The European Parliament has rejected a plan to step-up search and rescue operations for refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean, thanks to an alliance of far-right and centre-right parties.
The EU’s legislature narrowly defeated the motion by 290 votes against to 288 in favour.
The resolution called on member states to step up efforts to rescue people drowning in the sea, with more than 1,000 lives having already been claimed this year.
EU search and rescue operations have been downgraded and de-funded in recent years as European government policies towards refugees have hardened. Some governments, like Italy’s, have even waged a campaign to try and stop NGOs rescuing drowning migrants with their own resources.
Around 18,000 people have died in the Mediterranean since 2014, according to figures released by the UN’s International Organisation for Migration at the start of the month – most of them people trying to make the crossing to Europe.
The bulk of the votes to defeat the motion came from the parliament’s largest political group, the centre-right European People’s Party. The EPP is the home of mainstream pro-EU conservative politicians such as Angela Merkel, Jean-Claude Juncker, and incoming European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
MEPs from Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael party in Ireland also voted against the motion – a move that has prompted a major political storm in Ireland.
The centre-right parties were joined in defeating the motion by far-right and eurosceptic parties, including the huge delegation from the UK’s own Brexit Party. Across members states most socialists, liberals, greens and leftists supported the motion, which was put to a vote on Thursday.
“Far too many people are losing their lives in the Mediterranean,” said Juan Fernandez López Aguilar, the motion’s rapporteur and a Spanish socialist MEP.
“This is an urgent situation and we have a system that is in urgent need of reform. We are not getting that same sense of urgency from the Commission or member states, nor from the centre-right European People’s Party
“Today made it clear that political groups on the right are willing to abandon their legal and moral obligations. They are failing to act responsibly to save lives at sea. Far right groups often dismiss our approach but it is extremely disappointing that even MEPs on the centre right do not share any sense of solidarity.”
Among other British parties, the Conservatives’ four MEPs either did not vote or actively abstained on the motion, ensuring that it failed.
All Labour’s 10 MEPs were present and backed the motion, as did Plaid Cymru, the SNP, and Sinn Fein.
1/20 Mexico
A mother washes her baby as she waits for her fast-track humanitarian visa at the Mexico-Guatemala border in Ciudad Hidalgo.
Unicef/Bindra
2/20 Uganda
Refugee children and youngsters from host communities play at a park in Palabek Refugee settlement, during the mid-morning break. This facility is supported by Unicef with EU financial assistance – it also provides psychosocial support to refugee children as well as a place to play, learn, interact, sing and dance after all the traumatic experiences they may have gone through.
Unicef/Nabatanzi
3/20 Jordan
Ali, two, rests on his father’s chest. His family are Syrian refugees and came to Jordan six years ago. Ali has just received his winter clothing kit from Unicef and its partner Mateen.
Unicef/Herwig
4/20 Bangladesh
Children enjoy a ride on a homemade ferris wheel during Eid al-Ftr in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. They are celebrating the holiday in Balukhali, a Rohingya refugee camp sheltering over 800,000 people. The camp is one of the largest in the world, and is bracing for the onset of the monsoon rains.
Unicef/Modola
5/20 Colombia
Yulis Rivas, three, draws a picture of her parents in a “Friendly Space” in Cucuta, where Unicef provides learning activities for migrant children and parents from Venezuela.
Unicef/Arcos
6/20 Greece
A young girl holds her doll in front of her tent at the refugee camp in Moria, on the Greek island of Lesbos. This is an overspill area of the camp, known as “the jungle” or “the olive grove”. In 2018, approximately 12,000 refugee and migrant children arrived in Greece by sea.
Unicef/Haviv VII Ph
7/20 Uganda
Pupils play at Bidibidi refugee settlement in the Yumbe district of Uganda. Their school is supported by Unicef.
Unicef/Bongyereirwe
8/20 Colombia
Hundreds of pupils cross the Venezuela-Colombia border at 5am to meet a bus that will take them to school in the Colombian city of Cucuta.
Unicef/Arcos
9/20 Jordan
Ayman, 11 days old, receives his vaccinations in one of the Unicef-supported health clinics in Azraq refugee camp in Jordan.
Unicef/Herwig
10/20 Ethiopia
Sabirin Nur, 18, is a Somali student volleyball captain at Unicef-supported Melkadida primary school, helping to run sessions for other pupils. Sabirin says: “As a female, many of us face challenges with our parents, like forced marriage or relatives trying to get us married. They want us to go home and be wives.”
