Following a surge in people arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa by boat, experts say a better response is needed to the ongoing migration crisis.
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00:00 These are the images broadcast around the world in recent weeks.
00:05 Residents of Lampedusa protesting against the massive influx of migrants to the small
00:10 Italian island in the middle of the Mediterranean.
00:14 But is it a fair representation?
00:17 Some organizations working with migrants on the island disagree.
00:20 "The response of the people of Lampedusa was an immediate solidarity that responded to the
00:30 needs of the people who were around.
00:34 As soon as they arrived, they were forced to stay in an environment like that of the
00:40 Oxford or even outside the environment of that of the Oxford, constituted by very, very
00:45 precarious material situations."
00:47 Following record arrivals on the island last week, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin
00:52 said France would not welcome the new migrants but would assist in returning people home.
00:58 Experts say, however, that this may not be feasible.
01:01 "Legally speaking, it's most likely unlikely that that could be done, unless there are
01:08 specific agreements that France has been making with those particular countries.
01:14 Unless there are standards, informal processes for returning people that should have the
01:21 highest human rights standards as well."
01:24 But contrary to what many believe, migrants arriving in Europe are in fact just a small
01:31 fraction of the number of people leaving their countries.
01:35 "People are going to continue leaving their home.
01:38 What we also need to understand is most people do not come to Europe.
01:41 Most people go to the neighboring country.
01:43 A few of them come to Europe.
01:45 And so what we need to think as Europeans is how we better organize a system when people
01:50 get to European shores so that we avoid the kind of political crisis, constant political
01:56 crisis that we keep seeing."
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