Tri-Service
Life Jacket 'Graveyard' Display Highlights Scale Of Refugee Deaths
The migration crisis that's seen Royal Navy vessels rescuing boatloads of refugees off the coast of Libya has been brought to the doorstep of Parliament today.
Since January 2015, the Royal Navy and the UK Border Force have saved 18,000 people, but it's getting more difficult as thousands more get aboard illegal vessels.
Charities that want to highlight the deaths of those who weren't saved have put 2000 lifejackets, one for every nine refugees (three men, women, and children) that have died, outside Parliament.
Speaking about the poor quality of many life jackets supplied to refugees, Sanj Srikanthan, Director of Policy & Practice at the International Rescue Committee said:
"They provide the illusion of safety - in reality, many of them absorb water, they are substandard, and they contribute to the global tally of fatalities... well over the number of life jackets that you're seeing here today... If we don't get on top of this crisis, we're going to be dealing with a far worse situation 10 years from now".
Johan Eldebo, Senior Humanitarian Policy Advisor at World Vision, told Forces News:
"The family I spoke to... they were not your ordinary refugee family. They were university educated, they had a nice house, they had cars; their children were in school in Syria and they desperately wanted to go back to that... so they're not coming here because life was difficult in Syria, they're coming here because life was impossible in Syria".
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