Higgins86
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2011
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BBC News - Lampedusa disaster: Europe's migrant dilemma
I'm sure all of you are aware of the tragedy that happened last week off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy where hundreds died trying to reach the Italian coastline. Between 1 January and 30 September this year, 30,100 migrants reached Italy on boats from North Africa and with recent events it opens up the discussion about Europe's asylum system.
"Greece, Italy and Malta have complained that the EU's current asylum system puts an unfair burden on them.
Under the EU's Dublin II Regulation asylum requests have to be handled by the country where the asylum seeker first arrived in the EU."
Currently 90% of asylum seekers are taken in by just 10 EU countries meaning their is plenty of room for improvement from the other states. Since 1988 nearly 20,000 asylum seekers have died on route to Europe, so should the EU be spending more money in the Mediterranean policing these routes or is this not the EU's responsibility? Is it our moral obligation to accept asylum seekers and make their route safer or in this time of financial hardship is it unfair to expect EU members to shell out more money? Should other members be forced to accept asylum seekers so they can share some of the burden with nations like Greece and Italy?
I'm sure all of you are aware of the tragedy that happened last week off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy where hundreds died trying to reach the Italian coastline. Between 1 January and 30 September this year, 30,100 migrants reached Italy on boats from North Africa and with recent events it opens up the discussion about Europe's asylum system.
"Greece, Italy and Malta have complained that the EU's current asylum system puts an unfair burden on them.
Under the EU's Dublin II Regulation asylum requests have to be handled by the country where the asylum seeker first arrived in the EU."
Currently 90% of asylum seekers are taken in by just 10 EU countries meaning their is plenty of room for improvement from the other states. Since 1988 nearly 20,000 asylum seekers have died on route to Europe, so should the EU be spending more money in the Mediterranean policing these routes or is this not the EU's responsibility? Is it our moral obligation to accept asylum seekers and make their route safer or in this time of financial hardship is it unfair to expect EU members to shell out more money? Should other members be forced to accept asylum seekers so they can share some of the burden with nations like Greece and Italy?