THERE is no “military solution” to combat the growing number of deaths in the Mediterranean Sea, the United Nations Secretary General has said.
Ban Ki Moon said that European leaders must look at the
“rights of migrants and refugees” instead of looking to adopt military measures, ahead of a meeting with senior EU figures today.
Days ago EU leaders agreed to triple funding for the
Mediterranean search and rescue operations, after witnessing more than 1,000 deaths on the Mediterranean crossing in past weeks.
The comments from the UN Secretary General come after
Australian PM Tony Abbott last week encouraged Europe to take a hard-line gun-boat approach to tackling the problem.
The controversial Australian “send them back” campaign involves military boats patrolling the island nation, intercepting ships and towing them back to where they set sail from.
However, Ban urged the EU to improve its immigration networks so migrants do not have to put their own lives in danger, saying that the UN is ready to help the EU.
“There is no military solution to the human tragedy playing out in the Mediterranean,” Ban said.
“It is crucial that we take a holistic approach that looks at the root causes, at security and the human rights of migrants and refugees, and have legal and regulated immigration networks.”
Although the decision to triple the search-and-rescue budget has been seen as a step in the right direction, all the EU have done is match the 2014 budget of the Italian government’s Mare Nostrum operation, instead of making any real increases.
The EU Triton operation’s monthly budget will be tripled from £2.9million to £9m, bringing it in line with the previous search-and
-rescue mission due to a record number of people dying on the crossing in the first four months of 2015. Although not revolutionary, Ban praised these new measures, saying they are an “important first step towards collective European action”; an approach he believes can work to combat a problem of this nature.
Moon meets EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini today.
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