VIENNA, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, sharply criticized on Friday the efforts of NGOs in the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, claiming they lead to more deaths instead of fewer.
According to Austria Press Agency, Kurz made the comments to the media in Valletta, Malta, as part of his visit to observe the operations of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, in the region.
The minister acknowledged that while some of the aid organizations conducted good work, there were many "that are partners of the people smugglers."
"The NGO madness must be stopped," he stated.
He was joined by Frontex director of operations Klaus Roesler, who agreed that the activities of criminal networks and people smugglers are often supported in this way.
In addition, he said migrants were being picked up by European ships increasingly closer to the Libyan coast. They board hazardous vessels and make a trip of only 12 nautical miles into international waters where they can then make a distress call.
Kurz reiterated his long-standing calls for the Australian model to be followed, in which boats are stopped and diverted to off-shore asylum processing centers.
"If it is clear that one will be stopped on islands like Lampedusa or Lesbos, then within a few weeks hardly anyone will make the journey," he said.
He also called for asylum centers to be established in North Africa. Doing so in countries such as Tunisia or Egypt would be more realistic than in presently-unstable Libya, he added, saying he believed that with an appropriate offer from the EU, both of these countries would be willing to cooperate.
