Pictures of migrant children on fb

[FuryFowler]

Has anyone seen these pictures, of poor poor children washed up on the beaches of Libya and Greece, drowned from their failed crossing.

I know the pics are there to shock but it's devastating to see

I signed a petition the other day, which had a pic of a drowned child on the front page. I signed and shared but then felt uncomfortable about sharing such a graphic picture.

It's makes me cry what is happening there, but was I U for sharing?

I think the idea is that if we opened our borders to Syrian refugees then this would make the situation worse.

The situation is already 'worse'
We cannot stop people arriving in Europe in boats. More will drown.

We can police our European waters to save lives
We can offer safe passage to wherever refugees want to go and slow them to claim asylum.

We can support Hungary and Greece - much poorer countries than UK.

Or we could sit on our fat srses.

We could open our borders, but people would still have to get here is the point.

It really is as simple as that.

We could process refugees in centres in Libya and Turkey, distribute them to countries in the EU and also US, Canada, Australia etc. They wouldn't need to make the boat journey then.

I feel the same as you. I was horrified at seeing it.But people need to see the reality of what's happening. I knew what was happening but those pictures have really hit home how desperate they are and that something really needs done to help them.

We could process refugees in centres in Libya and Turkey

I'm on board with this idea. A coherent strategy, funded by the EU, to try to bring order and fairness to the situation.

However, the UK needs to do their bit to fund this.

I think having processing centres is a good idea as is spreading them out round the world to take the pressure off the EU especially when you consider how destitute parts of the eurozone are. Something the UK could certainly either fund or provide staff for.

I emailed my local mp this morning, she is Conservative. Be interesting to see what response if any I get. Has anyone else received a response from their MP ?

You are suggesting we march into Libya and Turkey and just set up a 'processing centre?

Libya?

I would normally agree that sharing pictures of dead people can be distasteful. Sadly it takes a picture of a real child going 'viral' for some people to care. I've seen so many people comment on this who had no interest when it was just "bodies of migrants found in back of van"

I have boys aged three and five. If this happened to us (it is pure luck that we live in a peaceful country, after all) i would want people to see.

This is what our Government should do.

1. stop bombing countries under false pretences
2. stop selling arms to countries who are human rights abusers
3. if you insist on bombing/arming these countries - have a strategy in place to support displaced people and refugees
4. put more boats out to rescue people from people traffickers.
5. quickly get an EU resolution in place as to how we process the people arriving in Europe.
6. support aid getting to the refugees
7. accept that we as a country have to create the infrastructure to support refugees coming in to our country. They have a right to seek asylum, we need to be better prepared to receive them
8. and most importantly - remember these are PEOPLE, people like us. If our country was war torn and our families were being tortured and killed would we not try and find a safe space? Would we not take the risks those people are taking? I know I would, and I would not expect other countries to turn their heads if my children washed up on their shores.

It's about compassion. We need to start judging our success as a country on how we treat and support each other not on how much money is in our pockets.

And before anyone claims we cannot afford this. We can, they just don't want you to know that

You are suggesting we march into Libya and Turkey and just set up a 'processing centre?

Obviously with local support, but I don't think they would object given the scale of the problem. The UNHCR and various charities / NGOs already run refugee centres there, so what is the problem (except lack of political will/ coordination)?

Quiero, I agree with you, a million times

What no one seems to be addressing that I've seen is the effects on the Turkish, Greek and Italian police who are regularly scooping up these poor souls. The people who have to go into the air tight containers to retrieve the bodies, or onto the boats to rescue one or two survivors amongst hundreds of corpses. I can't begin to think of the impact doing that job is having on those officers.

www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/everyone-sad-because-of-photo-of-thing-thats-been-happening-for-months-20150903101684

Increasing the capacity of processing centres in refugee camps outside Europe will only help if refugees believe that there is a reasonable hope of being resettled elsewhere.

In practice, there are reports of discrimination (eg against Kurds) in processing centres, and few countries except Germany have stepped up to offer to take more migrants.

