Italy must not be left to
deal with the ongoing Mediterranean migrant crisis on its own,
the United Nations said Tuesday.
"The task of facing the massive flow of migrants (fleeing
war in Africa and the Middle East) should not be left up to one
country alone," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
"An international effort must be made".
Dujarric's comments followed on reports by the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that since the
beginning of the year 1,889 migrants have died in the
Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe.
Of those, 1,600 lost their lives since the beginning of
June.
"There must be urgent, joint European action," said UNHCR.
Italy's southernmost islands are the first landfall for
those departing from north African countries such as Libya.
It set up a migrant search-and-rescue operation called Mare
Nostrum (Our Sea) last October, after 366 migrants perished in
two boat disasters off the coast of the Sicilian island of
Lampedusa.
Italy has repeatedly called on the European Union to share
in the mission, which Navy officials said costs nine million
euros a month.
It will present a package of measures to spread the burden
of Mediterranean migrant rescue operations to EU interior
ministers in October, government sources said.
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