GENEVA
The UN’s high commissioner for refugees on Wednesday called for “an effective mechanism” to rescue asylum seekers at sea following the deaths of hundreds trying to reach Italy from Libya.
Antonio Guterres called on governments across the Mediterranean to prioritize saving lives by urgently upgrading search and rescue operations.
Speaking during a tour of Lebanon, he said: "I was deeply shocked when hearing the news that another boat, an overcrowded boat, capsized in the Mediterranean and where 400 people died.
“This only demonstrates how important it is to have a robust rescue-at-sea mechanism in the central Mediterranean."
The double-decked boat capsized on Monday around 120 kilometers south of Italy's Lampedusa Island with around 550 people on board. Eight bodies and 142 survivors have been recovered.
Referring to the rescue system established by Italy after hundreds of refugees drowned in October 2013 but shut down a year later, Guterres added: "Unfortunately, Mare Nostrum was never replaced by an equivalent capacity to rescue people.”
According to the Italian Coastguard more than 8,500 people have been rescued from boats and rubber dinghies since last Friday. If Monday’s 400 deaths are confirmed, the death toll so far this year will have reached 900, according to the UN.
"I am here in Lebanon and we know that Syrians are more and more risking their lives to have access to European territories,” Guterres said. “But for all those in need of protection it is very important to… have an effective mechanism to rescue people at sea in the central Mediterranean."
The UN has been advocating an urgent response from EU states to deal with the thousands of refugees and migrants who risk their lives trying to reach Europe.
In a statement, Amnesty International’s Deputy Europe and Central Asia Director Gauri Van Gulik said: “How many more people have to die before European governments acknowledge that relying on a patchwork quilt of resources for search-and-rescue operations is not enough?
“Thousands of desperate migrants and refugees continue to make the world’s most dangerous sea crossing and hundreds have already died this year – a massive increase over the same period in 2014.”
