We must endeavour to end migrant tragedies

Although the captain of the ‘coffin ship’, in which more than 700 refugees perished, has been arrested, this will mean nothing if the source of the problem is not addressed.

These ships are rarely seaworthy and bring to mind the desperate attempts of the Aliyah Bet (rescue attempt) led in large part by Robert Briscoe, to transport desperate Jewish refugees across the Mediterranean to escape Hitler’s persecution in the ’30s and ’40s. These vessels became known as ‘coffin ships’ as they often sank. However, just as today’s refugees face the same terrible dangers, the prospect of staying in their homes only to be murdered drove these vulnerable people to undertake the hazardous sea journey.

Another commonality between the Jewish refugees of Nazi Germany and today’s victims of persecution, is the seeming indifference of first-world political actors to their plight.

It will be interesting to see if the outcome of the forthcoming EU meeting on the migrant tragedy is one of substance, or as is more likely, one where politicians will wring their hands in anguish and offer platitudes but refuse to take more than a token amount of refugees.

This reaction has a number of historical precedents, most notoriously, the 1938 Evian Conference to address the Jewish tragedy where diplomats including Ireland’s Frank Cremins, were instructed to offer sympathetic statements, but under no circumstances refuge to the suffering refugees.

Dr Kevin McCarthy

Kinsale

Co Cork