European leaders need imagination and compassion to deal with the worst crisis of forced displacement the continent has faced for seventy years. Those who have made epic journeys in flight from persecution, war, oppression or destitution deserve no less. But our government is in the forefront of efforts to block such a response. After a month of shipwrecks which claimed hundreds of lives, home secretary Theresa May called for the immediate return of survivors who were 'economic migrants from Eritrea, Somalia and Nigeria'.  Her characterisation of Eritreans fleeing dictatorship as 'economic migrants', when the Home Office itself recognises over three-quarters of Eritreans as refugees from persecution, should disqualify her from leading that department. She showed a similar casual disregard for Somalis leaving a state marked by two decades of civil war aggravated by famine, and neglected to mention the Syrian refugees who make a large proportion of the smugglers' passengers. At the same time, she rejected as 'inconceivable' the proposal to create legal, safe routes for migrants to get to Europe in the longer term.    Read more here















Read more:  Frances Webber, IRR News