19 September 2014
Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein says survivors' accounts of incident in which 500 died point to 'crime that must not go unpunished'.
The UN's new human rights chief has urged Egypt to join with European nations in hunting down the human traffickers who allegedly drowned up to 500 migrants in the Mediterranean by ramming their boat. He said the traffickers are likely guilty of "mass murder" and should be brought to justice.
Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said it was important to "end the prevailing impunity surrounding such crimes", stressing that those seeking escape from chaos and warfare, such as the huge numbers fleeing Syria, had the right to seek refuge. He also demanded a wider rethink of the conditions that push so many thousands to undertake such risky voyages.
