17 people dead in new migrant tragedy

The Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni described migration across the Mediterranean on the 5 December 2014 as 'one of the great European problems, following a further tragedy - the death of 17 people on an Italy-bound boat.

These were the first death following the start of the EU Operation Triton launched in November 2014 to replace the Italian Mare Nostrum programme.

'These latest deaths show yet again how vital it is that the EU maintains adequate search and rescue capacity along the routes taken by those fleeing conflict and persecution. The down-sizing of Italy’s search and rescue operation without an effective EU-wide replacement is putting the lives of hundreds of thousands at risk', said John Dalhuisen, Director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International.

• Primary Source

BBC News, 05.12.14: Seventeen migrants die in Mediterranean - Italian navy http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30344627

ESO: Background information: The Price of Hope: Traffickers Profit as Asylum Seekers Head for Europe http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-price-of-hope-traffickers-profit-as-asylum-seekers-head-for-europe/

ESO: Background information: EU solidarity abandoned on Mediterranean shores http://www.europeansources.info/record/eu-solidarity-abandoned-on-mediterranean-shores/

ESO: Background information: Migrants in the Mediterranean: Europe's new disappeared http://www.europeansources.info/record/migrants-in-the-mediterranean-europes-new-disappeared/

Amnesty International: EU Office: Press Release, 05.12.14: More deaths in the Mediterranean Sea highlight need for EU-wide search and rescue plan http://www.amnesty.eu/en/news/press-releases/all/more-deaths-in-the-mediterranean-sea-highlight-need-for-eu-wide-search-and-rescue-plan-0823/

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