UN demands urgent action after Greece migrant boat tragedy

The United Nations has called for in-depth investigations into the migrant boat sinking off Greece this week, believed to have left hundred dead, and urgent action to prevent further tragedies.

Medical staffs carry a survivor on a stretcher outside a warehouse at the port in Kalamata town, Greece, on 15 June, 2023. © AFP - Angelos Tzortzinis

On Wednesday, a fishing boat overloaded with migrants capsized and sank off the Peloponnese, killing at least 78 people. Around 104 people were found alive.

While the number of people on board at the time remains unclear, the UN pointed on Friday to various witness accounts suggesting it was somewhere between 400 and 750.

The UN agencies for refugees and migrants called in a joint statement for "urgent and decisive action to prevent further deaths at sea following the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean, the worst in several years".

• Hope fades for hundreds still missing in Greece migrant boat disaster

They insisted states had an obligation to come together to address the dangerous gaps in search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, pointing out that "the duty to rescue people in distress at sea without delay is a fundamental rule of international maritime law".

IOM and @Refugees call for urgent and decisive action to prevent further deaths at sea following the tragic shipwreck off the coast of Greece.

We reiterate that search and rescue at sea is a legal and humanitarian imperative.https://t.co/FlQWhLpVtO

— IOM - UN Migration 🇺🇳 (@UNmigration) June 16, 2023

In particular, they rejected efforts to criminalise those who try to help in such situations, reiterating that "search and rescue at sea is a legal and humanitarian imperative".

The agencies also insisted that search and rescue operations should always be conducted in a manner aimed to prevent loss of life at sea, and said they welcomed that an investigation had been ordered in Greece into the circumstances that eventually led to the boat capsizing.

Human traffickers

The UN rights office meanwhile called for "thorough" investigations into the "horrific tragedy".

Spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva there was a need to investigate "people smugglers and human traffickers and ensure they are brought to justice", and that more broadly "there are a lot of questions that need to be asked".

A undated handout photo provided by the Hellenic Coast Guard shows migrants onboard a boat during a rescue operation, before their boat capsized on the open sea, off Greece, on 14 June, 2023. © Hellenic Coast Guard / Reuters

Federico Soda, head of the International Organisation for Migration's (IOM) emergency department, said the tragedy once again showed the approach to migrant crossings in the Mediterranean needed to change.

"It is clear, that the current approach to the Mediterranean is unworkable," he said in the statement.

"Year after year, it continues to be the most dangerous migration route in the world, with the highest fatality rate."

UNHCR deputy chief Gillian Triggs also stressed the European Union's obligation to "put safety and solidarity at the heart of its action in the Mediterranean".

"In view of the increased movements of refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean, collective efforts, including greater coordination between all Mediterranean States, solidarity and responsibility sharing are essential to save lives," she said in the statement.

(with AFP)