A Decade Later: Reflecting on Lampedusa's Tragedies and Urgent Calls for Action

Ten years after a tragic shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy, in which 368 refugees drowned, survivors and relatives of the victims gathered to remember the lives lost. The event comes as Lampedusa finds itself at the center of another European refugee crisis, with overcrowded centers and recent deaths at sea. Since 2014, over 28,000 people have been recorded as missing while crossing the Mediterranean, and this year's death toll has already surpassed last year's. Italian and European institutions are being accused of prioritizing borders over lives, and humanitarian groups claim that search and rescue operations have been hindered by pushback policies and the criminalization of NGOs.