We are calling on EU leaders to stem the yearly tragedy in the Mediterranean

Friday October 11th, 2013 was a fateful day for Hasan Wahid. He was living in Libya, where he worked as a doctor. Because he is Syrian, he was beaten up and received death threats after being accused of supporting the Assad regime.

Hassan tried to go to Egypt, but the country did not allow Syrians in. He applied for a visa to Tunisia, but it was turned down. He applied for a visa to Malta, but was also rejected. He had no choice but to embark, with his wife and four daughters, on a dangerous boat journey across the Mediterranean.

Their boat was one of two shipwrecks that month, in which more than 500 people drowned. Hassan and his wife survived; their daughters have never been found. The two shipwrecks caused an international outcry, and calls for measures to be put in place to prevent such tragedies.

Unfortunately, despite that outcry, there has been a marked failure by EU leaders to take any meaningful action since then. Predictably, this has had deadly consequences for those who continue to seek refuge in Europe.

Hassan and the tens of thousands who cross the Mediterranean each year know the dangers that await them. The risks they are compelled to take speak of their sheer desperation – as refugees fleeing conflict and persecution, or as migrants seeking a life with dignity.

The majority of those reaching Europe by sea are Syrians, Eritreans, Somalis and Afghans – from countries where conflict and persecution are causing massive displacement. More than 2,500 people have died in the Mediterranean so far this year. Nearly one in every 50 people who attempted to reach the EU from North Africa has died or disappeared at sea. It is a tragedy that can be avoided.

Thus far, the EU has shown greater concern for keeping people out than for providing protection and safe passage to those who need it. For example, between 2011 and 2013 the EU Commission allocated Greece, another frontline country in this crisis, €227million to keep refugees and migrants out; but only €20 million to assist their reception.

Italy has been the only EU country to respond, launching Operation Mare Nostrum in October 2013, deploying a significant part of its navy for search and rescue operations in the central Mediterranean at a reported cost of more than €9 million a month.

But Mare Nostrum is not a long-term solution. Despite rescuing 138,866 people during its first 11 months it was unable to prevent the dramatic loss of life that occurred this summer.

After assisting refugees and migrants at sea for nearly one year on its own, the Italian government is looking for a way out of the operation. For months, it has lobbied the EU to take over or to provide Italy with support. But the union and its member states have avoided taking any decisions which might help refugees and migrants leaving North Africa. In August, the European Commission finally announced that Frontex, its border control agency, would implement a new operation, named Triton, to complement Italy’s search and rescue operation. However, its effectiveness largely depends on the resources member states will offer.

If Triton is to be effective, search and rescue needs to be a stated priority. EU member states will also need to grant it sufficient resources to deploy throughout Italy and Malta’s search and rescue zones and, for as long as necessary, Libya’s zone.

A collective EU search and rescue system is urgently needed. Italy has taken the lead but this should be a shared responsibility. Europe also must also reform its asylum system. In particular, the Dublin Regulation, whereby the EU member state of first arrival is responsible for processing asylum claims, places an unfair strain on countries involved in the rescue operations.

The lack of responsibility-sharing among EU countries is discouraging southern European states, particularly Malta, from taking refugees and migrants to their ports. Mare Nostrum has temporarily papered over this problem, but should it come to an end without an adequate replacement, delays and disputes over search and rescue obligations will place lives at risk once again. A fairer sharing mechanism is required.

Europe also needs to offer more safe and regular routes to refugees to access protection. This would include increasing resettlement and humanitarian admission places for refugees and facilitating family reunification for those who have family members living in the EU.

Regardless of the dangers, and of EU measures designed to keep them out, refugees and migrants will continue to risk their lives and the lives of their children fleeing their war-torn, rights-violating or economically struggling countries of origin. EU states cannot channel them into the world’s most dangerous sea route and then abandon them to their fate.

We are calling on EU leaders to make a courageous choice: to place the values of humanity, solidarity and compassion before political interest in order to stem the yearly tragedy in the Mediterranean. We are calling on them to stand by people who are risking their lives to escape conflict, persecution and poverty in the face of Europe’s isolationism and xenophobia.

Colm O’Gorman is executive director of Amnesty International Ireland

See all articles, graphics and photogrpahs in our current series, The Boat People, at irishtimes.com/boatpeople