World,Who are the people who die in the Mediterranean? (enquête "Guardian")‏

I sent the following letter to the Guardian after reading this report.
It is based on Migreurop's statement on the ending of Mare Nostrum.
They have not published it.
Bill MacKeith


Dear editor,



Many thanks for the report on deaths of migrants at the frontiers of
Europe, especially the Mediterranean (‘It costs $10,000 to get from A
to B’, 21 October). In October 2013, with its ‘Mare Nostrum’ operation
to rescue migrants at sea, Italy took on a responsibility which the
rest of the EU shirked. Mare Nostrum has not been exempt from
criticism – for its military nature, lack of transparency, its
failures, in view of the fact that according to UNHCR 3,000 people
have drowned since the start of this year. But the operation at least
started using a different perspective. Italy’s attempt to enact a mere
‘humanitarian corridor’ adapted to the Euro-Mediterranean context is a
first step.

The Mare Nostrum operation is scheduled to end on 1 November. The
European Commission and the EU Member States have not proposed any
solution to take over from Mare Nostrum. The planned strengthening of
border controls by Frontex through operation Triton in the
Mediterranean (‘Frontex Plus’) is not a sea rescue operation.

However, more than a humanitarian rescue operation is needed. To put
an end to migrants’ deaths in the Mediterranean and elsewhere,
requires increased entry into the European territory for those who
choose it or are forced into exile.

We think of the English Channel as our frontier. In reality, as
experienced by migrants including refugees, the UK frontier is in
Calais, in the Mediterranean and in UK consulates worldwide. To help
resolve, or at least improve, the problems faced by migrants in
Calais, as in Greece, Italy and the Mediterranean, requires action by
the whole of the European Union, and that includes particularly us the
UK.



Bill MacKeith