2,500 migrant children could die in 2015 unless EU acts

(Vatican Radio)  “Save the Children” is predicting that 2,500 children could die this year in the Mediterranean unless Europe acts to save lives.

The figure is the result of a projection based on current migration trends.

Speaking to Linda Bordoni, “Save the Children” communication manager, Sarah Tyler who is at the Sicilian Port of Augusta where rescued migrants are being brought ashore, said the charity is calling on EU leaders meeting in Brussels tomorrow to agree to restart search and rescue operations off the coast of Italy within 48 hours.

“Every child who dies in the open sea is one too many – she says - and these deaths can be prevented”.

Listen to the interview:

Sarah Tyler says she has just witnessed the landing of 447 migrants rescued by the Italian Navy off the waters of Egypt. She says that amongst them were 95 women and 59 minors; “we also saw three pregnant women and four people that were taken to hospital” for urgent medical treatment.

Tyler says the migrants came from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Somalia and Egypt.

Tyler says “We were surprised at how many children there were on board and this is because there were a lot of Syrians: I spoke to a mother and she had three children with her – they were 9 years old, 6 and 3 and a half – and they said they had to travel through Sudan, they were very tired, they thanked God they had made it to Italy, and she said ‘we fled Syria, we came to Italy to save our children’s lives’”.

Their trip – she says – took five months in total.

Tyler explains that Save the Children is predicting that at least 2,500 minors may die this year if the European Union does not reinstate a Search and Rescue Mission.

Recalling that the previous Search and Rescue Mission ended in November 2014, she says that what we have now is an Order and Defense System that is not set up to save lives: “every child who dies in the open sea is one death to many, and tragically this can be prevented”.

Regarding the journey itself, the survivors tell tales that are horrific. Tyler says that especially those minors who have been detained in cells in Libya tell of the rape of women and boys before their eyes, of beatings with iron bars, of being deprived of enough food and water. 

She says that some of them are passed from one smuggling network to another: “they describe Libya as a living hell”.

“Every day, every hour that the European Union does not make a decision, more and more children will die – and this is preventable” Tyler says.