Editorial - Boat people; Prevent a Titanic catastrophe

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It was a  day of mourning in Italy yesterday and a minute’s silence was observed in all schools in the aftermath of one of the worst ever refugee boat tragedies as recovery efforts were resumed off southern Italy where a 66-foot boat carrying about 500 African migrants sank off the island of Lampedusa.
According to latest reports the vessel sank about one km offshore, and at least 113 bodies had been recovered by noon yesterday while about 200 are still unaccounted for. Most of those on board were from Eritrea and Somalia, United Nations officials said.

Italy’s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said it was not just an Italian tragedy but a European tragedy, while Pope Francis went even further saying the whole world should hang its head in shame over this horror and ask why thousands of people including women and little children were paying thousands of dollars and risking their lives to seek refuge.
In Sri Lanka also the boat tragedy and horror is a major crisis with thousands of people including women and children paying more than Rs. 800,000, with some reports saying the charge now is nearly Rs. 1,300,000, to seek refuge in Australia. They often go on rickety, overloaded fishing boats, with hundreds known to have died on the risky journey during recent years. According to a recent report, Australia’s new government led by conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott is imposing tough measures  to curb the influx of asylum seekers arriving on boats. But thousands of Sri Lankan people, especially fisherfolk, enslaved in poverty or ‘Dharidrathawaya’ and their families appeared to be undeterred.

Despite Premier Abbott’s stern warning that Sri Lankan asylum seekers would be sent back home or to the nearby Nauru or Papua New Guinea islands for interrogation, hundreds or thousands of Sri Lankans are still continuing to risk their lives and go. In recent months alone some 1300 Sri Lankans who went on such boats to seek asylum in Australia have been sent back.
In the remote village of Udappuwa for instance, hundreds of people have already made the perilous trips and others are planning to. The dream of starting a new and potentially prosperous life for them in Australia remains alive.

"Many humanitarian observers believe that not enough attention is focused on why thousands of people are making this dangerous voyage and risking their lives because their hearts are in despair to the point of death. Psychologists identify this terminology as the language of suicidal tendencies"

According to the village’s top government official, the message received here is that even if they are held at an immigration detention centre, the food and clothing they get will be much better than what they already have.
The Australian government and the Sri Lankan authorities have been focusing on the people-smuggling racketeers. Even the LTTE was at one stage known to be heavily involved in such dangerous operations. But many humanitarian observers believe that not enough attention is focused on why thousands of people are making this dangerous voyage and risking their lives because their hearts are crushed with sorrow to the point of death. Psychologists identify this terminology as the language of suicidal tendencies.

Whatever their race or religion, thousands of people are still giving thought to this desperate and dangerous way out after selling or pawning whatever they have or begging and borrowing the money. Why are they doing this? The government of Sri Lanka, while acting firmly against the boat smugglers, must also take urgent and effective measures to provide some relief to these people and bring about social justice and a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources. If not we might see something like the Titanic catastrophe.