EU must respond to Italy’s refugee crisis

Italy’s plea for help from fellow member states of the European Union to deal with the arrival of refugees to its southern shores must not go unheeded.

It comes in the wake of the sinking of a boat carrying migrants off the coast of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa on Thursday in which hundreds died.

Some 8,400 migrants landed in Italy and Malta in the first six months of this year, almost double the 4,500 who arrived during the first half of 2012.

But it is not just the EU that needs to respond to Africa’s growing refugee crisis and its effect on southern states. The United Nations must show it is more than a talking shop. The Mediterranean should not have to become a morgue in order to galvanise the international community into action.

It is a sad irony that the tragedy coincided with a debate at the UN General Assembly on international migration. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered his “deep condolences” and said he hoped the Lampedusa tragedy would be a “spur to action”. But surely the UN can do more than offer sympathy and hope for better days ahead.

It is not as if this is a new crisis. At the turn of the century when former president Mary Robinson was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, it was clear that a great human tragedy was unfolding in the Horn of Africa. Now, as the UN’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa, she has since been able to see for herself the worsening situation throughout the continent.

It is estimated that there are in the region of one million refugees and up to two million internally displaced persons across Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti in east Africa.

Internal conflicts, political repression, natural disasters and drought have resulted in widespread famine and the flight of refugees. An Italian observatory that tracks migrant deaths says about 6,450 people died in the Canal of Sicily alone between 1994 and 2012. Many more have perished trying to reach Malta and other Mediterranean countries. The migrants are mainly from Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Syria.

The Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights speaks of the “dignity and worth of the human person”. If that is to mean anything, a more humane response to the refugee crisis is needed from the UN and the EU, Ireland included. The current repressive policy towards illegal immigrants by European countries could have contributed to the tragedy, according to François Crepeau, the UN’s special rapporteur on migrants’ rights. “These deaths did not need to happen,” he said.

Much attention has been focused on famine in Africa, resulting in a widespread international response. However, there has been much less effort made to address the refugee crisis.

Despite our economic troubles, Irish people still show themselves to be generous towards those in greater need, still contributing millions of euro to charities such as Concern, Goal and Trócaire.

By contrast, our political leaders have exhibited far less generosity. During the Second World War, Jews experiencing the Holocaust were barred from coming to Ireland while Britain took in thousands.

The forgotten tragedy of African migrants who pay with their lives while fleeing war and want is a human drama we can no longer ignore. Even if we are almost broke, we can still show we are not morally bankrupt.