Church leaders have called on the European Union to take responsibility for migrants risking their lives trying to enter its member states after 800 people died attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing between Italy and the coast of east Africa this weekend.
A further three people, including a child, perished off the Greek island of Rhodes yesterday, bringing the death toll for migrants crossing the Mediterranean to 1,750 so far this year – 30 times higher than the same period last year.
The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) said the death toll represented “a defeat” for the EU’s values. It called for the reinstatement of Italy’s Mare Nostrum patrol of the Mediterranean, and for the expansion of the smaller-scale Triton mission.
Their statement came as the European Commission, backed by EU foreign and interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, pledged to allot more money and equipment to the EU's maritime patrolling operations in the Mediterranean, Triton and Poseidon, and extend the area they patrol.
On Saturday night a boat carrying hundreds of migrants and heading for the Italian island of Lampedusa capsized off the Libyan coast. The bodies of 24 migrants have been recovered and will be buried in Malta.
Pope Francis spoke of his “heartfelt pain” on Sunday, hours after the first of just 27 survivors were rescued from the capsized boat.
He urged the international community “to react decisively and quickly to see to it that such tragedies are not repeated".
“They are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war. They were looking for a better life,” he said after praying the Regina Coeli with tens of thousands of pilgrims in St Peter’s Square.
His call was echoed by the bishop with responsibility for migrants in England and Wales, Patrick Lynch. “We call on all EU member states to involve themselves in the relief efforts and to work collaboratively to find a swift, just, effective and compassionate solution to these humanitarian disasters,” he said.
Yesterday the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, called on all European nations to “rise up” and take responsibility for migrants, not just Italy. He told the BBC: “No one country can do it by itself.”
He went on: “When people are drowning in the Mediterranean, the need, the misery that has driven them out of their own countries is so extreme, so appalling that Europe as a whole must rise up and seek to do what’s right. It will be demanding and that’s why the burden must be spread across the continent and not taken by just one country or one area.”
Last week up to 400 other migrants, including children, died when their boat capsized in the same area of the Mediterranean.
On Sunday the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, criticised the rest of the EU for failing to assist his country’s rescue missions.
“It is unthinkable that in the face of such a tragedy, there isn’t the feeling of solidarity which Europe has shown in other instances,” he said. “We ask not to be left alone, not so much when it comes to emergencies at sea, but to stop the trafficking of human beings.”
Police and ministers from across the European Union, who met in Luxembourg yesterday for crisis talks about how to deal with the worsening situation, have pledged to boost search-and-rescue operations.
Ministers will consider a 10-point proposal at an emergency summit on Thursday.
Federica Mogherini, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, acknowledged after Monday's meeting that they had been too slow to act.
“We don’t have to be afraid of showing the limits of institutions and the decision-making process. This is sad, this is not a justification, and I’m afraid we will not find justification,” she said.
Pope Francis tosses a wreath of flowers into the Mediterranean Sea off the Italian island of Lampedusa 8 July 8, 2013. Photo: CNS
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