Church condemns Government as un-Christian over stance on drowning migrants

Churches have condemned the British Government as un-Christian over its rejection of rescue missions for refugees drowning in the Mediterranean.

Bishop Patrick Lynch, who speaks for the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales on migration, said the decision not to support rescues was “a misguided abdication of responsibility” to thousands of desperate people fleeing war and persecution in the Middle East and Africa.

He said that as Europe’s “leading naval power” the UK has a moral responsibility to step in to save those risking death in attempting to reach Europe.

The Anglican Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Alan Smith, said the decision was one he would “lament”.

The bishops’ remarks came as James Brokenshire, the Home Office minister, repeated the Government's stance that search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, where around 3,000 migrants have drowned this year alone, were simply acting as a “pull factor for illegal migration”.

An Italian search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean is being wound down and Britain is supporting a new maritime border patrol operation as an alternative.

Baroness Anelay, the Foreign Office minister, disclosed earlier this week that the UK would help the new patrols but made clear that the Government did not support planned rescue operations in principle.

The Home Office claims that rescuing migrants has actually led to more deaths by encouraging people traffickers.

Speaking in the Lords, Bishop Smith dismissed the logic as “incredible”.

“I do not think that any of us believe that people are putting their families at risk—sometimes, they are huge, extended families - thinking, ‘Oh, well, it does not matter if we are likely to drown because we might be saved’.

“That would seem to me incredible ... I would lament us withdrawing from anything that would help people in such dire circumstances.”

Pope Francis has made the plight of refugees fleeing countries like Iraq and Syria by sea a major priority of his pontificate.

Last year he celebrated mass on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, which has been at the centre of the exodus, on his first official visit outside Rome since being elected Pope.

Bishop Lynch said: “Last summer at Lampedusa Pope Francis challenged us to take responsibility for our brothers and sisters.

"He warned us against losing our bearings in a culture of comfort and becoming insensitive to the cries of other people.

"Since the tragedies of last October, the Italian navy has led efforts to save many thousands of lives but now this is a time for all European governments to recognise that others' suffering is our business.

"While efforts are being made to find lasting solutions to these challenges, we have a duty to heed with compassion the cries of our wounded brothers and sisters, and not to pass by on the other side.

“Britain is still Europe's leading naval power, and to refuse to join in Mediterranean search and rescue operations would be a misguided abdication of responsibility to those thousands of men, women, and children who have been driven from their homes by persecution and war and forced to risk death at sea.”

In a statement to the Commons, Mr Brokenshire said that there had been an “unprecedented increase” in trafficking across the Mediterranean since the rescue missions began and claimed that they were making the situation worse.

He added that European countries had unanimously agreed to stop the rescue mission.

“It is not in the interests of anyone – most especially those who are genuinely fleeing persecution – if European countries have an uncontrolled and ineffective approach to immigration and asylum,” he said.

“It is not in the interests of anyone if the criminal gangs who exploit the fear and suffering of vulnerable people – endangering human lives for cold, hard cash – are allowed to continue their despicable work unimpeded.

“It is not in the interests of anyone if we fail to adapt to a situation which encourages more and more people to make that dangerous journey across the seas.”

Responding in the Lords, Baroness Smith pointed out that although around 3,000 people have drowned already this year, the rescue missions had saved the lives of 150,000.

Lord Ashdown said the fact that other European countries also backed the end of the rescue missions did not absolve Britain of responsibility.

He said: “We do not find it difficult to disagree with the European Union on all sorts of other matters, but do we have to lay our hand to a European policy whose central proposition is that the best way to discourage people from seeking a better life is to leave them to drown in the Mediterranean?

“This is inhuman, it is discreditable and it may well be contrary to our duties under international law to do everything we can to save those in peril on the sea.”