UNHCR slams EU over migrant deaths

The UNHCR on Wednesday called on the 28-member bloc to shift the focus of Operation Triton, the EU's patrol mission in the Mediterranean Sea, days after around 300 people are believed to have died when the rubber dinghies they were traveling in capsized.

"UNHCR is today calling on the European Union to urgently change its approach to dealing with sea crossings with a view to ensuring that saving lives is the top-most priority," a statement issued by the high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, said.

"There can be no doubt left after this week's events that Europe's Operation Triton is a woefully inadequate replacement for Italy's Mare Nostrum," Guterres added, referring to a much larger patrol and rescue operation conducted by the Italian navy until last November.

Scaled-back operation, budget

Rome decided to significantly scale back the operation due to its high cost, after other European Union member states declined to help foot the nine-million-euro ($10 million) monthly bill. Triton's budget is about a third of that, and keeps the ships near EU coasts, as opposed to Mare Nostrum, which took Italian navy ships close to the shores of Libya, where many of the migrants embark on their journeys.

Guterres also noted that Triton, which operates under the authority of the EU borders agency Frontex, is by its nature more focused on monitoring the bloc's sea frontiers that on saving lives.

"We need a robust search and rescue operation in the central Mediterranean, not only a border patrol," he said, while concluding that if the EU didn't act, it would be "inevitable that many more people will die trying to reach safety in Europe."

The UNCHR said at least 218,000 people successfully crossed the Mediterranean in 2014, while around 3,500 lost their lives, usually after unseaworthy vessels provided by people smugglers ran into trouble during the journey.

Conflicts and poverty in places like Syria, Libya, the Horn of Africa, and other parts of Africa have contributed to a surge in would-be migrants attempting the crossing over the past couple of years.

pfd/rc (AFP, Reuters)