More than 100 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the last 3 days

More than 100 people have drowned in the central Mediterranean in the last 72 hours when trying to reach European shores, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) denounced this Friday, November 13, which blamed members of the European Union for what is happening .

The head of humanitarian affairs of MSF, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said, responsibility for these deaths rests directly with the EU Member States, as a specific and unavoidable result of their criminal policies of non-assistance and blocking of NGO rescue ships.

In his view, it is hypocritical at best that European governments and the European Commission say they are distressed by this terrible loss of life because shipwrecks like these are the direct result of their management of migration.

In this regard, he noted that this year almost 700 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya and at least 267 of those deaths have occurred since the Sea Watch 4, one of those humanitarian ships in which MSF has a team doctor, was blocked on September 19 in the port of Paleremo by the Italian authorities.

On the other hand, he explained that in recent weeks the number of those who have been intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard when trying to leave the country by sea has skyrocketed, with almost 1,000 between November 3 and 9. The head of MSF programs for Libya, William Hennequin, stressed that the leaders of the states that promote and support these interceptions and returns should see the result of their policies for themselves.

Hennequin referred to the inhumane conditions in the detention centers, which are only a small part of the deadly cycle of violence in which thousands of vulnerable people are trapped.

As an example, he recounted that last week a 15 year old Eritrean teenager was shot dead after gunmen broke into a shelter in Tripoli.

He said, Murders, kidnappings, extreme violence, including torture to extort money from captives and their families remain daily threats that will continue to force these vulnerable people to cross the sea to escape this abuse in the absence of other safer forms of do it.