Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Africa
AfricaNewsWorld

In The Wake Of Hundreds of Deaths at Sea, European Union to Triple Funding For Search and Rescue

Posted byBy Tracy | Published on: CommentsComments (0)
A protester holds up a sign as others carry a mock coffin of a migrant during a demonstration outside an emergency EU summit in Brussels on the deaths of migrants

A protester holds up a sign as others carry a mock coffin of a migrant during a demonstration outside an emergency EU summit in Brussels on the deaths of migrants

BRUSSELS/ROME – European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to triple funding for search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean where record numbers are drowning as they flee war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

The measure was announced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel after an emergency EU summit in Brussels, called after up to 900 went down on a single boat on Sunday off the coast of Libya, a major staging point for migrants heading for Europe.

European Council President Donald Tusk said the bloc was going to look into how to seek and destroy vessels that could be used by smugglers, step up efforts to stop people reaching Libya, streamline visa and asylum processing, and returning failed asylum seekers to where they came from.

“We want to move quickly. So we will triple the financial resources for the relevant missions of Frontex, clearly improve them,” Merkel said, referring to the EU’s border agency.

“For Germany I can add: if it turns out that the funds are not sufficient we will have to talk about it again. Money should be no object here,.” she told a news conference.

Underlining global attention, the United Nations had criticized the European response so far and urged it to do more: “The European Union response needs to go beyond the present minimalist approach … which focuses primarily on stemming the arrival of migrants and refugees on its shores.”

Read the full story at huffingtonpost.com

Independent journalism still matters.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top