Unicef/Ayene
11/20 Uganda
Pupils sing and play at Bidibidi refugee settlement in Uganda, where migrants have fled from South Sudan. The centre is funded by UK aid and Plan International provides positive parenting services, early learning and recovery for children from war-related stress disorders.
Unicef/Bongyereirwe
12/20 Syria
Khalid, 10, receives a measles vaccination in Tabqa city in Raqqa governorate. Khalid was uprooted due to escalating violence near his home, and returned a year ago.
Unicef/Souleiman
13/20 Lebanon
Syrian refugee children in an informal settlement near Terbol in the Bekaa Valley.
Unicef/Modola
14/20
Daily life at the refugee camp in Moria.
Unicef/Haviv VII Ph
15/20 Colombia
A baby has checkup in a Colombian medical centre that receives support from Unicef. Every day, about 40 migrant children are vaccinated in this centre.
Unicef/Arcos
16/20 Rumichaca, border of Ecuador with Colombia
Katty Baez helps her one-year-old Alfredo insert the straw into a juice box that was given to them by a stranger. Katty is traveling to Peru with her two children to meet her husband, who has been there for eight months, and does not know that the family is on the way. Katty wants to surprise him, because he has been working hard on a fishing boat and the children miss him. In this area, Unicef Ecuador is supporting the government to ensure access to safe drinking water, sanitation, education and health services.
Unicef/Arcos
17/20 Ethiopia
Pal Biel Jany, 15, wants to be the future president of South Sudan. He goes to school in Makod primary and secondary school in Tierkidi refugee camp in the Gambella region.
Unicef/Mersha
18/20 Lebanon
Syrian refugee children play in Housh al Refka informal settlement in Bekaa Valley.
Unicef/Choufany
19/20 Rumichaca, border of Ecuador with Colombia
Thiago Patania, 18 months old, takes a nap in the Unicef tent next to the Ecuadorian customs office in Rumichaca, while his mother waits in line to complete the immigration procedures for her passport to be stamped. Unicef has set up temporary child-friendly spaces and rest tents, as well as supplying thermal blankets, baby kits, and hygiene kits.
Unicef/Arcos
20/20 Cameroon
Twelve-year-old Waibai Buka (centre) skips rope as a friend records a video of her with a computer tablet provided by Unicef at a school in Baigai. Waibai had to flee her village after an attack by Boko Haram. She has not seen her father since the attack and fears he might be dead. Unicef initiated a pilot project in January 2017 called “Connect My School”. Six solar-powered units help provide internet to schools in different parts of Cameroon. Two of the units were installed in schools in Cameroon’s Far North region – one in Minawao refugee camp, the other in Baigai, near the Nigerian border, where some 50 per cent of children have been displaced by Boko Haram-related violence.
Unicef/Prinsloo
1/20 Mexico
A mother washes her baby as she waits for her fast-track humanitarian visa at the Mexico-Guatemala border in Ciudad Hidalgo.
Unicef/Bindra
2/20 Uganda
Refugee children and youngsters from host communities play at a park in Palabek Refugee settlement, during the mid-morning break. This facility is supported by Unicef with EU financial assistance – it also provides psychosocial support to refugee children as well as a place to play, learn, interact, sing and dance after all the traumatic experiences they may have gone through.
Unicef/Nabatanzi
3/20 Jordan
Ali, two, rests on his father’s chest. His family are Syrian refugees and came to Jordan six years ago. Ali has just received his winter clothing kit from Unicef and its partner Mateen.
Unicef/Herwig
4/20 Bangladesh
Children enjoy a ride on a homemade ferris wheel during Eid al-Ftr in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. They are celebrating the holiday in Balukhali, a Rohingya refugee camp sheltering over 800,000 people. The camp is one of the largest in the world, and is bracing for the onset of the monsoon rains.
Unicef/Modola
5/20 Colombia
Yulis Rivas, three, draws a picture of her parents in a “Friendly Space” in Cucuta, where Unicef provides learning activities for migrant children and parents from Venezuela.
Unicef/Arcos
6/20 Greece
A young girl holds her doll in front of her tent at the refugee camp in Moria, on the Greek island of Lesbos. This is an overspill area of the camp, known as “the jungle” or “the olive grove”. In 2018, approximately 12,000 refugee and migrant children arrived in Greece by sea.
