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Migrants rescued by Royal Marines from the British
Royal Navy ship HMS Bulwark in the Mediterranean Sea on June 7, 2015. (AFP
Photo)
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As EU ministers
discuss the world’s most serious refugee crisis since World War II, the British
government is set to withdraw its Royal Navy flagship from its role in rescuing
thousands of migrants desperately trying to cross the Mediterranean.
HMS Bulwark is due to be withdrawn from European
search and rescue operations by early July.
Experts say the number of migrants travelling
across the Mediterranean in small boats from troubled North African and Middle
Eastern states currently stands at a summer high.
As these migrants continue to risk their lives in
hope of a better future, the UN warns the resulting refugee crisis is the most
serious the world has seen since 1945. Nevertheless, the British
government’s contribution to addressing the situation remains muted.
RT.com reports:
In an official statement, Britain’s Ministry of
Defence (MoD) said HMS Bulwark’s participation in the search and rescue
operations was agreed upon for an initial 60-day period.
The Royal Navy vessel first embarked on these
rescue operations in early May.
But with its date of withdrawal drawing
ever-closer, the government is yet to clarify whether the ship will continue to
partake in cross-border efforts to keep migrants crossing the Mediterranean
safe.
Probed on HMS Bulwark’s future role in tackling the
migrant crisis, an MoD spokeswoman told the Guardian “no definitive date
has been set for its withdrawal.”
The spokeswoman stressed, however, that “all
options are being considered.”
Since it first joined search and rescue operations,
Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly emphasized HMS Bulwark’s role in
abating the migrant crisis. The temporary use of the Royal Navy ship was
announced by the PM in late April at an EU summit convened on the escalating
situation.
However, the government’s efforts to tackle the
refugee crisis have been sorely lacking overall.
The British government has flatly refused to
partake in proposed EU schemes to relocate 40,000 asylum seekers who managed to
make it across the Mediterranean safely.
It has also refused to resettle some 20,000
refugees in the Middle East and North Africa, in dire need of international protection.
Emergency talks to tackle the migrant crisis took
on a heated tone on Tuesday, as Italy demanded more assistance from other EU
member states.
Arriving in Luxembourg for negotiations with Home
Secretary Theresa May and a slew of other EU ministers, Italian minister
Angelino Alfano called for an “equal distribution of migrants” across
the continent.
Alfano’s call comes as Italian Prime Minister
Matteo Renzi says he will give thousands of migrants, who are currently based
in Italy, the necessary travel documents to travel across Europe.
The Brussels-based European Commission (EC)
previously suggested redistributing roughly 60,000 Eritrean and Syrian asylum
seekers from Italy and Greece to other EU member states. But the plan has been
rejected by multiple countries along Europe’s borderless Schengen zone, which
includes a total of 26 states.
Britain has also failed to signal backing for the
proposal, indicating that it will use an opt-out to avoid taking part.
The British government’s rejection of the EC’s plan
to evenly distribute migrants across Europe comes as Save the Children ramps up
pressure on Westminster to open Britain's borders to refugees in crisis.
The charity is calling on UK ministers to take in
an estimated 1,500 children who fled their homelands unaccompanied by an adult.
Arriving at Tuesday’s talks in Luxembourg, Home
Secretary Theresa May acknowledged flows of migrants attempting to make their
way to Europe have reached crisis levels.
“First of all, obviously, lives are being put at risk
but secondly, as we see in Calais and elsewhere, it’s putting great pressure on
European towns and cities which is even reaching to our borders, although we
are not part of the borderless Schengen area,” she said.
May said the key to solving the crisis was to
target “criminal gangs” that are “plying a terrible, callous
trade in human lives” by trafficking migrants across the Mediterranean.
The Home Secretary also insisted it’s essential to
stop migrants from reaching European soil.
“That means returning people to North Africa or
elsewhere, or to their home countries; so that they see that there is no merit
in this journey,” she said.
May stressed Europe should embark on development
work in crisis-ridden North African and Middle Eastern states to discourage
people from risking their lives in search of a better future in Europe.
British Refugee Council chief, Maurice Wren, said
the outcome of Tuesday’s talks in Luxembourg could mean life or death for some
of the most vulnerable and desperate refugees in the world.
“They [EU ministers] cannot close their eyes to the
death, destruction and displacement gripping the world and pretend it’s not our
problem,” he told the Guardian.
“History will be a cruel judge if our response to
the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Mediterranean is to expect people to
stay put while blocking up their escape routes and denying them other paths to
safety.”
Wren
insisted British and EU ministers most crucial priority should be saving lives
and protecting those who desperately need it.
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