Tag: Mediterranean Sea
Operation Irini by the numbers after four years
Now in its fourth year, the European Union (EU) naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea enforcing a United Nations (UN) arms embargo on Libya...
Home country conflict big contributor to migrant deaths – IOM
One in three migrant deaths can be attributed to people fleeing conflict, an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) report has it, adding two of...
EU Mediterranean Libya arms embargo enforcement continues
The European Union (UN) naval operation enforcing a United Nations (UN) arms embargo on Libya has been extended for a year.
The renewal will see...
EU Med naval force notches up 9 000 ship checks
Operation Irini, the European Union (EU) naval force in the Mediterranean Sea established to maintain a United Nations (UN) arms embargo on Libya, has...
Op Irini nets embargo buster
A change of ship’s name was not sufficient to deter Operation Irini intelligence, leading to an inspection which revealed a breach of the United...
Op Irini enforcing Libyan arms embargo
In its two years of operation to date the European Union (EU) Naval Force (NavFor) Mediterranean Operation Irini investigated over 6 200 ships, conducted 250...
Stopping arms reaching Libya – Op Irini at work
“Another day, another inspection” could well be what the men and women detached to the European Union (EU) Operation Irini in the Mediterranean Sea...
New flagship for Op Irini
Italian Navy warship San Giorgio completed her operational tour as flagship for Operation EUNavFor Med Irini and returned to her homeport Brindisi after more...
Migrant deaths rise on both Africa/Europe routes
Migrant deaths on dangerous sea routes to Europe, in particular across the Mediterranean, soared in the first six months of the year. At least 1...
Op Irini extended for a further year
The EU maritime intervention to stop arms illegally reaching strife-torn Libya will continue for another year thanks to a UN Security Council authorisation.
The vote...
Irini Mediterranean inspections top the two thousand mark
Operation Irini, the EU tasking enforcing a UN arms embargo on Libya, investigated over 2 000 vessels in its first 11 months on the Mediterranean...
2020 good for Op Irini
Formed just ahead of the coronavirus pandemic making itself felt across the world, the EU naval operation in the Mediterranean to enforce a UN...
Full steam ahead for Op Irini
Hundreds of vessels and dozens of flights were investigated by Operation EUNavFor Med Irini in four months monitoring sea, air and land possible illicit...
Suspected Libya arms embargo buster boarded by Op Irini
The EU Naval Force (EU NavFor) tasking in the Mediterranean, Operation Irini, conducted what is believed to be its first inspection of a vessel...
Call for more Mediterranean search and rescue capability
UN agencies want search and rescue stepped up in the central Mediterranean in the wake of a shipwreck that claimed the lives of 45...
Erdogan says Turkey ‘will not back down’ in east Med standoff
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Turkey will not back down to threats of sanctions nor to incursions on its claimed territory in the...
Pushbacks of Mediterranean migrant boats ring alarm bells
Restrictions against humanitarians rescuing migrant boats in the central Mediterranean put lives at risk and must be lifted immediately the UN human rights office...
Operation Sea Guardian resumes in eastern Mediterranean
The Turkish corvette Buyukada left Aksaz port as flagship to NATO’s Operation Sea Guardian focused patrols late last month. Under the command of Captain...
Med migrant death toll tops thousand mark
More than 1 000 migrants died in the Mediterranean Sea this year, the sixth year in a row that “bleak milestone” has been reached,...
Hundred plus die in Mediterranean shipwreck
About 115 people are missing feared drowned and another 134 were rescued by Libyan coast guards and local fishermen after a wooden boat carrying...
Rights groups blast EU for downgrading Mediterranean migrant mission
International rights advocates criticised the European Union for abdicating humanitarian responsibilities after the bloc agreed to withdraw ships patrolling the Mediterranean for migrants attempting...
EU to scale down maritime migrant missions
The European Union will cease maritime patrols that have rescued thousands of migrants making the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing from North Africa to Europe,...
Migrants drown in Med shipwreck
At least 34 migrants died in a shipwreck in the western Mediterranean, which 26 people survived, the UN migration agency said, citing...
Bodies wash up on beach
The bodies of 21 people thought to be migrants trying to reach Spain washed up on the shores of the Mediterranean, the...
