Indifference towards people on the move needs to end in 2016: IFRC

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned on Wednesday that indifference towards refugees and migrants seeking better lives in Europe continues to prevail despite a death toll which is showing no sign of abating.

"This tragic start to 2016 shows the harrowing lessons of last year have not been learned. The death of dozens of people trying to reach Europe has been greeted by near silence. We cannot become immune to these tragedies," IFRC Under-Secretary General Garry Conille said in a statement.

According to the agency, over 30 people, including several children, have lost their lives since the beginning of the year while 1,750 people have been rescued off the coast of Lesvos by Hellenic Red Cross volunteers in the past five days.

"Every day, thousands of people - babies in pushchairs, grandparents in wheelchairs, children, women and men - are risking their lives in the hope that wherever their journey ends will be safer than the home they left," Conille explained.

"We must put an end to the appalling indifference that is seeing lives jeopardized and lost," he added.

IFRC noted that despite adverse winter conditions, the number of people reaching European soil has not diminished amid figures showing that Greece is still receiving some 3,000 people every day. Endit