UN agency welcomes Aquarius resolution, calls for regional approach

GENEVA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR on Wednesday stressed that the situation of the rescue ship MV Aquarius, in particular the standoff of the last few days, has again highlighted the need for a Mediterranean regional arrangement.

While applauding Tuesday's decision by the Government of Malta to permit the disembarkation of 141 asylum-seekers and migrants rescued on the Central Mediterranean by Aquarius, UNHCR said that what's more important is how such situations are to be avoided.

"UNHCR welcomes the end to the deadlock around the Aquarius and the fact that 141 children, women and men are no longer stranded at sea," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

"But the situation should never have come to this in the first place. It is wrong, dangerous and immoral to keep rescue ships wandering the Mediterranean while governments compete on who can take the least responsibility," he added.

In a statement issued Wednesday, UNHCR repeated its call for a regional approach for dealing with rescue and disembarkation on the Mediterranean.

"There is an urgent need to break away from the current run of impasses and ad-hoc boat-by-boat approaches on where to dock rescued passengers," said Grandi.

"Only with clearly identifiable ports of safety will shipmasters feel confident when responding to distress calls that they'll be able to promptly disembark passengers, and won't become objects of lengthy negotiations."

UNHCR also appealed to shipmasters to continue their efforts in upholding rescue at sea.

UN figures showed that already this year, more than 1,500 people have drowned or gone missing on the Mediterranean.

Aquarius docked in Malta on Wednesday afternoon. Before being granted permission to enter Malta, the ship had been stranded at sea for four days, as the Mediterranean states including Malta, Italy, Spain and Tunisia initially refused to accept the ship