Refugee numbers down, fatalities up – UNHCR
The number of refugees and migrants reaching Europe is diminishing, but the fatality rate has risen dramatically, a new report from the...
Life and death off the Libyan shoreline
The wreck of the raft was a dot on the sea but as our rescue boat approached we saw a woman make...
Passage to Libya not available on Aquarius
Rescue ship Aquarius, which picked up almost 3,000 migrants from the Mediterranean this year, will carry out rescue missions without waiting for...
Crime info cell to boost Op Sophia operational effectiveness
EUNavFor's Mediterranean Operation Sophia task force has a new addition – a crime information cell – enabling better co-operation and effectiveness in...
African migrant pressure to persist on EU southern borders
The European Union's southern borders in the Mediterranean will remain under heavy pressure from African migrants trying to reach Europe this year,...
New EU mission has no obligation to bring migrants to Italy
European Union border agency Frontex launched a new Mediterranean operation called Themis on Thursday, removing the obligation of the previous mission to...
MOAS suspends Mediterranean migrant rescue operations
A Malta-based humanitarian group working in the Mediterranean for three years said it was suspending operations after months of rising tension with...
New EU boat rescue policy under fire from UN experts
The European Union's new policy on Mediterranean Sea rescues threatens life and breaches international standards, two independent United Nations human rights experts...
More NGOs suspend Mediterranean migrant rescues
Two more aid groups suspended migrant rescues in the Mediterranean joining Doctors Without Borders because they felt threatened by the Libyan coastguard....
MSF suspends Med migrant rescues
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was suspending migrant rescues in the Mediterranean because it felt threatened by the Libyan coastguard and...
UNavFor Med seizes arms from Libyan registered vessel
This month has seen what is believed to be the first arms seizure from a vessel in international waters of the Mediterranean...
Infant rescued in Mediterranean
A four-day-old baby was one of over 480 migrants rescued by humanitarian ships at the weekend during search and rescue operations in...
EU border agency expects same number of migrants via Libya this...
The European Union should expect as many migrants crossing from Libya this year as last, when a record number disembarked in Italy,...
Belgian Alsation dog is essential crew member of French warship
A highly trained four-year-old Malinois dog is a specialist crew member of the French light frigate FS Commandant Ducuing currently deployed in...
EU should seek common approach to address loss of life in...
Ahead of a European Council meeting, the United Nations refugee and migration agencies want European leaders to take "decisive action" to save...
Rescuers save more than a thousand migrants, find six bodies
Rescuers plucked 1,164 people from rubber and wooden boats in the Mediterranean during heavy thunderstorms on Sunday and recovered six dead bodies...
More than two thousand migrants rescued in Mediterranean, 16 bodies recovered
About 2,200 migrants were plucked to safety in the central Mediterranean in 21 rescue missions on Monday and 16 bodies were recovered,...
Over two thousand boat migrants rescued in Mediterranean
Rescuers pulled 2,300 migrants to safety on Saturday in 18 separate rescue operations in the Mediterranean co-ordinated by the Italian coast guard.
A...
Five migrant bodies recovered, 534 rescued in Mediterranean
The bodies of five migrants were recovered and 534 others were saved on Thursday following an array of rescue operations in the...
Rescuers recover 17 bodies, pick up more than a thousand boat...
An Irish navy ship recovered 17 dead bodies on Thursday when it went to the aid of migrants packed onto a wooden...
Op Sophia extended for another year
The European Union Naval Force's Mediterranean Sea operation to disrupt human smugglers and traffickers has been extended by a year to July...
Boat migrant deaths in the Mediterranean soar
Indications are that 880 people appear to have died over the past week as vessels capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, bringing the...
EUNavFor Med moves up a gear
The EU naval force tasked with ending human smuggling and trafficking operations in the Mediterranean has a specific operation names – Sophia...
HMS Bulwark leads the way in Med migrant search and rescue
On a visit to HMS Bulwark this week United Kingdom Defence Secretary Michael Fallon praised Royal Navy efforts in search and rescue...
Migrants’ bodies brought ashore as EU proposes doubling rescue effort
The European Union proposed doubling the size of its Mediterranean search and rescue operations on Monday as the first bodies were brought...
Boat people numbers near the 350, 000 mark for 2014
The UN refugee agency has warned the international community is losing its focus on saving lives amid confusion among coastal nations and...
