Save The Children [to 18 June 2016]
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.9357111/k.C14B/Press_Releases_2016/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp

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June 17, 2016
Dead Bodies Found on the Sahara Migration Route — Save the Children’s Response
Fairfield, Conn — Save the Children said: “Reports that 34 people, 20 of them children, have been found dead in the Sahara desert, is yet another tragic example of lives lost along the refugee and migrant route.”

“The majority of children who make it to Italy reported harrowing and severely abusive journeys when interviewed by Save the Children. At the mercy of people smugglers and traffickers, they continue to face grave risks on their way to reach safety. We have heard of the horrors children face; many suffer appalling torture, abuse and exploitation as they make their way through sub-Saharan Africa on to Libya.”

The criminals that transport desperate families will continue to flourish as long as there are no safe and legal alternatives.

“International leaders are pulling up the drawbridge and prioritizing border control over saving lives. We must not rip up the moral rule book. If they continue the current course of inaction, we will continue to see children dying of thirst in the summer heat in the desert or drowning at sea, as they try to seek a better life.”…