Africa: Mediterranean Crossings - Collective Action an Important First Step

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This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at the press briefing, on 24 April 2015, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

This month's incidents on the Mediterranean, and the more than 1700 deaths and almost 40,000 crossings we have seen so far in 2015 are symptoms of an enormous and intensifying tragedy that is playing out on Europe's southern frontiers. The boat crossings are not just a migrant phenomenon, they are a refugee one too - half those who crossed the Mediterranean in 2014 were people seeking refuge from wars and persecution. And for refugees fleeing war, there has to be some alternative to having to cross the Mediterranean in smugglers boats.

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