On the night of 13-14 June 2023, an unseaworthy and overcrowded fishing boat capsized some 50 miles off the coast of Peloponnese, Greece. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), survivors estimated that there were around 750 passengers on the ship. During the rescue operation coordinated by the Hellenic Coast Guard, 104 people were saved, of which 96 were men and eight were unaccompanied boys. [1] Information provided to FRA by the Greek Reception and Identification Service during the visit to Malakasa Reception and Identification Centre, 18 June 2023 and over the phone on 3 July 2023. In addition, 82 bodies were found. [2] Hellenic Coast Guard, Continuation of information regarding a broad operation of search and rescue of foreigners in international waters, 47 n.m. southwest of Pylos (Συνέχεια ενημέρωσης αναφορικά με ευρεία επιχείρηση έρευνας και διάσωσης αλλοδαπών σε διεθνή ύδατα στη θαλάσσια περιοχή 47 ν.μ. νοτιοδυτικά Πύλου), 23 June 2023. The rest remain missing. Speaking to the press, survivors said that there were also women and children, staying under the deck. The people on board were Egyptians, Pakistanis, Syrians and of other nationalities. The boat had departed from Tobruk in Libya. This is not the first time that an overcrowded boat unfit for navigating the journey has left Cyrenaica in Eastern Libya, bound for Italy.
Every year, in its Fundamental Rights Report, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) provides data on the number of migrants and refugees who die or go missing trying to reach Europe by sea. [3] FRA (2023) Fundamental Rights Report 2023, 8 June 2023. In the first quarter of 2023, the number of fatalities at sea were highest since 2017. [4] International Organisation for Migration, Deadliest Quarter for Migrants in the Central Mediterranean Since 2017, 12 April 2023. In March 2023, FRA’s Director Michael O’Flaherty identified the need to save lives as the first of five priority actions to address the fundamental rights challenges at the EU’s external borders. [5] FRA, speech by the Director, People on the move; Their rights – our future | European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (europa.eu), Zagreb, 15 March 2023.
In the week following the tragic incident, FRA dispatched a mission to Greece and to Frontex headquarters in Warsaw to understand the circumstances around the incident. The mission was part of its broader work on upholding fundamental rights at border. [6] FRA (2022), Single Programming Document 2023-2025, project B.3.4, p. 65. FRA visited the initial reception facility in Malakasa (Attica Region) where the authorities transferred the shipwreck survivors. FRA had meetings with the Hellenic Coast Guard, the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (including the Fundamental Rights Officer at the Ministry), the Reception and Identification Service (RIS), the Greek Ombudsman, the Greek National Commission for Human Rights, and UNHCR in Greece. In Warsaw, FRA met with staff of the Frontex Situational Centre and with the Fundamental Rights Office.
People fleeing by boat to escape war or danger and seek refuge elsewhere is not a new, nor solely a European phenomenon. The term ‘boat people’ was first used to describe the situation witnessed in the South Chinese Sea between 1970 and 1980. Large numbers of people fled their country by sea in the Gulf of Bengal, the strait of Aden in the Red Sea, the Caribbean and from Indonesia to Australia. [7] See, for further information, UNHCR, Left adrift at sea, Dangerous Journeys of refugees across the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, January 2020 – June 2021, 19 August 2021; UNHCR, More than 50,000 people risked perilous Gulf of Aden crossing last year, news item, 9 January 2009; UNHCR, The state of the world's refugees 1993: The Challenge of Protection, Chapter 2: asylum under threat, Box 2.3 Haitian Boat People, 1 January 1993; Parliament of Australia, Department of Parliamentary Services, Research paper, Boat arrivals in Australia since 1976, statistical appendix updated 23 July 2013; Bronee, S. A. (1993), The History of the Comprehensive Plan of Action, International Journal of Refugee Law, Volume 5, Issue 4, 1993, pp. 534–543, 1 January 1993 (on Vietnamese boat people); United States Department of State, Fact Sheet released by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration on the Comprehensive Plan of Action and the Orderly Departures Programme, 18 January 2000.
Reducing the death toll in the Mediterranean Sea is complex and cannot be resolved by the European Union (EU) and its Member States alone. As FRA pointed out in its 2013 report on Fundamental rights at Europe’s southern sea borders, only a comprehensive approach including all relevant states, EU bodies, international organisations and other parties involved can succeed in putting an end to the high death toll in the Mediterranean Sea.
“This is yet another example of the need for Member States to come together and create orderly safe pathways for people forced to flee and for comprehensive action to save lives at sea and reduce perilous journeys.”
UN General Secretary, António Guterres, UN news, 14 June 2023
Nevertheless, the EU and its Member States could take action which does not depend on cooperation with other parties. This short report identifies six areas of intervention suggesting several concrete measures to tackle the increasing death toll at sea. [8] This short FRA report does not cover the fundamental rights issues relating to search and rescue vessels deployed by civil society actors. For this, see FRA, June 2022 Update – Search and Rescue (SAR) operations in the Mediterranean and fundamental rights, 20 June 2022.
