EU SHOULD TAKE MORE RESPONSIBILITY OVER REFUGEES: AMNESTY

Brussel, 21 Dzulqa’dah 1435/16 September 2014 (MINA) – Watchdog organization Amnesty International has urged European leaders to take more responsibility in taking in refugees after a boat carrying refugees sank in the Mediterranean on Monday night, leaving many to drown.

At least 250 refugees drowned on Monday night while only 36 people have so far been rescued after their boat sank off the coast of Libya.

“The response of EU member states to the refugee crises in the Middle East and North Africa has been shameful,” John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia director said in a statement, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

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“The increasing death toll in the Mediterranean Sea highlights the ineffectiveness of the EU’s current asylum and migration policies and practices,” he added,

criticizing European leaders who “want to prevent people from reaching Europe at any cost, forcing desperate people to take more hazardous routes.”

He called “to provide safe and legal ways for refugees and immigrants to access international protection in the European Union.”

According to the UNHCR, more than 2,500 people have drowned or gone missing attempting to cross the Mediterranean this year.  (T/P002/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)