The UN has called on the EU to show enhanced solidarity with Malta as the Mediterranean Sea yesterday witnessed yet another migrant tragedy.

António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said Malta was “a special case” because of size and limited social capacity to integrate irregular migrants.

He made the appeal during a meeting with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at Auberge de Castille yesterday, on the second and last day of his brief stay in Malta.

The talks were held as the Libyan navy reported that a boat packed with some 250 African emigrants trying to reach European shores sank off the Tripoli coast. Most were feared dead, a spokesman for the Libyan navy told Reuters.

Mr Guterres visited the Armed Forces of Malta on Sunday and was joined by Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, a UNHCR special envoy for refugees, on board a patrol boat. Ms Jolie is in Malta with her husband Brad Pitt for the shooting of the film By the Sea, a production she has written and produced.

Mr Guterres praised the work done by the AFM to save lives at sea, adding the Mediterranean Sea was facing a dramatic situation.

“We are interested in enhancing solidarity with your country and discuss with you ways to improve detention conditions,” Mr Guterres told the Prime Minister, acknowledging positively the decision not to keep minors in detention.

A man inspects the bodies of three African migrants that were recovered by the Libyan coastguard after their boat sank off Libya yesterday. Photo: Ismail Zitouny/Reuters

Malta a special case because of size – UN

Dr Muscat welcomed the comments, saying the UNHCR’s position was “in synch” with the government’s. He asked for technical assistance in the identification of unaccompanied minors, who were considered “borderline cases”.

The Prime Minister said a common EU migration policy was a must to deal with the phenomenon, insisting clear rules that allowed immigrants to apply for regular entry into the bloc had to be established.

Dr Muscat noted that Libya merited special focus (see separate story) because lawlessness there allowed criminals to smuggle immigrants with impunity.

He said that when stability returned to Libya, centres should be set up where immigrants could apply in a legal way to seek entry into the EU.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil also told Mr Guterres that Malta expected the EU and UNHCR to do more.

Dr Busuttil said the only solution was for the EU to have a common immigration policy and introduce an allocation system that would enable member states to share the responsibility. “This is one way of ensuring migrants and frontier States like Malta are treated with dignity,” he said.

On Sunday, Mr Guterres and Ms Jolie met three survivors from the tragedy that happened over the weekend when a boat with 30 immigrants capsized some 300 nautical miles southeast of Malta. They were rescued by a commercial vessel and brought to Malta by an Italian Military Mission helicopter.

Ms Jolie also visited Syrian refugee families who survived a similar devastating boat tragedy last October. They included a couple from Damascus whose three small children perished during the crossing, and a doctor from Aleppo whose wife and three-year-old daughter drowned. Over 2,500 people have drowned or gone missing attempting the crossing this year alone, including over 2,200 since the start of June, the UNHCR said.

In a statement, Mr Guterres and Ms Jolie called for increased efforts by European nations to contribute to rescue efforts and reduce deaths at sea.

The UNHCR is calling for legal, safe alternatives for those fleeing conflict and persecution, so that they are not forced to attempt the crossing to Europe by sea.

The alternatives would include resettlement, admission based on humanitarian needs and facilitated access to family reunification.

‘Migrants fleeing war’

Immigration in the Mediterranean has changed as more people flee the ongoing conflicts in Syria, Gaza and Libya, according to a humanitarian group that runs a private rescue ship.

Regina Catrambone, co-founder of Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), yesterday said the men, women and children saved by her organisation from unsafe vessels were not economic migrants.

MOAS runs a 40-metre ship, the Phoenix, conducted by a professional crew of rescuers, seafarers, paramedics and humanitarians.

Phoenix re-entered Maltese waters on Sunday after its first 20 days at sea where it helped in the rescue of around 2,000 people in coordination with the Italian military initiative. Mare Nostrum.

Phoenix will set off on its second 20-day mission next week.