Red Cross chides Europe for failing migrants

Red Cross Secretary General Elhadj As Sy on Saturday called on European nations to offer solidarity and support to migrants seeking to enter their countries.

As Sy told a news conference in Valencia, Spain that “people are coming to Europe seeking European values, of solidarity and support,” adding that “anything less than that is really a betrayal of Europe itself’‘.

“Now what we are dealing here with is not a problem that we will solve but it is a situation we have to manage because the movement of people and migration will be with us for the next years, decades, you know, to come and unless we act decisively on the push factors – that we have peace, that we have development, you know, we will facing this kind of vulnerabilities that are putting people at risk, so we stand ready to work in partnership and in the long term”, As Sy said.

A naval convoy carrying over 600 migrants from the Aquarius rescue ship arrived in Valencia on Sunday,thus putting an end to a gruelling week-long voyage .

Last week, Italy and Malta refused to take the ship carrying the migrants which was sharply criticised and leaves wide open a fierce debate in Europe over how to handle immigration.

The ship’s plight allowed the new governments of Italy and Spain to assert their respective anti-immigrant and socially-responsible credentials, and highlighted the European Union’s failure to agree on how to manage huge numbers of people fleeing poverty and conflict.

Reuters