“Even as the coronavirus pandemic begins to slowly unwind in 2021, its economic impact will be pushing more people to migrate, conflicts will continue, and aid for displaced people is likely to grow even more scarce. In short, there is no end in sight to the factors pushing people to risk their lives at sea, while the EU is doubling down on policies to prevent asylum seekers and migrants from entering its borders.
Against this backdrop, we present a timeline not only of the EU’s steady withdrawal from search and rescue activities in the Central Mediterranean, but also of the increasing criminalisation of the NGOs that have attempted to fill the gap, and of the worsening humanitarian consequences.”
See: Death on the Central Mediterranean: 2013-2020 (The New Humanitarian, link)