Migrant crisis needs collective response ’

GENEVA – Some 150 000 migrants and refugees have so far this year made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe, and more than 1 900 of them have died.

The International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) recent announcement came just a month after the 100 000-mark was passed, and the United Nations warned the surge in arrivals was creating humanitarian crises that required a “collective and far-reaching” European response.

Nearly all of the people who have crossed the Mediterranean so far this year have landed in Italy, that has counted around 75 000 arrivals, and Greece, which has seen the numbers explode.

So far this year, more than 77 000 people have landed on Greek shores, compared with only 34 442 for all of 2014, according to the UN refugee agency, that on Friday warned the country was facing a “growing humanitarian crisis”.

“On average, 1 000 arrive every day on the Greek islands,” UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said.

“The numbers of people arriving are now so high that despite all efforts, the authorities and local communities can no longer cope, ” he warned.

The crisis is being felt further afield as well.

Nearly all of the migrants and refugees who arrive in Greece, where the reception capacity is “completely overwhelmed ”, move on, trying to reach western and northern Europe by passing through the western Balkans region.

As Europe grapples with how to handle the massive numbers who make it to its shores, IOM spokesman Joel Millman pointed out that 1 914 people had died trying to cross the Mediterranean.

“That is about double last year ’ s pace,” he said, lamenting that this past week had been particularly deadly.

Last week the Italian coastguard said it had rescued 823 migrants in eight different operations, and had pulled 12 bodies from the water. –