United Nations, United States: EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday appealed for international backing for Europe’s efforts to confront the Mediterranean migrant crisis and save lives.
Mogherini spoke at the UN Security Council as it prepares to endorse a controversial European Union plan that provides for military action to stem the tide of refugees making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.
“Our first priority is to save lives and prevent further loss of lives at sea,” Mogherini told the 15-member council.
“We cannot do it alone. This has to be a common global effort,” she said.
“That is why we count on your support to save lives and dismantle criminal organizations that are exploiting people’s desperation.”
With more than 1,800 dead this year alone, 2015 is shaping up as the deadliest ever for refugees seeking to reach Europe through the Mediterranean.
Describing the migrant flow as an “unprecedented situation,” Mogherini said: “We need an exceptional response.”
Europe’s chief diplomat described the migrant crisis as “not only a humanitarian emergency but also a security crisis” involving smugglers who have seized on the chaos in Libya to set up operations.
The most controversial component of the EU plan would involve military action to destroy the boats used by migrant smugglers.
Security Council members Britain, France, Lithuania and Spain are working with Italy on a draft resolution that would allow for the “use of all necessary means to seize and dispose of the vessels, including the destruction and rendering inoperable and unusable,” diplomats said.
Russia has, however, poured cold water over the proposal to destroy vessels, arguing that smugglers rent boats from owners who are often unaware of the scheme.
“It’s just going too far,” Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said last week.
The resolution would be drafted under Chapter 7 of the UN charter which allows the use of force and would give an EU maritime force the right to act in Libyan territorial waters.
Libya has expressed reservations, however, and it remains an open question whether the rival governments ruling the country would give their consent.
In addressing the council, Mogherini offered assurances that a naval force would not seek to undermine Libya’s stability.
“We don’t and we won’t act against anyone but in partnership with all,” she said.
Human rights and aid organizations have also come out against military action, arguing that attention should focus instead on broadening legal avenues for migrants to reach Europe.
At a summit last month, EU leaders agreed they had to act in face of the mounting death toll, committing more money for search and rescue missions and to extend their scope.
They also tasked Mogherini with drawing up a list of military options, including action to capture and destroy the smugglers’ vessels.
The migrant issue is hugely sensitive as the EU agonizes over how best to respond, with euroskeptic and nationalist parties capitalizing on public unease over increased immigration.
On Wednesday, European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker is due to present a new migration policy plan which includes a provision that distributes the migrant burden more fairly across the bloc.
Diplomatic sources said Juncker may also set at 20,000 an EU-wide quota for refugees despite Britain insisting this should be done only on a voluntary basis.
For some European governments, taking in more people only makes the problem worse, arguing that it attracts other migrants into risking their lives on the risky Mediterranean crossing.
“Juncker wants a required quota of refugees but this is practically seen as a declaration of war” by certain member states, one top European official said.
Germany, however, has argued for a humanitarian response to the disaster by spreading the refugees more fairly among member states.
In terms of the military response, diplomatic sources say current thinking would allow EU navies to board unflagged vessels in international waters in the Mediterranean to stop people traffickers, but they would not intervene before they left the Libyan coast, as the summit had suggested.
The Europeans believe they can act without a UN mandate against ships that fly no flag, which enjoy less protection under the law of the sea. But they would need the UN’s approval to go into Libyan territorial waters.
EU urges UN to back effort to save migrant lives
EU urges UN to back effort to save migrant lives
Italian police fire tear gas as protesters clash near Winter Olympics hockey venue
- Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue
MILAN: Italian police fired tear gas and a water cannon at dozens of protesters who threw firecrackers and tried to access a highway near a Winter Olympics venue on Saturday.
The brief confrontation came at the end of a peaceful march by thousands against the environmental impact of the Games and the presence of US agents in Italy.
Police held off the violent demonstrators, who appeared to be trying to reach the Santagiulia Olympic ice hockey rink, after the skirmish. By then, the larger peaceful protest, including families with small children and students, had dispersed.
Earlier, a group of masked protesters had set off smoke bombs and firecrackers on a bridge overlooking a construction site about 800 meters (a half-mile) from the Olympic Village that’s housing around 1,500 athletes.
Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue. A heavy police presence guarded the entire route.
There was no indication that the protest and resulting road closure interfered with athletes’ transfers to their events, all on the outskirts of Milan.
The demonstration coincided with US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Milan as head of the American delegation that attended the opening ceremony on Friday.
He and his family visited Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” closer to the city center, far from the protest, which also was against the deployment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to provide security to the US delegation.
US Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to assist with security. The ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdown in the US is known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there is no indication its officers are being sent to Italy.
At the larger, peaceful demonstration, which police said numbered 10,000, people carried cardboard cutouts to represent trees felled to build the new bobsled run in Cortina. A group of dancers performed to beating drums. Music blasted from a truck leading the march, one a profanity-laced anti-ICE anthem.
“Let’s take back the cities and free the mountains,” read a banner by a group calling itself the Unsustainable Olympic Committee. Another group called the Association of Proletariat Excursionists organized the cutout trees.
“They bypassed the laws that usually are needed for major infrastructure project, citing urgency for the Games,” said protester Guido Maffioli, who expressed concern that the private entity organizing the Games would eventually pass on debt to Italian taxpayers.
Homemade signs read “Get out of the Games: Genocide States, Fascist Police and Polluting Sponsors,” the final one a reference to fossil fuel companies that are sponsors of the Games. One woman carried an artificial tree on her back decorated with the sign: “Infernal Olympics.”
The demonstration followed another last week when hundreds protested the deployment of ICE agents.
Like last week, demonstrators Saturday said they were opposed to ICE agents’ presence, despite official statements that a small number of agents from an investigative arm would be present in US diplomatic territory, and not operational on the streets.
