Saved: International Law Needs to Protect Asylum Seekers

Images of the Mediterranean's mass graveyard have horrified the world, which has done little to stop these atrocities from occurring. Just recently, about 1,200 people died on the treacherous journey across the sea. According to the International Organization for Migration, the Mediterranean death toll so far this year is thirty times higher than at this point in record-breaking 2014. The EU has responded by vowing to combat the criminal networks that bring migrants to its shores and tightening border controls. But treating migration as a criminal and security issue risks sacrificing migrants' human rights on the altar of state sovereignty. Population displacement and human smuggling are international problems that reach far beyond Europe. These international problems demand an international solution....

Continue reading: http://nationalinterest.org/feature/saved-international-law-needs-protect-asylum-seekers-12756