STATEMENT ON DEATHS FOLLOWING MIGRANT BOAT SHIPWRECK OFF COAST OF GREECE

BRUSSELS, 15 June - Following reports of a migrant boat being shipwrecked off the coast of Greece, Daniel Gorevan, Senior Advocacy Advisor at Save the Children, said: 

“Reports of at least 78 migrants dead off the coast of Greece are shocking. According to initial testimonies from survivors, 100 children were in the hold, with the death toll expected to increase.   

“These deaths are tragically not unexpected. Member States have gone to extraordinary lengths to close off all routes to children and their families seeking safety in Europe. Often their only option is to take dangerous journeys by boat, and tragedies like this sinking are the inevitable, deadly result,”   

“The fact that people continue to die in the Mediterranean should be a wakeup call for EU governments and institutions currently negotiating the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which risks doubling down on the approach of deterrence and containment at EU borders, making the Mediterranean the deadliest migration route in the world.”