The family of the boy in the picture had tried to apply for refugee status I'm Canada where they have relatives and had been refused:

www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/refugee-crisis-syrian-boy-washed-up-on-beach-turkey-trying-to-reach-canada

Now that's getting to me. The UK is getting a battering for closing it's borders but what is the rest of the world doing to help Europe? Bugger all it seems.

Why isn't America, who helped make this mess, stepping up and helping?

Woefully underinformed comments on here, as usual.

There are millions of refugees in Turkey and Lebanon (in the latter, 20% of the population is made up of refugees), and there are of course already camps and UNHCR processing centres.

The uk is getting battered by us because allegedly it is up to 'us' to change that. We cant do anything about america/canada/austrailia but it would be hypocritical to complain about them while 'we' are not doing any better

If you were the parent of a little child fleeing war - with no money or food - you would be so desperate for someone to open their door and welcome you in.

We need to let these people in. If it means we all have less money then so be it. The poorest people in our country are not as desperate as these people.

Imagine millions of people feeling war in Europe - and it is our children hungry and frightened and we are desperate and want to somewhere secure for our children - imagine other countries turning their backs and putting up fences

Ok, I have asked before, I'll ask again. What do you expect our MPs to do, exactly? Again, without giving an opportunity to those in the minority that want to gain entry to the UK and cause untold harm? Do you expect your local MP to hire a yacht and sit out in the Med, hoping to save those who take this risk? Whilst we're at it, let's send them to places like Somalia and North Korea, there's huge suffering in other countries as well, children starving to death on the Indian streets... Where is the desperate need to save these other people?

I've been bombarded on FB this morning by that poor child's picture, and I'm now angry for another reason. Where were the people now 'outraged" and , when the news of other countries are not being reported. Do their children not matter, or because you don't see their bodies, you don't start writing to your MP or making signs, asking for the near impossible.

Yeah.I guess most of us mums netters have decent houses, decent jobs .it is all very well to say just let them in it doesn't matter if we are all a bit poorer.you might very well feel differently if you are living in a bed and breakfast with 3 kids waiting years for social housing , the market wage for your work is kept artificially low because of the surge in supply. Your child will not be in a class of 50 mainly non English speakers or waiting months and months for medical treatment because you can pay your way out of it.I don't get why these bleeding hearts haven't sorted out the UK's destitute of they care so much about humanity.

Umm, execpt for those of us living in sink estates on benefits

MrsGently, what about safer passages from neighbouring countries, better processing in countries like Turkey and the provision of actual hope of more places for refugees in Europe? More equitable numvers taken? The ripping up of the Dublin agreement?

Increasing people's desperation isn't working. Making it harder and less safe to reach Europe by trying to drive back boats or seal borders (while telling Turkey and Jordan to keep theirs open) isn't working. When people already think that climbing into a rickety boat run by criminals is safer than staying on the land, do we honestly think a fence on the Hungarian border is going to be a deterrent?

We might want to try increasing hope instead. We will radically increase the number of Syrian refugees we take, as Europe. We will share that burden, as Europe, rather than expecting Italy and Greece to sort it. We will accept those refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Macedonia and provide safe passage. We will deal with this in a systematic way, rather than encouraging chaos.

As for the PP who was talking about the 'young men' who've abandoned their families who are apparently the only refugees - UNICEF says a third of those transiting through Macedonia are women and children.

The picture of the little boy has been haunting me all day, he reminds me of my youngest grandchild. It is an awful picture but reminds me, in many ways, of the photo of the little girl burning with naipalm in Vietnam in the 60s. That photo helped focus public opinion too although she was rescued and went on to have a good life which Aylan sadly won't.

Again, though, how is opening up these borders solving the actual issue. You can't put a plaster over a bullet hole and say 'at least we did something'. Again, I ask, why are we not doing similar for those in distress in other countries? Is it only up to China and South Korea to take in those escaping North Korea? Why is it only now we need to 'do something', especially when that something does not help in the long term. As a pp said, it may encourage others to think if they take desperate enough measures, they will earn a 'right' or see getting to Europe as a golden prize. Yes, they need help, but opening up the boarders is not the only option that should be looked at, due to a hysterical response by those who were quite happy to be ignorant, before the visualisation and reality of the world was forced onto them.