UN calls for actions to minimize deaths of migrants in Mediterranean

UN General Assembly President Sam Kutesa on Thursday called for an immediate increase of patrolling of the Mediterranean sea as well as search and rescue operations in order to minimize deaths of migrants.

At a press conference here, Kutesa said he called on the international community to do everything possible to address the pull factors and the underlying causes that resulted in such kind of tragic migrations.

Ever since Sunday's migrant shipwreck which might have caused 800 deaths in international waters south of Italy's Sicily, the UN has been putting pressure on the European countries to take concrete and appropriate actions to address its migrant crisis.

Earlier Thursday, ahead of a European Union Summit on the migrant issue, several UN humanitarian bodies, including UN Refugee Agency, launched a joint statement, urging European leaders to put human life, rights, respect and dignity first when agreeing upon a common response to the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing here.

"The range of measures under consideration should include the setting of a State-led, robust, proactive and well-resourced search-and-rescue operation; the creation of sufficient channels for safe and regular migration; and a firm commitment to receive significantly higher numbers of refugees," said Dujarric.

The Mediterranean Sea, which UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described as "a sea of misery," has witnessed frequent migrant tragedies with deaths of thousands of migrants. Earlier this week, Ban also spoke with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi via phone, underscoring the need for a joint European rescue-at-sea mechanism in this region to ensure safe and regular avenues of migration and access to protection. Enditem