The UN refugee agency UNHCR called for European Union (EU) member states to reactivate search and rescue operations and acknowledge the crucial role of aid groups’ vessels in saving lives at sea. “The tragedy of the Mediterranean cannot be allowed to continue,” Charlie Yaxley, spokesman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in a statement. The EU struck a deal with Ankara in 2016 to cut off refugee and migrant flows to Greece from Turkey. “Of course the number of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean are much lower. So, that points to the fact that the journeys themselves are much more dangerous,” UNHCR spokeswoman Liz Throssell told Reuters Television.

Source: bd News24 October 01, 2019 15:33 UTC