Migration crisis: calls for radical action

(Vatican Radio) The migrant crisis in the Mediterranean has deepened with the arrests of 15 African men suspected of throwing about a dozen Christians off a boat heading towards Italy.

Italian police said the men were from Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal.

The incident comes after forty migrants drowned when another vessel capsized off the coast of Sicily and 400 died earlier this week when passengers crowded to one side of their boat, causing it to capsize.

With thousands of migrants continuing to make the perilous journey to Europe in search of a better life, many fleeing conflict and hardship in their own countries,  NGO'S are asking why is the European Union putting it's head in the sand on this issue.

The Italian authorities have also issued fresh complaints against the EU for not helping enough, but Nathasha Bertaud, a spokeswoman for the EU Commission, said the EU does not have a "silver bullet" solution to respond to the crisis.

Christopher Hein is the Director of the Italian Council for Refugees. He told Lydia O’Kane that, “it’s an overall chaotic situation, the total absence of a government and a management of what is happening, the unpreparedness and I do not speak only about Italy, I speak in the first instance about the European Union.”

Listen to this interview

 

Mr Hein goes on to say that, it is no longer the expression of concern from political leaders, it is a question of action, something really radical has to be done.”

With no legislation to deal with the situation in the pipeline, the EU says it will unveil a migration plan for discussions by the end of next month and draw up a report by Christmas.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that at least 20,000 migrants have reached the Italian coast this year.