UN rights chief calls for action to address Central Mediterranean Sea migrant crisis

UN rights chief calls for action to address Central Mediterranean Sea migrant crisis

Since 2014, over 26,000 people have died or gone missing crossing the Mediterranean Sea.  Most of these deaths or disappearances, over 20,000, occurred in the Central Mediterranean, considered among the deadliest migration routes in the world.  “We are seeing a steep increase in the number of desperate people putting their lives at grave risk,” said…

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Black Sea Grain Initiative extended on deadline day

Black Sea Grain Initiative extended on deadline day

The announcement was made in a Note to Correspondents, released by the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson’s office on Saturday, which emphasized that the Initiative allows for the “facilitation of the safe navigation for the exports of grain and related foodstuffs and fertilizers, including ammonia, from designated Ukrainian seaports.” Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces…

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Italy sea rescue law could put more migrant lives at risk: UN rights chief

Italy sea rescue law could put more migrant lives at risk: UN rights chief

“More people in distress will be made to suffer and more lives risk being lost because timely help is not available, if this law is passed,” he said in a statement.  Mr. Türk expressed his serious concerns a day after the Italian Parliament approved legislation that imposes stricter requirements on humanitarian ships which are attempting…

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Sea level rise poses ‘unthinkable’ risks for the planet, Security Council hears

Sea level rise poses ‘unthinkable’ risks for the planet, Security Council hears

“The impact of rising seas is already creating new sources of instability and conflict,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who opened the meeting. Noting that some nations’ coastlines have already seen triple the average rate of sea level rise, he warned that, in the coming decades, low-lying communities – and entire countries – could disappear forever. “We would witness…

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Rights expert urges Italy to stop criminalizing activists saving migrant lives at sea

Rights expert urges Italy to stop criminalizing activists saving migrant lives at sea

Preliminary criminal proceedings opened last May in Sicily against 21 people charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigration in connection with several search-and-rescue missions conducted between 2016 and 2017.  Those accused include four crew members of the Iuventa, a former fishing trawler credited with saving some 14,000 migrant lives in the Mediterranean Sea, and human…

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