mediterranean

One year on from the historic United Nations summit for refugees and migrants, the international community has failed to make meaningful progress towards meeting the goals of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.

The latest data estimates that more than 10 million people – around half of all the refugees worldwide – are “minors” (that is children under 18-years-old). At the same time, nearly 100,000 children who lodged an asylum request were unaccompanied. 

The EU must urgently re-think its collective treatment of people arriving at Europe’s borders and ensure that every human being, no matter their status, enjoys the basic respect of their rights and fundamental dignity. 

Europe’s leaders have just missed a crucial opportunity to make a real difference in the lives and deaths of the people suffering daily in the Mediterranean. Instead of heeding calls to restore immediately a search-and-rescue operation in the Mediterranean, the EU has chosen to focus on its border control operation.

Up to 700 people - possibly more - may have died in the latest wreck of a migrants' ship in the straits between Libya and Italy. Words and consternation are no longer enough, says international agency Oxfam.