Latest migrants tragedy highlights shared responsibility of all countries: UN

The latest loss of life in the Mediterranean highlighted the absolute need for destination countries to adopt a new approach to migration that places the rights of migrants at the forefront, a UN body said on Thursday.

"States of origin, destination and transit must also address the root causes that lead to smuggling and trafficking in persons," the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers (CMW) said in a statement.

According to media reports, about 400 migrants died on Monday in an attempt to reach Italy from Libya when their boat capsized, the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean where the death toll from shipwrecks has surged this year.

"Monday's shipwreck with the reported loss of hundreds of lives is a human rights tragedy, not a natural tragedy, and once again evidence that the issue of irregular migration needs to be addressed through a comprehensive human rights-based approach, and that is the shared responsibility of all countries," said Pablo Ceriani, a member of the CMW.

"We can no longer view these tragedies as some kind of administrative issue, overlooking the human dimension in all this. We are losing human lives, the lives of men, women and children. Irregular migration is a phenomenon that affects all of us in all regions of the world and that is why we need a durable solution," another member of CMW Khedidja Ladjel told the press.

Given the severity and repetition of such tragedies, the Committee asserts that it is time for countries to make a clear commitment to ensure a comprehensive rights-based approach to migration, including its root causes, through short, medium and long-term measures at national, bilateral, regional and global level.

The UN Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers also repeated its call to all countries to ratify the International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families, which to date has only been ratified by 47 states. Most major countries of destination have not ratified it.

"The Convention sets out the best strategy to prevent abuses and address the challenges that migrant workers face. It also provides guidance on the elaboration of national migration policies for international co-operation based on respect for human rights and rule of law," said CMW Chairperson Francisco Carrion Mena. Endit