The tragedy in which up to 700 people drowned in the Mediterranean Sea was shocking. This is the largest number of deaths in a single such incident but hundreds of people have been drowning every month as they flee from war and starvation in the Middle East and Africa, heading for Europe. Thousands of these desperate people fall victim to unscrupulous traffickers who take their money and pack them into unseaworthy boats.
This huge migration cannot be ignored by the European authorities and the European Union made a dreadful mistake in November when it cancelled the Mare Nostrum operation, which covered a wide part of the Mediterranean Sea.
The programme saved thousands of lives and gave hope to millions more, and only cost $9 million (Dh33 million) a month, which paid for the Italian navy’s search and rescue mission. It is terribly wrong that a charity like Medecins Sans Frontieres should seek to replace the EU’s programme and launch its own search and rescue service for people-smuggling vessels in the Mediterranean.
The EU should reinstate the Mare Nostrum programme but on a much larger scale. It should work to stop the sea becoming a mass grave and it should recognise its responsibility as a wealthy group of nations. It should also call on all its member states to shoulder the burden of immigrants, as it is wrong that Malta and Italy should have to cope on their own with the flood of humanity arriving from the south.
