Many thanks for the report on deaths of migrants at the frontiers of Europe (‘It costs $10,000 to get from A to B…’, 21 October). In October 2013, with its Mare Nostrum operation to rescue migrants at sea, Italy took on a responsibility that the rest of the EU shirked. Mare Nostrum has not been exempt from criticism – for its military nature, lack of transparency, its failures in view of the fact that according to UNHCR 3,000 people have drowned since the start of this year. But the operation at least started using a different perspective. Italy’s attempt to enact a mere “humanitarian corridor” adapted to the Euro-Mediterranean context is a first step.
The Mare Nostrum operation is scheduled to end on 1 November. The European commission and the EU member states have not proposed any solution to take over from the operation. The planned strengthening of border controls by Frontex through operation Triton in the Mediterranean (Frontex Plus) is not a sea rescue operation. However, more than a humanitarian rescue operation is needed. To put an end to migrants’ deaths in the Mediterranean and elsewhere requires increased entry into the European territory for those who choose it or are forced into exile.
We think of the English Channel as our frontier. But as experienced by migrants including refugees, the UK frontier is in Calais, the Mediterranean and UK consulates worldwide. To help improve the problems faced by migrants in Calais, Greece, Italy and the Mediterranean requires action by the whole EU, including the UK.
Bill MacKeith
Oxford
