EU must boost air, sea migrant rescues, says Amnesty International

BRUSSELS - The EU's new leadership must boost air and naval power in the Mediterranean to rescue migrants who are dying in record numbers trying to reach the continent's shores, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

A new report by the British-based campaign group described a "Fortress Europe" blocking out migrants and refugees, many of them fleeing unrest in Syria and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

The report's release in Brussels came hours before the European parliamentary confirmation hearing of Dimitris Avramopoulos, Greece's incoming European Commissioner for migration and home affairs.

The International Organization for Migration said Monday that more than 3,000 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean so far this year, more than double the previous peak in 2011.

"The EU and its member countries must urgently provide an increased number of search and rescue vessels in the central Mediterranean, with a clear mandate to save human lives on the high seas," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty's Europe and central Asia program director.

Amnesty in particular expressed concern about whether the EU would fully replace "Mare Nostrum," a naval deployment that Italy launched after two deadly shipwrecks a year ago, but which Rome has threatened to end without more help.

"What is clear is that if Italy decides to significantly scale down or even stop (Mare Nostrum) altogether, before an operation of comparable scale is in place, many more lives will be lost at sea," a summary of the 80-page report said.

Amnesty said the capacity of the European border agency Frontex -- tapped to succeed Mare Nostrum at the end of November -- to provide search and rescue «remains in doubt» as it depends on the resources...