Mags Gargan
The Irish bishops’ overseas aid agency has criticised Europe’s response to the refugee crisis, as several hundred people are reported to have drowned off the coast of Egypt on Sunday.
Up to 500 people are estimated to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea trying to illegally cross from Libya to Italy. This latest tragedy coincides with the one year anniversary of the death of an estimated 800 migrants off the Libyan coast – the most deadly Mediterranean shipwreck in decades.
Trócaire’s Executive Director Éamonn Meehan said this latest disaster shows “Europe has made little progress in developing positive policies to prevent the continued loss of life”.
Mr Meehan has called for a “more-sophisticated” Europe-wide response “which includes burden-sharing”, criticising the EU’s “focus on containing the flow of people” and treatment of refugees as “commodities for shipping as opposed to desperate human beings in need of protection”.