Brussels, 15/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 14 March, Italy was trying to cope with over 1,600 migrants according to figures from the Lampedusa harbour master's office cited by AFP. The European Commission announced the next day that it had requested Italian authorities to closely verify the potential refugee status of nearly 1,800 others, most of whom were of Moroccan origin, who arrived on Monday evening near the Italian coast on a Moroccan ferry from Libya that had been blocked by the Italian navy. According to Italian media reports, the Italian navy had banned entry by the ferry to territorial waters. The ferry required refuelling, which was ensured by the navy.
According to the Commission spokesman, however, if facts are confirmed, it does not at this stage appear to be an “act of refoulement”, said Martin Grabiec, the spokesman for Commissioner Cecilia Malmström as, according to elements provided by the Italian authorities, they had not ordered the ferry to return to its port of departure and the ferry had not sought to enter Italian waters. He explained that no specific distress situation had been detected.
The Commission nonetheless called on Italy to verify whether the persons on board the ferry could benefit from refugee status. According to the Italian authorities, Moroccans as well as nationals from other countries - Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania and Syria - were on the boat, which was 240 km from the port of Augusta in Sicily but had resumed the direction of North Africa late on Tuesday afternoon, according to a number of Italian media reports.
On Tuesday, the European Commission reminded member states of their obligations in terms of international protection and compliance with European and international requirements in management of their borders and of migratory flows and asylum seekers. Under European and international laws (the Geneva Convention of 1951 and the 1957 Protocol), no expulsion measure may be applied until a decision has been taken on the asylum request. If those on the Moroccan ferry were eligible for refugee status, then, if it turned out that Italy had ordered the vessel not to enter its waters, this action would be in breach of European and international laws.
The issue of migratory flows has been troubling Italy since the middle of February. It has taken in almost 10,000 people, mainly from Tunisia, since the outbreak of the uprisings in North Africa. The issue was broached at the special European summit on 11 March which was devoted to Libya. In their conclusions, member states called for a meeting of home affairs ministers to be convened “without delay”, a special meeting to discuss the management of migratory flows by the countries of the region (Libya, Tunisia and Egypt) having been supported and called for by France, a source said again on Monday 14 March. At this point, however, the Hungarian Presidency would seem to wish to hold to the planned timetable, with a meeting of the JHA Council on 11-12 April. This timescale would make it possible to establish contact with these countries' authorities which are responsible for managing migration, a source said. (S.P./transl.jl/rt)