Tombstones for drowned refugees placed in Hague square

On Thursday Amnesty International placed tombstones in the square in The Hague. This was done to both commemorate the hundreds of people that have drowned in the Mediterranean sea this year while trying to cross into Europe and to bring attention to the lack of an European Union rescue operation. Amnesty is urging European leaders, including Prime Minister Mark Rutte, to cooperate with all EU countries in an effort to expand search and rescue operations at sea. The organization also wants the EU to offer safe and legal routes to Europe for the people who are fleeing conflict and persecution in their own countries. According to the organization, several Member States, including the Netherlands, have been opposed to the creation of a new joint operation focused on rescue. The main argument used is that such an operation would have a "magnetic factor" and only draw more refugees to the EU. "The chance of salvation shrunk enormously at the end of the Italian rescue operation Mare Nostrum. The number of boat refugees has only increased since. Anyone who still insists that the offer of salvation is the reason people turn to the sea, is willfully closing his eyes to the reality or deliberately distorting the facts." Shipowner groups and seafarers unions also recently wrote a letter to the EU demanding that something be done immediately to address the growing humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean sea.