Responding to the latest news of deaths of hundreds of refugees in the Mediterranean and Austria, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland programme director, Patrick Corrigan, said all of Europe, including Northern Ireland, urgently needs to do more.

“People are dying in large numbers – crammed into trucks and ships – en route to seek safety or better lives. Every death is a tragic indictment of Europe’s failures to provide alternative, safe routes.

“People should not have to risk death in the Mediterranean or in the back of a lorry in Austria. We need to see the creation of safe and legal routes for those fleeing war and persecution.

“Every country in Europe has to share responsibility better and show solidarity to people in urgent need of assistance.

“In Northern Ireland, we can be part of the solution, providing safe refuge to those fleeing for their lives from places like war-torn Syria and Libya.

“In the face of this refugee crisis, history will not judge Northern Ireland well if we remain so focussed on our internal problems, that we ignore those in desperate need of refuge.”