The UN is calling for “safe and legal routes” to be guaranteed for migrants after the shipwreck in Calabria

The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, called this Sunday to guarantee safe and legal routes in the Mediterranean, after lamenting the sinking of a boat that killed at least 60 migrants off the coast of Calabria, Italy. Another terrible shipwreck took the lives of dozens of people, including children, this time off the Italian coast. I say again: everyone who seeks a better life deserves safety and dignity,” he said, before noting that “we need safe and legal routes for migrants and refugees.”

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, who also expressed shock at the shipwreck, indicated that “it is time for states to stop to discuss and agree on fair measuresefficient and shared to avoid new tragedies.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) jointly reiterated that the European Union’s rescue mechanisms are necessary, for which they asked member states to “increase the resources and capacity to carry out their responsibilities effectively.

The UNHCR representative for Italy, the Holy See and San Marino, Chiara Cardoletti, echoed this idea, saying that “in a historical context, characterized by people who fleeing conflict and persecution, it is more necessary than ever to strengthen rescue capacitywhich is still not enough to avoid such tragedies.

“It is unacceptable to witness such horrors, and families and children are entrusted with dilapidated and unseaworthy ships. This tragedy must lead us to act immediately,” he said, according to the press release.

For his part, the director of the IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean, Laurence Hart, stated that “this tragedy shows that all European countries must address the phenomenon of migration by sea with an approach that looks more at the multiple causes that force people to flee their countries as well of origin and transit countries in these dramatic conditions.

The Italian coast guard reported this Sunday that at least 60 people died, including several children, when a boat carrying about 200 migrants capsized in the south of the country. More than a hundred people are still missing. Sources consulted by the Italian media state that the ship was completely overloaded, which is why it sank in the waters of Steccato di Cutro, in the municipality of Crotona.

The ship, explained the Italian financial guard, involved in identification and rescue tasks on the coasts of the country, left four days ago from the Turkish port of Izmir, and last night he was spotted by a plane of the European agency Frontex. According to Italian authorities, a Frontex aircraft notified the Crotone operations department, but the terrible sea conditions forced the team to turn back.