The UN Secretary General maintains that Europe must invest in a mechanism to control migration from Africa, considering that it is not only the border countries that must make an effort.
The Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, appealed this Wednesday to “European solidarity” and called for effective mechanisms to combat migratory flows from North Africa to Europe.
“It is essential to accept the concept of European responsibility, because the effort cannot focus only on border countries,” Guterres said during a press conference in New York to present his priorities for the UN General Assembly High-Level Week, which begins next week. The Secretary General insisted that this This is not a problem exclusive to the countries receiving these migratory flows, but rather to the entire European continent.Therefore, he called for the creation of effective mechanisms to share this pressure.
Guterres’ statements come a few hours after the island of Lampedusa, in Italy, reached a new historical record arrival of immigrants in a single day (between six thousand and seven thousand, according to different estimates).
The large number of arrivals ended overwhelm local infrastructure, where on Tuesday there was a traffic jam of boats waiting to disembark on the small Sicilian island. The reception center (hotspot) of Lampedusa, with capacity for 400 people, is completely overcrowded, with around 6 thousand immigrants.
Guterres acknowledged that some of these migrants arrive via Humanitarian reasonsso these people should be considered refugees, while others do so in the hope of improve your economic prospects. The representative stressed that this distinction is important, highlighting, however, that in both cases “human rights” must be respected.
Although the figures are constantly evolving, so far this year 123,863 immigrants have landed in Italy, almost double the 65,517 of the same period in 2022 and triple that of 2021 (41,286), according to updated data from the Ministry of the Interior. In Spain, 21,025 people entered this year, the majority (40%) in the summer months.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Salvini, regretted this Wednesday the situation on the island of Lampedusa, arguing that this scenario is a demonstration of “failure of europe“. “What is happening in Lampedusa and today in Strasbourg is simply the failure of Europe to reach an agreement with the socialists,” said the leader of the League (far-right party), speaking at the Press Association Foreigner in Rome.
And he added: “The landings (of immigrants) are the symbol of a non-existent, distant, distracted and complicit Europe, which It abandons countries when it comes to facing problems.“.
Italy, Greece, Spain and Malta are recognized as “front line” countries in terms of arrivals of irregular immigrants to Europe.
Source: Observadora
