United Nations and Europe

UN Special Rapporteur the Human Rights Migrants: About 170,000 refugees crossed into Europe last year by boat, according to Toronto Star. Nearly 1,600 migrants have drowned this year while crossing the Mediterranean in overloaded smugglers’ vessels, a 1,500-per-cent increase in deaths over last year. After an emergency meeting in Brussels, the EU is seeking United Nations support for its strategy to start bombing what they believe are empty migrant boats on or near the African coast, a move they hope will stop the smugglers in their tracks. Europe is scrambling to stop the human tidal wave before the summer when the sea is calmer and the numbers crossing are expected to far exceed what has ever been recorded. They can’t bomb boats when there are people on board. Canadian François Crépeau, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, said he has no idea how the EU would carry out this military plan. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.