The Italian government’s migrant rescue operation Mare Nostrum has led to the lowest arrivals in Malta since 2010, according to the UN refugee agency.
Figures released by the UNHCR yesterday show that just 308 migrants arrived in Malta so far this year, a drastic decrease from the average of 1,400 annual landings recorded since 2003.
The only time Malta recorded a lower migrant intake in the past 10 years was in 2010 when Italy adopted the controversial push-back policy after reaching an agreement with Libya.
The policy, which was later ruled illegal by the European Court of Human Rights, had seen migrants picked up by the Italian navy at sea escorted back to Libya before having their asylum applications processed.
The policy was found to have breached migrants’ right to asylum and led to the lowest ever arrivals in Malta, with just 47 boat migrants setting foot on Maltese soil that year. A total of 2,008 migrants landed last year. The UNHCR yesterday said “humanitarian missions” such as the Mare Nostrum programme were the leading factor in a remarkable decrease in arrivals.
The highly successful rescue operations have seen some 80,000 migrants arrive in Italy so far this year. The ongoing air-and-sea operation was rolled out after 366 people drowned when their boat capsized just a mile off the Italian island of Lampedusa last October.
In the wake of the tragedy, the European Commission piled on the pressure for increased rescue operations in the Mediterranean.
The Italian government, however, has repeatedly called on the EU to step in, insisting the rescue operation had stretched its resources to the limit.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat last month urged the EU to fully back the rescue missions before the situation spiralled out of control.
Dr Muscat warned the numbers could shoot up overnight if something went wrong with the Italian mission.
“The second something in the Mare Nostrum system is broken, it will change overnight. We could have more landings in a day than an entire year,” he had said.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres meanwhile praised both Italy and Malta for their efforts, but said European states needed to step up their assistance.
In a statement, the commissioner called on governments to strengthen rescue operations, provide swift access to asylum procedures for those in need of protection, and offer legal alternatives to dangerous sea crossings.