04/06/2007 President
Strasbourg, 04.06.2007 - “Europe squabbles while people drown,” Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President René van der Linden said today when asked to comment on the 18 bodies found floating off the South Coast of Malta last Friday.
“Europe is losing sight of its responsibilities,” he continued, referring to the other incident last week when 27 shipwrecked Africans spent 3 days clinging to tuna fish nets in the Mediterranean while states argues over responsibility for the shipwrecked people.
“Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights is clear, it requires member states to protect the right to life of all. This is not a migration management issue,” he said.
“This is a human rights and humanitarian issue for which states have strict obligations to respect the right to life. Arguing over responsibility while people are neck-high in water, or ignoring boats in distress without sending assistance, are not signs of states getting tough on irregular migrants. These are signs of states flouting their responsibilities towards people in distress in life and death situations,” Mr van der Linden concluded.