DO OUR HEARTS SINK ALONG WITH THE BODIES OF THE INNOCENT?

On October 3 2013 359 passengers aboard a migrant vessel carrying some 500 people - mostly from Eritrea and Somalia sunk off of the coast of Lampedusa as unscrupulous traffickers overloaded the vessel with desperate people fleeing conflict and seeking a new life abroad

Last week the sea took a further 38 lives as another boat carrying 250 refugees from Syria and Palestine sank off of the island swelling a barbaric international sea grave which has now claimed 25,000 lives in just the last 20 years

As civil unrest and war around the world intensifies the numbers lost at sea off of the Mediterranean coast continue to rise and accelerate and in just the last two years over 4000 people have drowned in the local waters.


I personally feel sick to the pit of my stomach that so many innocent lives can be lost, so many families murdered in the full sight of Europe’s leading political leaders and yet so few of those so called leaders have felt impelled to act. Italy and Malta’s Prime Ministers Enrico Letta and Joseph Muscat have both called for immediate action to be taken when the European Council meets in 10 days time and Pope Francis spoke of the world’s indifference when he visited Lampedusa by telling a world audience that

“We have become used to the suffering of others. It doesn’t affect us. It doesn’t interest us. It’s not our business,”

According to estimates by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, about 32,000 migrants have arrived in southern Italy and Malta so far this year, about two thirds of whom have filed asylum requests. Italy, deep in recession and pressed by EU budget rules to rein in public spending, has seen its reception facilities on Lampedusa and other parts of Sicily strained to breaking point and has called repeatedly for more help to confront a crisis it says is a European emergency.

The Green Party in recent years has consistently called for an educated debate on world migration and sees the movement of peoples around the globe as “a fact of life” and points out that many EU countries are seeing their populations shrink and could see their economy’s benefit benefit from controlled migration. But it is my own personal belief that we must strive to go further, a modern day European “Ellis Island” solution is needed (although not on an Island!) to match skills and numbers to need amongst EU countries, to bring order to the chaotic movement of peoples. We need to close “Detention Centres” and look to jointly fund “Migrant support facilities”.

It saddens me that in the UK most people still purposely close their eyes to plight of the refugee, and therefore it is my belief that only action at a European Level can have any effect,

Currently in Britain it is difficult to be heard when advocating common sense approaches to migration policy, austerity has hardened our hearts and public opinion leads political opportunity in a cyclical downward spiral, deep deep down into a pit of indifference and at times even to a hatred for our fellow man.

When I joined the The Green Party part of my decision was because I had no wish to be associated with the other political movements in Britain in simply calling for tighter border controls and two faced immigration policies which increasingly reward the world’s rich migrants whilst punishing the poor. We as a nation have played more than a part in creating unrest in the world and its high time we acted responsibly with our European neighbours to find a lasting solution to the plight of those fleeing conflict. Everyone talks of controlling borders rather than finding better ways of managing migration. It’s time for a rethink. I want to see the EU take immediate action in the Mediterranean and see more arrests of those involved in illegal trafficking and bring them to justice in front of the world’s press. But the situation needs, wants and demands action beyond the immediate, we must work with our EU colleagues to find ways of managing migration for the benefit of both mankind and the struggling economies of Europe, European populations are getting smaller and growing older. The negative population growth in Europe causes shortages on the labour market and consequently, it may problematise development, economic growth and well-being.

My heart tells me that those fleeing conflict would want to return to their homeland as soon as they are able, but my head reminds me that the historical movement and settlement of people across the ages shows a reluctance for families to place at any risk their newly found security and wealth. Therefore we have to manage the migration, criminalise those who seek to gain from the misery and desperation of others and above all be human and humane about how we interact with people whose only crime is to want a better life for their loved ones.