As the world watched the story of the missing submarine carrying five wealthy tourists unfold this week, some advocates in Canada couldn’t help but be appalled that a boat carrying hundreds of impoverished migrants recently sank off the Greek coast. Don’t attract the same attention.
Witnessing the stark contrast between media coverage and rescue efforts was deeply upsetting for Safa Chebbi, originally from Tunisia, where many migrants board boats bound for Europe in search of a better life.
“I’m very upset to see all the news about five people because I grew up in Tunisia,” Chebbi, a member of Solidarity Across Borders, an immigrant justice network in Montreal, told CTVNews.ca.
“Tunisia is a country where we have seen, especially in the last (few) years, a lot of migration across the Mediterranean and almost every day (people are found dead) on the beaches.”
The tragedy happened the day before
The Titan submarine, which is owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, was heading for the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday when it lost contact with surface vessels less than two hours into the voyage.
The submarine was carrying five passengers, including the CEO of OceanGate, a French explorer, a British billionaire and two members of prominent Pakistani families. On Thursday, the five passengers were confirmed dead, despite an extensive search and rescue operation involving US and Canadian coast guard and military assets, as well as British and French partners.
A few days earlier, a ship carrying some 750 passengers from Egypt, Pakistan, Syria and Palestine sank off Greece. Only 104 people survived and more than 500 people are missing and fear death after the tragedy – one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean.
Another horrific shipwreck in the Mediterranean – this time near Greece – has claimed dozens of lives.
As I have said before, everyone who seeks a better life deserves security and dignity.
—Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) June 14, 2023
The Greek coast guard launched a search and rescue operation after the boat sank on June 14, but the response has been criticized since the coast guard found the boat carrying the beached migrants.
Normalizing Immigrant Deaths: Advocates
According to the International Organization for Migration, More than 20,000 immigrants died While trying to cross the central Mediterranean from Africa to Europe since 2014.
The UN agency noted that in the first quarter of 2023 alone, 441 migrants died using the route, the highest number of deaths over a three-month period since 2017.
A boat bearing the OceanGate logo is docked near the OceanGate offices, Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Everett, Wash. The missing Titan submarine exploded near the site of the wreckage of the Titanic, killing everyone aboard , the US Coast Guard announced Thursday. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
The upshot of recent migrant shipwrecks, including the boat that capsized off the coast of Greece, said Syed Hussain, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, is that migrant deaths have become normal.
“It’s scary,” Hussein told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.
“We, as a world, accept the deaths of thousands of people drowned in the ocean, crossing borders on foot, in dangerous terrain.”
Hussein noted that the problem of immigrants taking dangerous routes in search of a better life is not “something remotely alien”, referring to Eight people died, their bodies recovered from the St. Laurent In March of this year, after attempting to illegally enter the United States from Canada.
Chebbi said migrants save money and sacrifice their lives for such journeys in an effort to escape poverty and inadequate living conditions in the Global South.
“(In their home country) there is no hope and this is the only hope,” he said.
Supporters say segregation plays a role
Hussain said the amount of resources devoted to search and rescue operations of migrating submarines and shipwrecks shows how society associates class with the value of human life.
“Every life matters, but in this case…the super-rich, their lives are more valued by the onslaught of adrenaline junkies who keep trying to get on the Titanic, while thousands die , just to find a little safer, a little more dignity.”
International Organization for Migration and @employee We call for urgent and decisive action to prevent further deaths at sea following the tragic sinking off the coast of Greece.
We reaffirm that search and rescue at sea is a legal and humanitarian necessity.https://t.co/FlQWhLpVtO
– International Organization for Migration – UN Migration 🇺🇳 (ONUmigration) June 16, 2023
It’s also disturbing, says Chebbi, how the world has humanized Titan’s five wealthy passengers, widely publishing and publicizing their names, but the story of the migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean doesn’t attract much attention. attention.
“Seeing the difference between these treatments makes me very upset and angry,” he said, adding that it was “an insult” to all immigrants and refugees.
Deaths of migrants as a result of political choices
Both Hussein and Chebbi describe the sinking of migrants as the result of outsourcing, an attempt by rich, developed countries to prevent asylum seekers and other migrants from reaching their borders.
“It’s a tragedy. It’s a deliberate political choice,” Hussein said.
Al-Shabi supports this observation, saying that outsourcing only encourages asylum seekers and migrants to undertake dangerous journeys, which can include smugglers and human traffickers.
“We have to think about borders and realize that when we establish more rules to limit borders and complicate the process of travel, we will see more deaths,” Al-Shabi said.
“Because of the people, they will never stop immigrants, especially when we have inequalities between the North (global) and the South (global)”.
A survivor of a recent tragic boating accident is seen getting off a bus that will take him to Athens with other migrants and refugees at the port of Kalamata, Greece, Friday June 16, 2023. (John Liakos /InTime News via AP)
Advocates have called on the government to improve its immigration policies and create safe and regular pathways for migration to prevent further migrant deaths.
The UN has make a similar call Remembering the tragedy of the immigrant ship.
“We urge all relevant governments of host and transit countries to treat migrants in a safe, dignified and humane manner, in accordance with their international obligations,” the statement said.
In a written statement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said irregular migration routes to Canada and other countries pose “very real risks.”
“We encourage individuals to seek asylum in the first safe country they enter and to do so at a designated port of entry,” the federal department told CTVNews.ca.
“We will continue to work with the United States and other like-minded partners around the world to promote safe and regular passage for people on the move, and help other countries create national frameworks to ensure the protection of refugees and asylum seekers. »
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