UN: ‘North African refugee crisis imminent’

In Sicily authorities reportedly blocked a Moroccan-owned Ferry from refuelling after it had left from Tripoli. The ship is now believed to be in international waters on its way to Morocco.

A European Commission spokesman, Marcin Grabiec, told reporters: “We are following the situation closely and we remind European Union member states to verify with great attention if refugees could be on board the ferry.”

Professor Geoff Gilbert, the editor of the International Journal of Refugee Law, told Channel 4 News that ‘if the boat was turned away from Italian territory without checking for suspected victims of persecution, or allowing for asylum applications, then it constituted a clear contravention of the 1951 UN convention on refugees.’

A spokesperson for the UN Refugee Council could not confirm if the boat had been checked but said there was no reason to suspect Italy had not complied with their obligations under international law.

Tragedy in Lampedusa

The Italian government has repeatedly warned that the ongoing conflict in Libya could create massive levels of migration towards Italy.

The tiny island of Lampedusa is already feeling the pressure of increased migration never seen on such a scale before. 10,000 Tunisian migrants have landed on its shores in just two months, according to the UN.

The names of the thirty-five young Tunisian men who drowned when their vessel capsized off the tiny Italian island are not known, their bodies haven’t yet been recovered.

But Lampedusa port officials fear it is a tragedy that could soon to be repeated as migrants become increasingly desperate to get into Europe.

They say they’ve recorded 21 boats carrying more than 1,600 migrants in the past 24 hours alone, adding that there had been “several rescue operations.”

The staggering rate of entry has put severe pressure on water supplies and stoked tension on the island.

usually in such a violent situation we expect to see far bigger numbers of displaced women and children, we haven’t yet seen that and that is very worrying. Sybella Wilkes

Crisis

The Tunisian deaths are the latest in an ongoing human tragedy made worse by unrest across the North Africa and the Middle East.

Every year an estimated 1,000 economic migrants die whilst crossing the Mediterranean.

Both the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), along with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) say they fear the number of deaths this year is likely to be much higher, as the number of migrants escaping economic uncertainty and refugees fleeing persecution increases.

The figures are likely to be compounded by the lifting of a treaty signed in 2008 between Italy and Libya. Colonel Gaddafi agreed to plug migration routes along the Libyan coast, containing 2.5 million would be migrants, but suspended the agreement as a result of the current unrest.

Sybella Wilkes, an expert on North Africa and the Middle East for the UNHCR, told Channel 4 News that 260,00 people have already fled Libya, and that number could increase by “one million plus.”

“Relatively very few people have made it out, we haven’t seen much of an exodus yet” she said

“usually in such a violent situation we expect to see far bigger numbers of displaced women and children, we haven’t yet seen that and that is very worrying.”

“We do anticipate we will see a lot more trying to escape in coming weeks.”