In a new report, MSF claims that 23 migrants who had been rescued in the Maltese search-and-rescue area (SAR) in the central Mediterranean were taken back to Egypt. MSF says that the return of migrants took place on September 26, allegedly on the order of Malta's Rescue Coordination Center (RCC).

MSF adds that the report of 23 people sent back to Egypt after being rescued by the Panamanian-flagged merchant ship Shimanami Queen is corroborated by other NGOs too.

If the assertions are proven to be true, Malta's actions could be deemed to be in violation of the international principle of non-refoulement under the 1951 UN Geneva Convention. MSF and its partners have minutely documented the movements of the Shimanami Queen across the Mediterranean to provide proof of what they say are the intentions behind the steps taken by the Maltese government.

Malta accused of delaying rescue deliberately

According to maritime conventions, the Maltese RCC is legally responsible for coordinating rescue operations within its SAR zone whenever people suffer shipwreck or other kinds of distress at sea. However, according to the reports, Malta instead delayed rescue efforts by instructing merchant ships in the immediate vicinity of the migrant boat to continue sailing or to remain on standby — rather than intervening.

MSF says that this "lack of clear guidance and the unnecessary delays in coordinating the rescue deliberately put the lives of the 23 people on board at imminent risk."

"This is a common practice by the Maltese authorities to avoid having to engage in a rescue operation themselves and to prevent arrivals in Malta, as witnessed and documented in several cases by civil SAR organizations," the organization says in a joint statement with its partner groups.

MSF says that Malta's actions qualify as a violation of the non-refoulement principle under International laws, which says that states should not expel or return a person "to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."

According to this principle, says MSF, people rescued at sea must be taken to a place of safety "where the survivors' safety of life is not threatened."

MSF: Egypt 'not safe' for migrants

In this case, however, the 23 people saved at sea were "not disembarked in either Malta or Italy, despite these being the closest places of safety to the position where they were rescued, at 159 and 146 nautical miles away, respectively," the statement further specifies. Instead, the rescued parties were taken 760 nautical miles south to Egypt — five times further away.

"While Egypt is a signatory to the 1951 Geneva Convention, the country lacks an adequate national legal framework for the protection of refugees and asylum seekers," the organization further states.

In its report, MSF also highlights the fact that on at least two other occasions, similar actions taken by Maltese officials have been documented; the NGO adds that in those cases, rescued migrants ended up being returned to Libya.

MSF also stressed that at the time of their rescue, the shipwrecked migrants had been stuck at sea for four days during poor weather conditions, as their food and water supplies began to dwindle.

With information from an MSF Press statement