SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
UK's Plan to Use 'Death as Deterrence Appalling': UN Human Rights Expert
UK dropping search and rescue efforts in Mediterranean wrong and cruel approach, rights advocates say
Oct 31, 2014
The UK's announcement this week that it would not support search and rescue operations to save migrants in the Mediterranean Sea is "appalling" and an affront to human dignity, a United Nations human rights expert has said.
The UK's declaration came out earlier this month in a statement to Parliament but was widely reported on Tuesday.
Carrying out search and rescue missions just encourages other migrants to take the perilous journey, the government said.
"We do not support planned search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean," Joyce Anelay, minister of state for the Foreign Office, stated.
"We believe that they create an unintended 'pull factor,' encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing and thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths," she said.
Francois Crepeau, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, stated Thursday that it essentially means the UK is willing to let migrants drown to serve as an ineffective migration deterrent.
"Governments that do not support the search and rescue efforts have reduced themselves to the same level as the smugglers," Crepeau stated. "They are preying on the precariousness of the migrants and asylum seekers, robbing them of their dignity and playing with their lives."
"Migrants are human beings and just like the rest of us they too have rights. They too have the right to live and thrive. To bank on the rise in the number of dead migrants to act as deterrence for future migrants and asylum seekers is appalling. It's like saying, let them die because this is a good deterrence," he said.
"Moreover, the increasing number of persons fleeing from conflict, violence and oppression requires a new and concerted strategic approach by European States towards asylum seekers," he added.
Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK Director, also denounced the UK's dropping of supporting for search and rescue efforts, stating: "This is a very dark day for the moral standing of the UK."
"History will judge this decision as unforgivable. When the hour came, the UK turned its back on despairing people and left them to drown," Allen stated.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that 3,200 migrants have died so far this year attempting to cross the Mediterranean. In a report (pdf) issued last month, the organization states that the Mediterranean is "the deadliest sea in the world for migrants."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The UK's announcement this week that it would not support search and rescue operations to save migrants in the Mediterranean Sea is "appalling" and an affront to human dignity, a United Nations human rights expert has said.
The UK's declaration came out earlier this month in a statement to Parliament but was widely reported on Tuesday.
Carrying out search and rescue missions just encourages other migrants to take the perilous journey, the government said.
"We do not support planned search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean," Joyce Anelay, minister of state for the Foreign Office, stated.
"We believe that they create an unintended 'pull factor,' encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing and thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths," she said.
Francois Crepeau, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, stated Thursday that it essentially means the UK is willing to let migrants drown to serve as an ineffective migration deterrent.
"Governments that do not support the search and rescue efforts have reduced themselves to the same level as the smugglers," Crepeau stated. "They are preying on the precariousness of the migrants and asylum seekers, robbing them of their dignity and playing with their lives."
"Migrants are human beings and just like the rest of us they too have rights. They too have the right to live and thrive. To bank on the rise in the number of dead migrants to act as deterrence for future migrants and asylum seekers is appalling. It's like saying, let them die because this is a good deterrence," he said.
"Moreover, the increasing number of persons fleeing from conflict, violence and oppression requires a new and concerted strategic approach by European States towards asylum seekers," he added.
Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK Director, also denounced the UK's dropping of supporting for search and rescue efforts, stating: "This is a very dark day for the moral standing of the UK."
"History will judge this decision as unforgivable. When the hour came, the UK turned its back on despairing people and left them to drown," Allen stated.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that 3,200 migrants have died so far this year attempting to cross the Mediterranean. In a report (pdf) issued last month, the organization states that the Mediterranean is "the deadliest sea in the world for migrants."
The UK's announcement this week that it would not support search and rescue operations to save migrants in the Mediterranean Sea is "appalling" and an affront to human dignity, a United Nations human rights expert has said.
The UK's declaration came out earlier this month in a statement to Parliament but was widely reported on Tuesday.
Carrying out search and rescue missions just encourages other migrants to take the perilous journey, the government said.
"We do not support planned search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean," Joyce Anelay, minister of state for the Foreign Office, stated.
"We believe that they create an unintended 'pull factor,' encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing and thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths," she said.
Francois Crepeau, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, stated Thursday that it essentially means the UK is willing to let migrants drown to serve as an ineffective migration deterrent.
"Governments that do not support the search and rescue efforts have reduced themselves to the same level as the smugglers," Crepeau stated. "They are preying on the precariousness of the migrants and asylum seekers, robbing them of their dignity and playing with their lives."
"Migrants are human beings and just like the rest of us they too have rights. They too have the right to live and thrive. To bank on the rise in the number of dead migrants to act as deterrence for future migrants and asylum seekers is appalling. It's like saying, let them die because this is a good deterrence," he said.
"Moreover, the increasing number of persons fleeing from conflict, violence and oppression requires a new and concerted strategic approach by European States towards asylum seekers," he added.
Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK Director, also denounced the UK's dropping of supporting for search and rescue efforts, stating: "This is a very dark day for the moral standing of the UK."
"History will judge this decision as unforgivable. When the hour came, the UK turned its back on despairing people and left them to drown," Allen stated.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that 3,200 migrants have died so far this year attempting to cross the Mediterranean. In a report (pdf) issued last month, the organization states that the Mediterranean is "the deadliest sea in the world for migrants."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.