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Shock and grief for the deadly shipwreck off Pylos

 

15 June 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The deadly shipwreck off the coast of the town of Pylos provokes real shock and untold grief. The full extent of the new maritime tragedy is not yet known, as hundreds of people, including many children, are still missing. We note at the same time, the moving response of Greek citizens in Kalamata who have come forward to provide bare essentials and food to help the survivors.

The deaths in the shipwreck off Pylos follow the 25,000 people who have already perished over the last decade in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea in their efforts to reach Europe. Behind the shipwrecks, the networks of human trafficking, the slave trade, fences and the repression, of course, lie the real causes that are forcing millions of people to flee their homes: ongoing wars, military interventions, poverty and misery in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, for which the EU always bears a huge share of responsibility. Only by radically confronting these causes will the Mediterranean cease to become a sea grave for so many people.

At the same time, these tragic developments point to the recent agreement of the EU Council of Ministers on asylum, which neither ensures solidarity with those in need of protection, nor provides for solidarity with the states of the southern Mediterranean, such as Cyprus and Greece, which are taking almost entirely the responsibility for hosting refugees. The position of the EU Council is at odds with the European Parliament’s position.

What is demanded right now is the establishment of a compulsory mechanism for hosting refugees across all EU member states without exception, according to the capacities and population of each one, in order to replace the Dublin Regulation, which traps asylum seekers in the first country of arrival, that is to say, in the countries of the European south.

 

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