PRESS RELEASE

Caroline Lucas backs Amnesty's call for Search and Rescue to prevent Mediterranean deaths
 

Caroline: ‘We’re talking about individual people's lives’

Amnesty: ‘We want to see no more bodies washing up on beaches in Europe because of a lack of political will to act.’

Caroline Lucas, Brighton Pavilion parliamentary candidate, today joined members of Amnesty International on Brighton beach calling for the EU to reinstate a full search and rescue service to prevent more deaths in the Mediterranean.

A moving demonstration on Wednesday saw scores of body bags on the beach the day before the EU Council is to hold an emergency meeting about the deaths.

Caroline said: “I felt it was really important to come and support this very poignant visual action on the beach in Brighton because it's a way of sending a really powerful message to governments to say they must reinstate a proper search and rescue programme in the Mediterranean.

“When we hear on the news about the numbers who have died so far - the numbers and the word ‘migrants’ makes people forget that we’re talking about individual people's lives. They all have their loves and their losses and their hopes and their fears and their dreams and when you see the body bags laid out like this, it reminds you of the human costs of the tragedies that are unfolding in the Mediterranean. So the message going from Brighton and indeed all around the country to our government is we need to properly resource an EU plan for a search and rescue service. We need this service as well as looking at the human rights abuses, and the push factors which lead people to leave areas of conflict around the world and forcing them to take such desperate measures to try and get to safer shores.”

A spokesperson at Amnesty added: "That so many people came to support the action on Brighton beach is a testament to how strongly people feel about this, which was really inspiring to see. We need EU leaders to commit to search and rescue that saves lives, and they need to do that now. We can only hope that the message we sent to David Cameron and EU Leaders gets through - we want to see no more bodies washing up on beaches in Europe because of a lack of political will to act.”

ENDS
 

Notes:

Caroline recorded a short piece on Brighton beach at today’s event – you can watch it here