COMECE urges EU to provide
safe, prompt disembarkation for migrants
 |
| COMECE Secretary General, Fr.Manuel Barrios Prieto |
Bishops of the European Union are urging EU Member States
not to make the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic an excuse to let migrants
die in the Mediterranean Sea.
By Robin Gomes
Referring to the many migrants who were not promptly and
safely disembarked at the closest EU port over the last days, the Commission of
the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) calls for “a
predictable solidarity mechanism agreed among EU member states”.
Prompt and safe disembarkation
In a press release on Friday, COMECE says it shares the
concerns recently expressed by the Maltese Conference of Bishops about the fate
of 47 people stuck for days on an NGO rescue vessel in Malta’s search and
rescue area (SAR), in an extremely precarious situation and finally taken back
to Libya.
The bishops’ body says that the EU should support its
27-member states in ensuring the prompt and safe disembarkation of migrants and
asylum seekers at the closest safe port, “which should be a European port, as
Libyan ports cannot be considered safe”, says Father Manuel Barrios Prieto,
General Secretary of COMECE.
As required by the Resolution MSC.167(78) of the Maritime
Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organisation, people rescued at
sea can only be disembarked in a safe port.
EU’s common response needed for forced migration
“Migrants and asylum seekers,” says the priest, “are often
subjected to torture, violence, and inhumane treatment when they are taken back
to countries from where they embarked.”
To prevent the Mediterranean Sea turning into a vast
cemetery, COMECE calls the European Union and its Member States to work for a
common response to forced migration, establishing “a predictable solidarity
mechanism agreed among EU member states to cope with emergency situations of
vulnerable migrants in distress at sea”.
Excluding no one
Despite the current difficulties caused by the current
Covid-19 pandemic to all EU Member States, COMECE highlights that humanitarian
principles should always prevail.
“No one should be left behind,” says Father Barrios,
“including migrants in a rescue vessel”.
“The pandemic should not be an excuse to let human beings
die in the Mediterranean Sea.”
The EU Bishops- Commission recalls Pope Francis’s message
for the 2019 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, when he said, “it is not just
about migrants: [it is about our humanity], it is a question of seeing that no
one is excluded”.
The EU is a community of values and principles, with the
common understanding that human beings are equal in dignity and deserve respect
for their human rights and protection, especially when they are in a situation
of high vulnerability.
COMECE is made up of bishops delegated by the Catholic
Bishops’ Conferences of the 27 Member States of the European Union.
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