MIGRANTS' DEATHS AT SEA

That this House expresses alarm at yet another tragic loss of life at sea when 300 migrants were feared drowned in the Mediterranean trying to escape through Libya; notes the wholly inappropriate tendency of many to blame the people-traffickers; acknowledges that thousands have died in the Mediterranean fleeing war, poverty and oppression from all over the middle east and north Africa; further acknowledges that current search and rescue operations are underfunded and wholly inadequate; requests that the Prime Minister raise this issue in all relevant forums including the imminent European Council; and further acknowledges the need for reinstating and fully funding such vessels as the Mare Nostrum, and the call on the EU by organisations such as the UNHCR, Save the Children and Amnesty International to expand Triton's operations closer to the Libyan coast in order that they might do the right and honourable thing and save people from peril on the sea.