The headlines are full of reports of people drowning in the Mediterranean. Aid organizations and authorities are working day and night to provide the survivors with the bare necessities. The 10-point plan proposed by the EU shows no serious will to end these tragedies. It should be clear to everyone by now that there is no point in just fighting migration. Other demands are appropriate.
In the last twenty years, at least 15,000 people have died in the sea off the European coast. One or two tragedies a year, in which the number of deaths stands out quantitatively, shake up the public. The death of around 800 people last Sunday was no exception. While adequate political responses are lacking, local organizations in the Mediterranean countries continue to work in a state of permanent emergency and try to alleviate the greatest suffering of those refugees who survived the journey in the short term. These include many children and young people.
Financial support extended
One of these organizations is Terre des hommes Italy, which is currently expanding its operations. Terre des hommes Italy is working in the Sicilian province of Syracuse in reception centers with unaccompanied refugee minors and families with children. While most organizations focus on meeting basic physical needs such as health, food and accommodation – the conditions in the reception centers are usually extremely precarious – Terre des hommes specializes in psychological support. terre des hommes schweiz has decided to expand its financial support for this work as an immediate measure.
The people, especially children and young people, should be able to process their traumatic experiences. This reduces the risk of long-term psychological illnesses. Terre des hommes also offers legal support. The organization is now about to expand its activities to the province of Ragusa. Alongside Syracuse, the province of Ragusa is the place where most refugees arrive in Sicily.
Emergency aid work alone is not enough, however, as the flow of refugees will not stop. Political and solidarity-based solutions are needed.
The 10-point plan adopted by the EU in response to the latest mass deaths in the Mediterranean can only be described as cynical. Measure 5, for example, proposes to record the fingerprints of all refugees. This is in response to the fact that another 800 people have drowned. They took the risk of crossing the Mediterranean because they wanted to escape poverty and violence in their country of origin. The sole purpose of fingerprinting is to make it easier to deport the survivors of this and future disasters.
Together with numerous other development organizations, we are calling for this:
