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The TUC is calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to work with other EU leaders at the extraordinary summit being held tomorrow (Thursday) to extend search and rescue operations for migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as taking action to promote stability and peace in the countries where refugees are fleeing. Over 800 people are estimated to have died on Sunday when their fishing boat capsized.

22 April 2015

The TUC is calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to work with other EU leaders at the extraordinary summit being held tomorrow (Thursday) to extend search and rescue operations for migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as taking action to promote stability and peace in the countries where refugees are fleeing. Over 800 people are estimated to have died on Sunday when their fishing boat capsized. 

Last year EU leaders replaced the ‘Mare Nostrum’ search and rescue operation, which found and saved more than 100,000 migrants at sea, with ‘Triton’ – a border patrol operation with less than a third of the budget, partly due to UK government decisions to refuse to pay. At the time, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), to which the TUC, belongs condemned the move.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“The huge number of migrants who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean this year alone must move EU leaders to immediately resume the ‘Mare Nostrum’ search and rescue operation. It is inexcusable that this operation which could have prevented the deaths of migrants at sea was stopped last year. 

“Only stability and social justice at home will stop desperate people risking the crossing to Europe. But we shouldn’t let austerity and euro-scepticism obstruct the EU’s humanitarian duty to protect those fleeing war and poverty.”

ETUC General Secretary elect Luca Visentini said:

“The world’s richest nations cannot sit by and watch desperate people drown in their thousands just off the EU’s coastline. The deaths that have followed the end of search and rescue operations last year were entirely predictable, and are all the more reprehensible as a result. Those who said that search and rescue just encouraged migration should hold their heads in shame.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- ETUC press statement on 20 April 2015: http://www.etuc.org/press/crisis-med-needs-emergency-council-action#.VTZ-wU3QN1s

- ETUC press statement on International Migrants’ Day 12 December 2014: http://www.etuc.org/press/international-migrants-day#.VTZ_Z03QN1t

- ETUC statement on 2 December 2014: http://www.etuc.org/press/sos-mare-nostrum#.VTZ_ZE3QN1t

- ETUC resolution for a more effective protection of migrants and refugees, their lives and their rights on the EU's borders, 2-3 December 2013: http://www.etuc.org/documents/etuc-resolution-more-effective-protection-migrants-and-refugees-their-lives-and-their#.VTZ_0U3QN1v

- The TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady has written to the UK Prime Minister David Cameron on the subject of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. Full text of the letter:

Dear David

Emergency European Council on Thursday 23 April

The TUC General Council has been following with concern the latest tragic events in the Mediterranean and we welcome the emergency European Council convened for Thursday 23 April, to consider the ten-point action plan agreed at the meeting in Luxemburg on Monday. Together with our colleagues in the European Trade Union Confederation – in particular those in the receiving countries such as Greece, Italy and Malta – we have been pressing for action for many months.

While we welcome the plan you will be considering on Thursday, we believe more could be done to avoid the death of more migrants and refugees at sea. The plan rightly calls for increased financial resources and the number of assets to support operations Triton and Poseidon, and that has to include a contribution from countries such as the UK – this is a Europe-wide problem requiring Europe-wide solutions. However we believe the mandate of these operations ought to change in terms of their territorial scope as well as to include search and rescue, as was the case for the operation Mare Nostrum.

The TUC does not believe that simply policing borders (the mandate of operation Triton) will stop the waves of migrants and refugees. We don’t believe either that reinstating a fully-fledged search and rescue mission will act as a pull factor since the number of migrants attempting the crossing has not gone down as a result of Triton replacing operation Mare Nostrum.

In fact numbers have increased, only to the benefit of human traffickers, who should indeed be captured and brought to justice. We agree with the action plan where it proposes a systematic effort to seize and destroy vessels used by the people smugglers, as well as increased police cooperation to investigate these criminals and trace their funds.

The TUC believes in particular that we need to step up action to ensure stability in the sending countries, as well as an international protection programme in line with the Dublin II regulation and the resettlement arrangements within that.

Finally, solidarity with the countries most affected can be shown in different ways, including by practical means such as establishing welcoming structures under the EU umbrella, and sending doctors or aid to assist the authorities of those countries that are on the front line of registration and processing centres.

I would be grateful if you could let me know what your plans are, beyond the summit on Thursday, to address the many complex factors underpinning any successful action to address the tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean.

Yours sincerely

Frances O’Grady

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