EU pledges patrols off Malta this summer

European Union Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini has promised Foreign Minister Michael Frendo that EU joint sea patrols off Malta would start this summer.

Attending a conference on migration and development in Rabat, Morocco, Dr Frendo made it a point to raise an issue he had confronted resident EU ambassadors with last week: That aid should extend to the central Mediterranean route and should not focus exclusively on blocking African migrants into Spain.

He had said that Frontex - the EU border agency - should immediately launch joint sea patrols in the central Mediterranean to signal that concrete action is underway also in respect of this route. The fact that operations of this nature have been launched for the western Mediterranean meant that the central Mediterranean route had become even more vulnerable and exposed, Dr Frendo had said.

Frontex later denied that any patrols had started off Spain.

Dr Frendo told the conference in Morocco, held on Monday and yesterday, the issue of illegal immigration should not be "institutionally compartmentalised" as migratory routes are inter-linked, requesting Mr Frattini to start joint patrols this summer.

"We have supported the Morocco conference fully and participated actively to ensure a positive outcome for all countries affected adversely by illegal immigration," Dr Frendo said.

He called on African countries from where illegal migrants usually originate, including the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which attended the conference, to shoulder their responsibilities and accept the immediate repatriation of their respective nationals. He cited the Cotonou Agreement that places the responsibility of accepting such repatriation on the countries of origin.

In meetings with Libyan Secretary for European Affairs, Abdallah Obeidi, Dr Frendo noted that the EU - African Union meeting in Tripoli, planned for the beginning of next year, would be crucial to rectify the imbalance created by the Morocco conference which focused only on the western Mediterranean route and ignored the acute problems faced by Malta and the central Mediterranean region.

Dr Frendo proposed to host a preparatory meeting in Malta prior to the Tripoli conference, a suggestion supported by Mr Frattini.

The final Morocco Declaration reflected Malta's requests to tackle illegal immigration holistically, engaging countries of origin, transit and destination in a single process.

Addressing EU and African ministers, the United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres said that "while recognising the difficulties that such movements can pose for states in terms of national and local security, we must ensure that the measures taken to curb irregular migration do not prevent refugees from gaining the international protection they need and to which they are entitled".

The UNHCR unveiled a 10-point plan setting out key areas in which action is required to tackle migratory movements in countries of origin, transit and destination.

The plan stresses the need for practical protection safeguards to ensure that such measures are not applied in an indiscriminate or disproportionate manner and do not lead to refugees being returned to countries where their life or liberty would be at risk.

It called for the training of border guards and immigration officials so they would know how to respond to asylum applications and how to meet the needs of separated children, victims of trafficking and other groups with special needs.

The conference also called for appropriate reception arrangements to be set up to ensure that the basic human needs of people involved in mixed movements are met.

"Refugees, asylum seekers and migrants will continue to enter Europe," Mr Guterres said. "Indeed, the logic of globalisation and demographic change is such that their numbers seem certain to increase in the years to come."

He underlined the importance for countries to promote social inclusion and tolerance, noting that refugees and migrants are often confronted with xenophobia in many parts of the world.