News / Society
Bristol academics report on refugee crisis
On Bank Holiday Monday, when most people in the UK were enjoying a day off in the sunshine, about 6,500 refugees were rescued off the coast of Libya in one of the biggest rescue missions of the year so far.
The Italian coast guards said it carried out 40 separate rescue missions and a five-day-old baby was amongst those saved from dangerously overcrowded, sinking boats.
But they were the lucky ones.
is needed now More than ever
In 2015 and the first half of 2016, more than 6,600 refugees and migrants drowned or went missing in the Mediterranean after their boats capsized while trying to reach Europe.
Now, researchers from the University of Bristol have helped to compile a dossier which may help with the identification of bodies and trace the families of missing migrants.
For the past year academics Ann Singleton and Adrián Carrasco Heiermann have worked as part of an international team on the islands of Lesbos and Sicily looking at how the authorities dealt with the bodies of migrants, as well as interviewing the families of dead and missing migrants .
Their report says many of the bodies are never identified, that the families at home face never finding out what has happened to their loved ones, and suggests ways in which the system could be improved.
Adrián Carrasco Heierman said: “In both Greece and Italy, efforts to contact the families of the missing have been largely frustrated, with the result that few data have been collected from families of missing migrants, preventing identifications. The result of this is bodies being buried unidentified, with little prospect of their being identified in the future.”
Ann Singleton said: “The report is a significant contribution to finding a solution to the tragic consequences of the humanitarian, migration and policy crisis.
“It is to be hoped that policy makers across Europe will act on the findings. If so, the report should lead to new policies that will make a positive, practical difference.”
Read more: Bristol rises up to help refugees
Main image credit: Mstyslav Chernov/Unframe
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
