The UN called on Sunday to ensure “safe and legal routes” in the Mediterranean after a shipwreck that killed at least 62 migrants off the coast of Italy’s Calabria, according to Monday’s report.
Another gruesome shipwreck claimed the lives of dozens of people, including children, this time off the coast of Italy. I repeat: everyone who seeks a better life deserves safety and dignity,” the United Nations Secretary-General said of the shipwreck that occurred in the early hours of Sunday.
“We need safe and legal routes for migrants and refugees,” António Guterres added.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, was shocked by what happened and said that “it is time for states to stop fighting and agree on fair, effective and shared measures to prevent more tragedies”.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), led by Portuguese António Vitorino, reiterated the need for European Union rescue mechanisms. Member States must “increase resources and capabilities to effectively fulfill their responsibilities,” they said.
An idea underlined in a statement by the UNHCR representative for Italy, the Holy See and San Marino, who noted that “in a historical context marked by people fleeing conflict and persecution, it is more necessary than ever to strengthen the capacity for rescue, which is still insufficient to prevent tragedies like this”.
“It is unacceptable to witness such horrors, with families and children trapped in wrecked and unseaworthy ships. This tragedy must prompt us to act immediately,” said Chiara Cardoletti.
At least 62 people were killed when a migrant boat sank near the Italian town of Crotone. Rescue workers said many of the victims were children, including a newborn baby, and women.
The uncertainty about the number of casualties is due to different reports from survivors about those on board the sunken ship.
The number of passengers advanced by survivors varies between 150 and 250, said members of the relief teams, who admitted there were difficulties communicating with the migrants due to language differences.
This is reported by the Italian press migrants come from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan, after initially reporting the presence of Pakistanis.
According to the coastguard, the boat stranded on the rocks a few meters from shore, at a time when the sea was very rough.
Images from Italian police showed wooden wreckage scattered over a hundred meters of beach, where many rescuers and survivors waited to be transferred to a shelter.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “deep regret” over the tragedy in a statement, saying it was “criminal to put a 20-meter boat with 200 people on board and a forecast of bad weather” at sea.
The sinking came just days after Italy’s parliament approved controversial new rules for rescuing migrants by the far-right executive.
Meloni, leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party, took over as head of a coalition government in October 2022 after promising to cut the number of migrants entering Italy.
The new law requires humanitarian ships to conduct only one rescue at a time, which critics say increases the risk of death in the central Mediterranean, considered the world’s most dangerous crossing for migrants.
Italy’s geography makes it an excellent destination for asylum seekers moving from North Africa to Europe, and Rome has long complained about the number of arrivals on its territory.
In response to the tragedy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola called on member states to speed up agreement on migration policies.
Nearly 14,000 migrants have landed in Italy since the beginning of the year, up from about 5,200 in the same period last year and 4,200 in 2021, according to the Interior Ministry.
Source: DN
