(Vatican Radio) Italian naval and coastguard vessels rescued more than 2,000 migrants
travelling in boats from North Africa over the past 48 hours. The vessels were part
of the Mare Nostrum taskforce, which operates off of southern Sicily, and was established
in response to the hundreds of deaths which have happened as migrants and refugees
try to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
The Director of the Italian Council for
Refugees, Christopher Hein, said the Italian government has stepped up efforts to
help sea bound migrants in the last year.
“More than 12,000 people have been
rescued in the period from the end of October,” he told Vatican Radio. Hein said
it was even more significant that no deaths have happened in the Italian region of
the Mediterranean sence the Mare Nostrum operation began.
However, there are
still problems of what happens after the migrants are rescued. Hein said he detention
areas for processing asylum requests are now full.