MSF to keep working in Med, EC says ports not guaranteed

Medical aid NGO refused to sign sea rescue code of conduct

(ANSA) - Rome, August 1 - Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Tuesday that it will continue to operate in the Mediterranean after refusing to sign a code of conduct at the Italian interior ministry for NGOs involved in migrant rescues at sea. "We did not accept the code of conduct because it does not protect our work and there is already international law that regulates everything," MSF Director General Gabriele Eminente told State broadcaster RAI. "We'll continue to work in the Mediterranean anyway, but at the moment I do not understand what this failure to sign entails". The European Commission said Tuesday that it welcomed that some NGOs had signed the Italian code of conduct, pointing out that Brussels supported the document's preparation and calling on the "biggest number" possible to sign up. It said NGOs that do not sign will not be guaranteed to be able to take rescued migrants to Italian ports, if they were saved in areas outside Italian competence. It said international law stipulating that migrants be taken to a safe port remains valid, but stressed that this does not necessarily mean the nearest.

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'Second Calais' grows in France as Macron pledges to rid country of migrant camps

Violence, alcohol abuse and reports of rape have become a daily routine for people in and around an illegal migrant camp in the town of Metz in north-eastern France, where "a second Calais" is said to be emerging. Reports of appalling living conditions have been emanating from Metz, where hundreds of migrants have set up camp. Although the illegal site has been dismantled several times, more people arrive and start it all up again. " The city of Metz was not prepared for the camp. The authorities emptied it, but now there are 700 refugees back there again. It's becoming a second Calais ," a concerned local woman told RT's Charlotte Dubenskij. " This problem has to be addressed quickly, for their sake as well as for us ," another local woman said. Even aid workers don't feel safe at the camp which has been dubbed a " humanitarian slum ." " There is a problem with alcohol and violence. Even as an aid worker, I've...

Around 800 migrants storm fences to enter Spanish enclave in Africa

Around 800 migrants stormed border fences separating Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco to get into Europe, police said Thursday. The Guardia Civil said 602 migrants made it onto Spanish soil in a massive assault on high, barbed-wire fences shortly after dawn. Migrants cut holes in the fences and threw feces and quicklime, a skin irritant, at police officers trying to hold them back, the Guardia Civil said in a statement. They also threw stones at police vehicles, breaking windows, and hurled makeshift flamethrowers at police officers. The police statement said 16 migrants were taken to the hospital, while five of 15 police hurt were also hospitalized. The Spanish Red Cross said in a tweet that 132 migrants were hurt in the mass charge. Sub-Saharan Africans living illegally in Morocco try to get to Europe each year by climbing rows of 6-meter (2...

Concerns rise for refugees who could face violence if Italian coastguard return them to Libya

Concerns are rising for the thousands of refugees and migrants who risk their lives at sea to get to Europe, following Italy's decision to take those rescued off the coast of Libya back to the country they are fleeing in future. Aid organisations are said to be "horrified" at the idea of taking rescued refugees back to their home country at a time when revelations of the violent beatings and torture they could face on their return are emerging. One Oxfam worker, Stefano Dimarco, said: "In Libya there are no human rights there is we cannot talk about a normal situation." Many Libyan refugees and migrant arrive in Europe by boats that are picked up off the coast of Italy Credit: ITV News According to Oxfam a major report it is releasing next week is set to reveal dozens of testimonies of torture, sexual violence and murder against refugees and migrants in Libya just as Italy's parliament has authorised its coastguard to help take those pi...

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