Meanwhile, during the same period last year, 334 people died.<\/p>\n

Among the migrants who arrived in Italy on makeshift boats between January and September, there were 11,600 unaccompanied children. That figure is 60% higher than it was for January to September 2022. Nicola dell\u2019Arciprete, UNICEF\u2019s country coordinator for Italy, said at least 289 children have died so far this year trying to cross the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF\u2019s regional director for Europe and Central Asia, said:<\/p>\n

The Mediterranean has become a cemetery for children and their future<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018So-called\u2019 coastguard<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was a surge of people landing on the island of Lampedusa in September. The Red Cross\u00a0estimated<\/a> that the island hosted some 10,000 new arrivals in the second week of September. Dell\u2019Arciprete said this number of people will likely be repeated over the coming weeks. As more people cross, more will likely find themselves in dangerous or deadly situations.<\/p>\n

At the time of publishing, Sea Watch International was reporting an ongoing incident involving the Libyan coastguard:<\/p>\n

🔴<\/em>Happening now!\u00a0<\/em>#Seabird<\/em><\/a>\u00a0witnessed atrocities by so-called Libyan coastguard. Despite our several warnings, they crashed into & destroyed a dinghy in distress. ~50 ppl. in the water & pulled back to Libya.\u00a0<\/em>@MVLouiseMichel<\/em><\/a>\u00a0was on-site, searching for survivors & couldn’t find any.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sea-Watch International (@seawatch_intl)\u00a0<\/em>September 29, 2023<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The MV Louise Michel, an independent refugee rescue vessel that was on-site during the incident,\u00a0said<\/a> two \u201covercrowded\u201d dinghies had got into trouble. While the Louise Michel was rescuing 58 people from one boat, a Libyan coastguard vessel allegedly \u201ccrashed\u201d into the second:<\/p>\n

3\/4 The Louise Michel was nearby and attended the scene shortly after. Sadly approximately 50 people were taken onboard the coastguard vessel to be forcibly pulled back to Libya. Our crew searched the area for any survivors or deceased people but could not find any.\u00a0<\/em>pic.twitter.com\/5TyzZk3HNl<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 LouiseMichel (@MVLouiseMichel)\u00a0<\/em>September 29, 2023<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The boat\u2019s crew\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that it was \u201cdisgusted by this aggressive act against these people seeking a safe place\u201d.<\/p>\n

In June, a fishing vessel carrying an estimated 750 refugees, including 100 children,\u00a0sank<\/a>\u00a0off the coast of Greece. Only 104 people were rescued.<\/p>\n

While the Greek coastguard initially attempted to distance itself from the causes of the boat\u2019s sinking, subsequent investigations have suggested otherwise. Research\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0by Greek investigative journalism unit\u00a0Solomon<\/em>\u00a0said that:<\/p>\n

\u2026the [Greek coastguard vessel] increased its speed and the fishing vessel [that it was towing] rocked to the right, then to the left, then to the right again and flipped onto its right side\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Testimonies in this investigation support testaments presented by other journalistic investigations, as well as survivor statements included in the official case file: this action appears to have led to the capsize and eventual sinking of the ship.<\/em><\/p>\n

Political choices and individual actions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Commenting on the UN\u2019s figures for 2023, De Dominicis said:<\/p>\n

The tragic toll of children dying in search of asylum and security in Europe is the result of political choices and a defective migration system<\/em><\/p>\n

This European anti-refugee border regime is colloquially known as \u2018Fortress Europe\u2019. Its policies extend well beyond the Mediterranean. As the\u00a0Canary<\/em>\u00a0previously reported<\/a>, Fortress Europe has led to the deaths of thousands of people attempting to cross between two islands in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

However, the two incidents involving the Libyan and Greek coastguards show that it\u2019s not just policies harming and killing refugees. Individuals are acting in ways that threaten refugees as well.<\/p>\n

There are three months left in 2023, and the number of refugees killed by Europe\u2019s racist, draconian border policies will only continue to increase. Each and every death is blood on the hands of states across Europe and the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

29.9.23<\/strong><\/p>\n

____________<\/p>\n

also see:-<\/p>\n

Rishi Sunak defends Suella Braverman\u2019s appearance at National Conservatism\u2019 event alongside \u2018Great Replacement\u2019 conspiracy theorists and Covid deniers \u2013 Adan Bienkov and Karam Bales, Byline Supplement<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Arundhati Roy on things that can and cannot be said: The dismantling of the world as we know it – Arundhati Roy, \u00a0the wire<\/a><\/p>\n

The rise of the proto-fascist Right highlights the crisis of the whole system \u00a0– Ezra Brain, Left Voice (USA)<\/a><\/p>\n

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The following article by Glen Black was first posted by The Canary. Refugees and asylum seekers are the most vulnerable of those facing the current socio-economic crisis, and hence are provided very little individual state or EU protection. But this attitude is extended to other precariously paced groups, as the billionaire elite seek only to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1858,1867,1846,1868,1847,8976],"tags":[9214],"class_list":["post-26898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oppression-liberation","category-emancipation-liberation-and-self-determination","category-british-imperialism","category-against-imperialism","category-the-eu","category-migrant-struggles","tag-author-glen-black"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/mastodon.scot\/@rcfscotland\/111155429263380469","error":""},"views":1181,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26898"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26909,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26898\/revisions\/26909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}