'Put human lives, dignity first' says UN

(ANSA) - Rome, April 23 - The United Nations urged the European Union to put human lives and human dignity first in its emergency summit on the plight of migrants Thursday.
    "We forcefully call on European leaders to put human life, rights and dignity first when they are called on to (come up with) a joint response to the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean," the UN said in a statement.
    It called for "a robust, proactive and adequately funded rescue operation...the creation of adequate safe migration channels...and a commitment to host significantly higher numbers of refugees".
    The EU must move beyond "the current minimalist approach" - which consists mostly of "limiting the arrival of migrants and refugees" - and come up with a new one based on "the...protection and human rights of all migrants and refugees," the UN said.
    It added the EU must consider "strengthening support for those countries hosting the largest numbers of arrivals - Greece, Italy, and Malta - distributing the responsibility for saving human lives and protecting those in distress, and combating racist and xenophobic rhetoric, whose only purpose is to denigrate migrants and refugees". The statement was signed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Migrations Peter Sutherland, and International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director-General William Lacy Swing.