In the first half of 2020, Maltese authorities were implicated in multiple failures to respect and protect the rights of refugees and migrants at sea. Under their coordination, people were pushed back to Libya, a country at war where refugees and migrants are systematically abused. Delays in attending to distress calls exposed people to the risk of drowning. People rescued at sea were denied disembarkation and were unlawfully detained for weeks on board private vessels meant for brief pleasure cruises.
The report published today by Amnesty International documents the human rights violations committed by Malta in the Central Mediterranean.
In the series #CrimesOfMalta, we reconstruct 10 human rights violations in the coming 10 weeks, which were also witnessed by our grounded airplane Moonbird.
The case reconstructions will be accompanied politically and philosophically, unfortunately only in German, on taz blogs.
