EU refugee policy branded criminal as 441 die in Mediterranean

Jerome Hughes

Press TV, Brussels

The International Organization for Migration, a UN body, says more than 20,000 refugees have drowned in the Central Mediterranean since 2014 whilst trying to reach the EU. This year, in January, February and March, 441 have perished.

The EU's asylum policy has been slated during a debate in the European Parliament. The EU is paying billions of euro to Turkey and Libya to manage refugee flows. Campaigners say detention centers in Libya are particularly bad.

Western powers have been accused of relentlessly creating refugee crises. They're now being urged to deal with the root causes.

The Italian Government has declared a state of emergency because 31,000 refugees have arrived into the country since January.

During the debate the point was made that one million Ukrainian refugees have arrived into another EU nation, Poland, with no state of emergency declared. The question has been asked, is it the case that those arriving into Italy simply have the wrong colored skin for EU authorities?

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