UN chief calls for refugee action

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed yesterday to governments to step up their response to Europe's migrant crisis following more drowning at sea and the discovery of migrant bodies in an abandoned truck in Austria.

Ban praised leaders and communities who were taking action to cope with the flow of migrants, but added: "Much more is required."

"I appeal to all governments involved to provide comprehensive responses, expand safe and legal channels of migration and act with humanity, compassion and in accordance with their international obligations," he said.

The UN chief said he was "horrified and heartbroken" by the loss of lives in the Mediterranean and the grim discovery of more than 70 bodies crammed inside a truck that was abandoned near the Austrian border with Hungary.

Indications are that many of the victims were Syrian refugees, including children.

The UN chief called for a "collective political response" to avert "a crisis of solidarity".

He called on states involved to "expand safe and legal channels of migration".

On Thursday 71 people, thought to be Syrians, were found dead in a lorry in Austria. Some 200 others are feared dead after two boats sank off Libya.

Ban said he was "horrified and heartbroken" at the latest loss of life.

"A large majority of people undertaking these arduous and dangerous journeys are refugees fleeing from places such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.

"The international community must also show greater determination in resolving conflicts and other problems that leave people little choice but to flee," he added.

Ban called on nations to observe international law on asylum requests, and not to "force people to return to places from which they have fled if there is a well-founded fear of persecution... This is not only a matter of international law; it is also our duty as human beings."

He said: "This is a human tragedy that requires a determined collective political response. It is a crisis of solidarity, not a crisis of numbers."

Ban also urged more action against people smugglers, a call echoed by White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

"The violence and instability in North Africa and the Middle East isn't just destabilising the immediate region but is starting to have a destabilising impact on other regions of the world too, including in Europe," Earnest said.

Some 200 people are feared to have drowned after two boats capsized on Thursday as they tried to cross from Zuwara, west of Tripoli in Libya, to Italy.

About 100 bodies have already been found and Libyan workers are continuing to search for 100 other people who are still unaccounted for.

Some survivors were rescued having spent the night in the water, clinging to life jackets.

"The Mediterranean Sea continues to be a death trap for refugees and migrants," said Ban in a statement.

The UN chief announced plans to convene a special meeting on September 30, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, to discuss global concerns about migration.

Police in Italy detained 10 suspected traffickers after a separate incident in which 52 people were found dead in the hold of a ship off the coast of Libya on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Hungarian police said they had arrested four people over the discovery of the bodies of 71 migrants, thought to be Syrians, in an abandoned lorry in Austria, near the Hungarian border.

The victims were 59 men, eight women and four children who are thought to have been dead for about two days.

Officials said the victims probably died after suffocating in the vehicle, before it crossed into Austria from Hungary. Among the victims was a girl aged between one and two years old.

Tens of thousands of migrants from conflict-hit states in the Middle East and Africa have been trying to make their way to Europe in recent months.

A record number of 107,500 migrants crossed the EU's borders last month.

Some of them pay large sums of money to people smugglers to get them through borders illegally.

The UNHCR says more than 2,500 people have died trying to reach Europe so far in 2015, not including Thursday's deaths.

[From BBC, AFP]