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The Tragedy in the Mediterranean: "We should not view these people as statistics"
Alexandra Mănăilă - Reporter
30 April 2015
The European Council had an emergency meeting last week, after the shipwreck of two ships in the Mediterranean Sea led to the death of about 1,400 paperless immigrants. The biggest catastrophe in the Mediterranean over the last years, as the media indicated, set the European authorities on fire and Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, convened an extraordinary meeting in Brussels on 23 April 2015. Another common extraordinary meeting of foreign affairs ministers and ministers of the interior of EU member states had been held only 3 days before in Luxembourg, on similar topics: the tragedy that happened on 19 April 2015 when a ship sank in the Strait of Sicily, north of Libya, south of Lampedusa Island and around 1,000 people died, while on 15 April other approximately 400 persons were declared missing in a shipwreck occurred at sea, off the Libyan coast.
Italy and Spain are currently the target countries for paperless immigrants, with the entire burden of these new comers resting on them; for this reason solutions are sought to have other European countries take over some of these migrants. Between 500 and 1,000 persons are rescued daily by the Italian coast guards and by trade vessels. How many of them die and what tragedies they leave behind... it is difficult to count.
Romania, willing to send more experts to the area
Klaus Iohannis, president of Romania, participated in the reunion in Brussels and stated afterwards that European Council Ministers agreed upon a document focused on strengthening the presence in the Mediterranean Sea, fighting trafficking and preventing the flow of illegal migration. "Last Saturday almost 1,000 people died when a ship with migrants, probably illegal ones, sank in the Mediterranean Sea. Three days before other 400 people had died in a similar accident. This is the reason why we met this afternoon and evening in the European Council", said Iohannis at the end of the European Council meeting, according to cotidianul.ro site.
As far as Romania is concerned, the president is willing, if required, to send more experts to the area, underlining thus the need for solidarity with the member states that bear the heaviest burden, the countries on the Mediterranean coast. In the opinion of Klaus Iohannis, the Frontex budget should be increased for the actions in the area, and Romania supports this approach.
"I underlined in my discourse that it is very important, on the medium and long term, to address the root of these events, which is the poverty in African countries. A long term support is necessary to help African countries develop and to eradicate thus the root of this phenomenon. I emphasized that it is extremely important for this matter to be discussed with the African and Arab countries to find the most appropriate solutions", said the president.
Norway prepared to receive 10,000 Syrian refugees
At the end of last week several immigration specialists participated in the conference organized by ICAR Foundation in Bucharest to present northern models of approaching migrant integration, with a focus on medical services. Present at the event, prof. Morten Sodemann, chief of the Health Clinic for Migrants within the Southern Denmark University, said there is too much politics in this story, but that solutions exist. "We should behave as in a case of war, of conflict, because each time such a situation arises, we behave as if it were the first time. The idea that we are found unprepared is somehow exaggerated", said the Danish professor.
Vibeke Lenskjold, from Red Cross Denmark, manager of two clinics for paperless migrants, confessed she does not understand why European countries do not cooperate more so as to solve this issue together, and leave it only on the shoulders of states neighbouring the migrants' countries of origin. "My personal opinion regarding Denmark is that it tends to protect the country citizens' wealth rather than bring in people who would benefit from this wealth, which would then be shared with the new-comers", said the representative of the Red Cross in Denmark.
Solve Saetre of Norway, special counsellor of the Municipality of Bergen, Social Work Department, said that the public in his country has put big pressure upon politicians following the tragedy in the Mediterranean, and thus two measures have already been taken. "In Norway the public put a huge pressure upon politicians to act in some way, and the reaction was major. The first measure: approval was obtained for the first ship to go to the Mediterranean immediately. Second measure: Norway committed to receive 10,000 Syrian refugees during the next two years", he said.
Another representative of Norway, Rolf Vardal, expert in health issues of migrants and special consultant at RVTS Vest, added that "we should not see such events and these people as statistics, but as people who need help now, because tomorrow they may no longer be alive. Political decisions come very late, they are difficult to adopt and they are made when people may no longer need them."
Source: http://www.cotidianul.ro/iohannis-consiliul-european-extraordinar-a-agreat-un-document-260362/
http://www.agerpres.ro/comunicate/2015/04/20/comunicat-de-presa-mae-20-52-52
Italy and Spain are currently the target countries for paperless immigrants, with the entire burden of these new comers resting on them; for this reason solutions are sought to have other European countries take over some of these migrants. Between 500 and 1,000 persons are rescued daily by the Italian coast guards and by trade vessels. How many of them die and what tragedies they leave behind... it is difficult to count.
Romania, willing to send more experts to the area
Klaus Iohannis, president of Romania, participated in the reunion in Brussels and stated afterwards that European Council Ministers agreed upon a document focused on strengthening the presence in the Mediterranean Sea, fighting trafficking and preventing the flow of illegal migration. "Last Saturday almost 1,000 people died when a ship with migrants, probably illegal ones, sank in the Mediterranean Sea. Three days before other 400 people had died in a similar accident. This is the reason why we met this afternoon and evening in the European Council", said Iohannis at the end of the European Council meeting, according to cotidianul.ro site.
As far as Romania is concerned, the president is willing, if required, to send more experts to the area, underlining thus the need for solidarity with the member states that bear the heaviest burden, the countries on the Mediterranean coast. In the opinion of Klaus Iohannis, the Frontex budget should be increased for the actions in the area, and Romania supports this approach.
"I underlined in my discourse that it is very important, on the medium and long term, to address the root of these events, which is the poverty in African countries. A long term support is necessary to help African countries develop and to eradicate thus the root of this phenomenon. I emphasized that it is extremely important for this matter to be discussed with the African and Arab countries to find the most appropriate solutions", said the president.
Norway prepared to receive 10,000 Syrian refugees
At the end of last week several immigration specialists participated in the conference organized by ICAR Foundation in Bucharest to present northern models of approaching migrant integration, with a focus on medical services. Present at the event, prof. Morten Sodemann, chief of the Health Clinic for Migrants within the Southern Denmark University, said there is too much politics in this story, but that solutions exist. "We should behave as in a case of war, of conflict, because each time such a situation arises, we behave as if it were the first time. The idea that we are found unprepared is somehow exaggerated", said the Danish professor.
Vibeke Lenskjold, from Red Cross Denmark, manager of two clinics for paperless migrants, confessed she does not understand why European countries do not cooperate more so as to solve this issue together, and leave it only on the shoulders of states neighbouring the migrants' countries of origin. "My personal opinion regarding Denmark is that it tends to protect the country citizens' wealth rather than bring in people who would benefit from this wealth, which would then be shared with the new-comers", said the representative of the Red Cross in Denmark.
Solve Saetre of Norway, special counsellor of the Municipality of Bergen, Social Work Department, said that the public in his country has put big pressure upon politicians following the tragedy in the Mediterranean, and thus two measures have already been taken. "In Norway the public put a huge pressure upon politicians to act in some way, and the reaction was major. The first measure: approval was obtained for the first ship to go to the Mediterranean immediately. Second measure: Norway committed to receive 10,000 Syrian refugees during the next two years", he said.
Another representative of Norway, Rolf Vardal, expert in health issues of migrants and special consultant at RVTS Vest, added that "we should not see such events and these people as statistics, but as people who need help now, because tomorrow they may no longer be alive. Political decisions come very late, they are difficult to adopt and they are made when people may no longer need them."
Source: http://www.cotidianul.ro/iohannis-consiliul-european-extraordinar-a-agreat-un-document-260362/
http://www.agerpres.ro/comunicate/2015/04/20/comunicat-de-presa-mae-20-52-52
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