All civilised peoples have a responsibility

Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill reflects on recent political responses to the crisis of migrant voyages on the Mediterranean and how inaction has added to the rising death toll.

‘WHEN children are put on board a boat and sent a drift no civilised people can just watch — we need to save these children. We cannot allow a boat loaded with children simply to sink.”

That was almost a year ago when the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, appealed to the EU to support and extend the Italian navy’s Mare Nostrum programme.