As rescuers raced to find a handful of wealthy people and explorers who vanished after launching a mission to survey the Titanic, another disaster at sea that’s feared to have left hundreds of people dead has been swept from the spotlight.
Last week’s sinking of a fishing boat crowded with migrants trying to get from Libya to Italy sparked arrests, violent protests and questions about authorities’ failure to act or find a long-term solution to the issue. But many human rights advocates are frustrated that the world seems to have already moved on and that the resources and media attention being dedicated to the Titan rescue efforts far outweigh those for the sunken migrant ship.
“It’s a horrifying and disgusting contrast,” Judith Sunderland, associate director for Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division, said in a telephone interview, reflecting on the apparent disparities in resources and media attention on the two crises.
“The willingness to allow certain people to die while every effort is made to save others … it’s a, you know, really dark reflection on humanity,” she said.
The willingness to allow certain people to die while every effort is made to save others … it’s a, you know, really dark reflection on humanity.
Judith Sunderland, Human Rights Watch
Sunderland wasn’t alone in raising concerns over disparities in attention and resources dedicated to the search for the crew of explorers aboard the missing submersible, named Titan, compared with the deadly shipwreck last week of a vessel carrying hundreds of migrants and asylum-seekers.
The front pages the past few days have been dominated by the search for the missing sub, said Josie Naughton, co-founder and CEO of Choose Love, a U.K.-based nongovernmental organization supporting refugees around the world.
She said thousands more articles appeared to have been published about the submersible than about the migrant boat, “yet, it’s 100 times as many people who are feared to have lost their lives and these people, they were forced to flee their homes, they were looking for safety.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
