Italian PM Matteo Renzi has led calls for more European Union action on sea migration after the latest deadly capsize of a boat in the Mediterranean.
Demanding a summit on the issue, Mr Renzi said trafficking was "a plague in our continent" and bemoaned the lack of European solidarity.
The 20m (70ft) long boat was believed to be carrying up to 700 migrants, and only 28 survivors have been rescued.
Up to 1,500 migrants are now feared to have drowned this year alone.
Human smugglers are taking advantage of the political crisis in Libya to use it as a launching point for boats carrying migrants who are fleeing violence or economic hardship in Africa and the Middle East.
'Slavery of 21st Century'
Mr Renzi singled out Libya as the key problem, saying it was the starting point for about 90% of the migrants reaching Italy by sea.
He said more rescue boats was not the issue, rather it was stopping the boats from departing.
Analysis: BBC world affairs correspondent Richard Galpin
Presidents, prime ministers and the Pope have all described their horror at the massive loss of life and spoken of the need to do something quickly to stop it.
But will their powerful and emotional statements lead to a new EU approach to tackling the migrant crisis, including the provision of more ships capable of search and rescue?
Deep divisions between the 28 EU member states were laid bare last year when Italy stopped its search-and-rescue operations after plucking more than 100,000 people from the sea.
The EU replaced it with a much smaller operation run by its border control agency Frontex, which has a limited mandate, a third of the budget and a fraction of the manpower used by the Italian navy.
Some Italian politicians had called for a naval blockade but Mr Renzi said this would only help the smugglers as there would be more ships to rescue migrants.
Urging the EU summit, Mr Renzi said: "It is unthinkable that in the face of such a tragedy, there isn't the feeling of solidarity which Europe has shown in other instances."
He added: "We ask not to be left alone, not so much when it comes to emergencies at sea, but to stop the trafficking of human beings."
He said the trafficking was "a plague in our continent - the slavery of the 21st Century".
No comments:
Post a Comment