Unicef/Haviv VII Ph
7/20 Uganda
Pupils play at Bidibidi refugee settlement in the Yumbe district of Uganda. Their school is supported by Unicef.
Unicef/Bongyereirwe
8/20 Colombia
Hundreds of pupils cross the Venezuela-Colombia border at 5am to meet a bus that will take them to school in the Colombian city of Cucuta.
Unicef/Arcos
9/20 Jordan
Ayman, 11 days old, receives his vaccinations in one of the Unicef-supported health clinics in Azraq refugee camp in Jordan.
Unicef/Herwig
10/20 Ethiopia
Sabirin Nur, 18, is a Somali student volleyball captain at Unicef-supported Melkadida primary school, helping to run sessions for other pupils. Sabirin says: “As a female, many of us face challenges with our parents, like forced marriage or relatives trying to get us married. They want us to go home and be wives.”
Unicef/Ayene
11/20 Uganda
Pupils sing and play at Bidibidi refugee settlement in Uganda, where migrants have fled from South Sudan. The centre is funded by UK aid and Plan International provides positive parenting services, early learning and recovery for children from war-related stress disorders.
Unicef/Bongyereirwe
12/20 Syria
Khalid, 10, receives a measles vaccination in Tabqa city in Raqqa governorate. Khalid was uprooted due to escalating violence near his home, and returned a year ago.
Unicef/Souleiman
13/20 Lebanon
Syrian refugee children in an informal settlement near Terbol in the Bekaa Valley.
Unicef/Modola
14/20
Daily life at the refugee camp in Moria.
Unicef/Haviv VII Ph
15/20 Colombia
A baby has checkup in a Colombian medical centre that receives support from Unicef. Every day, about 40 migrant children are vaccinated in this centre.
Unicef/Arcos
16/20 Rumichaca, border of Ecuador with Colombia
Katty Baez helps her one-year-old Alfredo insert the straw into a juice box that was given to them by a stranger. Katty is traveling to Peru with her two children to meet her husband, who has been there for eight months, and does not know that the family is on the way. Katty wants to surprise him, because he has been working hard on a fishing boat and the children miss him. In this area, Unicef Ecuador is supporting the government to ensure access to safe drinking water, sanitation, education and health services.
Unicef/Arcos
17/20 Ethiopia
Pal Biel Jany, 15, wants to be the future president of South Sudan. He goes to school in Makod primary and secondary school in Tierkidi refugee camp in the Gambella region.
Unicef/Mersha
18/20 Lebanon
Syrian refugee children play in Housh al Refka informal settlement in Bekaa Valley.
Unicef/Choufany
19/20 Rumichaca, border of Ecuador with Colombia
Thiago Patania, 18 months old, takes a nap in the Unicef tent next to the Ecuadorian customs office in Rumichaca, while his mother waits in line to complete the immigration procedures for her passport to be stamped. Unicef has set up temporary child-friendly spaces and rest tents, as well as supplying thermal blankets, baby kits, and hygiene kits.
Unicef/Arcos
20/20 Cameroon
Twelve-year-old Waibai Buka (centre) skips rope as a friend records a video of her with a computer tablet provided by Unicef at a school in Baigai. Waibai had to flee her village after an attack by Boko Haram. She has not seen her father since the attack and fears he might be dead. Unicef initiated a pilot project in January 2017 called “Connect My School”. Six solar-powered units help provide internet to schools in different parts of Cameroon. Two of the units were installed in schools in Cameroon’s Far North region – one in Minawao refugee camp, the other in Baigai, near the Nigerian border, where some 50 per cent of children have been displaced by Boko Haram-related violence.
Unicef/Prinsloo
While the Liberal Democrats present voted for the motion, eight were absent because they were attending an annual conference of European liberals. Two of the Greens’ seven MEPs also did not vote, with the others supporting the motion. The DUP’s MEP did not vote.
Labour MEP Julie Ward told The Independent that the vote was “hugely disappointing”, adding: “Far too many innocent people are dying; this cannot go on. We are failing to protect the vulnerable people who need our help the most.”
Last year EU leaders were accused by campaigners of “abdicating their responsibilities to save lives” after they sided with a campaign against rescue boats and condemned NGOs who operated them.
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