Announcements
June 20 – World Refugee Day
Despite the considerable improvement of the humanitarian situation by many states, the problem of refugees remains one of the most burning both on religious and global scales.
News tape
Oleksandr Feldman: No ‘tradition’ can justify anti-Semitism in modern society | December 24, 2019
ECHR: Ukraine Must Reform Whole-Life Sentence Review Procedure | March 20, 2019
Court: Germany Can Return Refugees to EU Countries with Worse Life Conditions | March 20, 2019
European Parliament Urges to Introduce New Sanction Regime for Human Rights Violation | March 19, 2019
Eurostst: Numbers of Asylum-Seekers from Ukraine Fell in 2018 | March 19, 2019
News
One in Fifteen Libyan Refugee Died in Mediterranean – UN
Poor funding of search and rescue operations last year in Europe made the Mediterranean Sea the most dangerous route for refugees and migrants – 6 persons on average died at sea every day, UNN informs with reference to the UN Refugee Agency.
In 2018, 2,275 persons died or went missing when trying to reach European coasts by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. The total of nearly 140,000 refugees reached the continent, which is the lowest index for the last 5 years.
“Saving lives at sea is not a choice, nor a matter of politics, but an age-old obligation. We can put an end to these tragedies by having the courage and vision to look beyond the next boat, and adopt a long-term approach based on regional cooperation, that places human life and dignity at its core,” Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said.
It is noted that the changes in the policies of some European countries caused the situation when a big amount of people have been just left at sea for several days without the permission to land, while the ships of NGOs have been restricted in their attempts to carry out rescue operations.
UN has emphasized that “on routes from Libya to Europe, one person died at sea for every 14 who arrived in Europe.”