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We have initiated a fundraiser on Indiegogolife. Please visit us there donate and spread the word!

 

http://igg.me/at/NW4KvhFDjKU

 

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The team of Iura Humana

The Tragedy

The worlds sinking shame: The failure to save refugees and migrants at sea

 

Thousands of people fleeing conflict, persecution and violence are trying to reach safety in Europe. Others are escaping poverty. Many travel by sea. Despite the risks of the journey across the Mediterranean – which claimed 3,500 lives in 2014 - and despite bad weather conditions, the first three and half months of 2015 saw record numbers of refugees and migrants attempting to cross into Europe by sea, with over 21,000 arriving in Italy.

 

Italy’s decision, in agreement with the European Union, to end the Italian Navy’s humanitarian search and rescue operation Mare Nostrum at the end of 2014, after it had saved tens of thousands of people at sea, has not had the deterrent effect some European governments had hoped for. The decision to end the Italian Navy’s humanitarian operation, Mare Nostrum, at the end of 2014, has contributed to a dramatic increase in migrant and refugee deaths at sea. If figures from the latest incidents are confirmed, as many as 1,700 people will have perished this year, 100 times more than in the same period in 2014.

 

On 18 April 2015 estimates suggest that more than 800 migrants and refugees drowned during an attempted rescue by a merchant ship. Their boat capsized as those on board surged to one side, according to the coast guard. "They threw a rope ladder...Many tried to get on it and the boat capsized …I fell into the water…Immirdan, a Syrian woman died with her one-year old son.”

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