More than 700 refugees have drowned in only three days, as border crackdowns across Europe have forced refugees to make more dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean. The United Nations Children’s Fund says many of the victims were youth fleeing war and violence in their home countries. The majority of the refugees were from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan. Under a European Union plan enacted in April, all refugees arriving in Greece are deported back to Turkey, forcing people to attempt the more dangerous route between Libya and Italy. On Monday, the photo of a German volunteer from the group Sea-Watch holding the body of a drowned child became the latest symbol of the migration crisis. Sea-Watch spokesperson Ruben Neugebauer spoke out.
Ruben Neugebauer: “It’s always a difficult decision to publish such a picture, but in this specific case we decided to send the picture out because of the graveness of the situation. We thought that this material needs to be published because what we see here is the effect of European foreign policy.”