LEADERS of charities, religious organisations and overseas aid groups have today put their name to an open letter published in The National condemning the deaths of thousands of migrant workers crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
It was among a series of interventions by Scots campaigners determined to get action to prevent more lives being lost and is published ahead of a an emergency meeting by European leaders in Brussels tomorrow to discuss the crisis.
Up to 950 people drowned on Saturday when their fishing boat sank off the Libyan cost, with many perishing after being locked below deck by the human traffickers who they paid to take them onto the vessel. On Monday yet more lives were lost in a further incident off the Greek island of Rhodes.
The open letter was drafted by SNP MEP Alyn Smith and was signed by 24 figures, including senior members of Oxfam, Save the Children as well as the Free Church of Scotland and the Muslim Council of Scotland.
It condemned the withdrawal of EU funding earlier this year for the Italian Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue mission – which has saved more than 100,000 lives – and urged the money to be reinstated.
“An estimated 4,000 migrants drowned while attempting to reach EU shores in 2014. With ongoing tragedies in Libya, Syria and Iraq as well as elsewhere adding to the pressure, we fear 2015 will be far worse.” it said.
“Last week hundreds of people are feared to have drowned after their boats capsized in the Mediterranean, these tragedies will only continue unless action is taken.”
It added: “This is not a local problem for local authorities when they are clearly struggling with the numbers of those in danger. This loss of life shames us all. We applaud such support as has been given to local authorities so far, but it is clear we must take bolder, more concerted action.”
The letter went on to call for a properly funded and concerted search-and-rescue operation to be mounted by the European Union in the Mediterranean.
The tragedies in the Mediterranean were also discussed at the Scottish Trades Union Congress in Ayr yesterday where an emergency motion also calling for more resources to be made available to search and research was passed.
The motion also urged the European governments to take in a greater number of refugees and for the UK authorities to provide a safe haven for those fleeing conflicts.
It said: “Congress notes that Italian search and rescue boats were removed in favour of a smaller European operation at the beginning of the year... The death toll for this year now stands at 1,500 people, 50 times more than at the same point in 2014. Congress is shocked by the drowning of 950 migrants off the coast of Libya in one of the deadliest shipwrecks so far recorded. The Italian search-and-rescue boats saved over 100,000 lives, showing the scale of possible loss of life if proper action is not taken.”
The tragedies were also raised by politicians at Holyrood yesterday.
Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian, raised the issue in the chamber, and argued that “poisonous, damaging rhetoric on immigration” had allowed governments to create a policy where thousands of people drown at sea.
Christina McKelvie, the SNP MSP, also put down a motion in Holyrood yesterday urging all EU governments to reinstate Mare Nostrum.
“I think there has been a dereliction of human duty from the EU and it should re-establish Mare Nostrum immediately,” she said.
“We should never forget that for many of these people a boat to Europe is the only option they have. Whether they flee because of persecution, war or discrimination we have a duty as the human race to protect and care especially those who are victims of dreadful foreign policy decisions of this UK Government.”
EU leaders will tomorrow discuss a 10-point plan to reduce the number migrant deaths, which includes strengthening its Triton patrolling service and seeking a military mandate to seize and destroy people-smugglers’ boats.
But Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described the response as “painfully weak”. She also supports the restoration of a properly- funded search and rescue mission.
Prime Minister David Cameron – who is breaking off from General Election campaigning to attend tomorrow’s meeting – described last weekend’s incident as a “dark day for Europe”.
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