Migrant Rescues in the Mediterranean Sea to Resume in August

The Sea-Watch 4, the groups said, was bought with backing from United 4 Rescue, a humanitarian group funded by the German Protestant Church.

"It is the categorical response of civil society to the racist policies of the EU, which prefers leaving people to drown rather than reach European shores," Philipp Hahn, chief of mission for Sea-Watch 4, said in a statement.

"Despite all their efforts to prevent us, we will not stop our rescue operations."

EU governments have cut back on migrant search-and-rescue operations, leaving NGOs to fill the void.

In May, UN agencies in a statement sought to "remind States of their obligations under international law to immediately assist people in distress... States must take every effort to promptly rescue people in distress, as a delay of even a few minutes could make the difference between life and death."

European countries have also frequently argued about how to share the burden of accommodating arriving migrants.

According to the UN Commissioner for Refugees, attempts to flee Libya across the Mediterranean have increased by 91 percent from January to July, compared to the same period last year, with more than 14,000 people taking their chances at sea. 

(Writers: RFO/JT/MLR/TXW, Agence France-Presse) 

Source: http://u.afp.com/3BEN