Migrants caught between tides and politics in the Mediterranean: an imperative for search and rescue at sea?

Zamatto F, et al. BMJ Glob Health 2017;2:e000450. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000450 It was in the 1980s when the first bodies of migrants and refugees from the global south were washed up on European shores. In the absence of safe and legal alternatives, people continue to embark on perilous sea journeys for a myriad of reasons; they are fleeing persecution, violence and poverty and seeking freedom, safety and a better life in Europe. Thousands continue to die in the Central Mediterranean Sea which has proved to be the most dangerous route. The greatly mediatised Lampedusa shipwreck of 3 October 2013 when 368 migrants and refugees died off the Italian coast is credited with the launch of an Italian state-led mission ‘Mare Nostrum’. 4 The operation had an explicit humanitarian objective and involved identifying boats in distress and then rescuing people—a proactive ‘Search and Rescue (SAR)’ operation that operated close to the Libyan coast. Significant human resources, military rescue assets as well as financial means were placed at its disposal costing the Italian state a total of €9 million per month. Thanks to Mare Nostrum, at least 150 000 migrants and refugees were rescued. Mare Nostrum ended in October 2014, largely because of a lack of European Union support and because it was considered a pull factor for migrants and refugees to Europe. It was superseded by Frontex’s ‘Operation Triton’, whose mandate was primarily to secure the European Union’s external borders. It was not designed as SAR mission. Sea rescues were thus relegated to only what is routinely demanded by maritime obligations. Unlike Mare Nostrum, Triton operated close to the Italian coast (a much smaller rescue area compared with Mare Nostrum) and had far less rescue assets placed at its disposition by the European Union—costing €4.6 million per month. This retreat from proactive ‘SAR’ operations by the European Union tacitly left thousands of people to drown at sea and was criticised for a ninefold increase in deaths between 2014 and 2015. 6 On 25 April 2015, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, summarised it well