A boat overflowing with migrants arrives in the port
of Tripoli, Libya, March 29. About 300 migrants are presumed dead after
three boats headed to Europe sank in rough waters off the coast of Libya.
CNS photo/Reuters
Drownings off Libya’s coast point to
desperation of migrants, need for reform
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) — The drowning death of hundreds of
people trying to immigrate to Europe through Libya in late March is a
sign of the desperation of the poor and persecuted, and of the failure
of government efforts to stop illegal immigration, several Catholic agencies
said.
“These people have no alternative but to entrust themselves to human
smugglers who often treat them as meat,” said Berardino Guarino,
project director for Fondazione Migrantes, an Italian Catholic organization
that assists migrants.
At least 200, and perhaps as many as 300, immigrants were listed as missing
and presumed dead after three boats sank off the coast of Libya in rough
waters March 27-29. An Italian merchant ship rescued another 300 people
and recovered 21 dead bodies from the water the night of March 28-29 after
the fishing boat they were packed onto sent out a distress call.
Authorities said those trying to cross the Mediterranean to Italy from
Libya included people from Bangladesh, Egypt and other parts of Africa.
Refugees and the desperate poor from Asia and Africa cross the Libyan
desert to the coast where they pay smugglers for a place on crowded, rickety
fishing boats headed for Europe.
Guarino told Vatican Radio March 31 that poverty and oppression mean the
influx of migrants to Europe “will not end easily, which means we
must find ways to create humanitarian channels so that these people can
arrive in Italy without these dangerous voyages.”
“We must remember that on these boats there are refugees, people
who have a right to asylum,” he said. “The question will not
be resolved simply by patrolling the coasts.”
Oliviero Forti, director of the immigration office of Caritas Italy, told
Vatican Radio, “Unfortunately this was a disaster waiting to happen.
The fact that governments are enacting increasingly restrictive measures
just means that the routes are changing.”
Focusing only on blocking immigration has not worked and will not work,
he said.
“We need a truly effective policy of international collaboration
with the countries of origin and the countries of transit,” he said.
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