As Sisters of Charity, we join our voice with those – associations, NGOs, public and private bodies and institutions – who are declaring that what is happening in Mare Nostrum is unacceptable: we have the opportunity to save lives, to welcome young people and families fleeing their lands but, consciously and culpably, we do not take action.
Men, women and children are paying with their lives for what should be guaranteed to them, through safe corridors of entry into Europe. This is intolerable.
Urgent and honest reflection on the value of life, any life, whatever its geographic origin, is urgently needed.
Yesterday, August 9, was the latest sinking of a barge that left Tunisia in the Sicilian Channel. More than 40 people are reported to have died, including three children.
Save The Children denounces, “it is feared that more than 2,000 people have died or gone missing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea since the beginning of 2023”. “This is unacceptable and, for the most part, avoidable,” they write, “Italy and Europe take responsibility for creating a coordinated and structured system of search and rescue at sea to save people’s lives and open safe and legal channels of entry”.
Pope Francis, during the flight from Lisbon that brought him back to Rome, announced that he will go to Marseille in September for the meeting on the Mediterranean: “it is a problem that worries me”. “It is criminal to exploit migrants”, he pointed out, returning to talk about the “lagers of North Africa”. “The Mediterranean is a cemetery, but the biggest cemetery is North Africa”.
