Op-Ed by Bernd Hemingway, IOM Regional Director for the EU, EEA and NATO
06 June 2014 - The sea is just warming up, and already the number of migrants and asylum seekers reaching the EU's Mediterranean borders is set to surpass totals for all of 2013. Yet the situation in the Mediterranean is not a crisis of more migrants reaching Europe and overburdening the continent, but an emergency of more migrants needing protection, aid and safe, legal channels, especially for those not covered by existing protection systems who fall into irregular or vulnerable situations. IOM feels it is our collective responsibility - states, institutions and organisations alike - to respond to these challenges in a humane, effective and sustainable way.