Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is consideration of business motion 1,3093, in the name of Jo Servant Patrick, on behalf of Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme. I would ask that any member who wishes to speak against the motion pressures the request to the speak button now, please. I would call on Jo Servant Patrick to move motion 1,3093. Minister? Moved. Many thanks. No member has asked to speak against the motion, therefore I will now put the question to the chamber, is that motion number 13093 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick be agreed to. Are we all agreed? We are. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 13088 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick on behalf of the parliamentary bureau, setting out a stage one timetable for the alcohol licensing public health and criminal justice Scotland bill. Could I ask any member who wishes to speak against the motion to please press the request to speak butting now and a call on Joe Fitzpatrick to move the motion? Many thanks. No member has asked to speak against the motion and therefore I will now put the question to the chamber. The question is that motion number 13088 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick be agreed to. Are we all agreed? We are. The motion is therefore agreed to. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 13089 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick on behalf of the parliamentary bureau, setting out a stage two timetable for the prisoners control of release Scotland bill. Could I ask any member who wishes to speak against the motion to press the request to speak butting now and a call on Joe Fitzpatrick to move the motion? Many thanks. No member has asked to speak against the motion and therefore I will now put the question to the chamber and the question is that motion number 13089 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick be agreed to. Are we all agreed? Yes. We are. The motion is therefore agreed to. The next item of business is consideration of two parliamentary bureau motions and I would ask Joe Fitzpatrick to move motion number 13090 on approval of an SSI and the motion number 13091 on committee membership, minister. Move done block. Many thanks. The question on those motions will be put at decision time and it is now time to move on to our next item of business, which is a member's business debate on motion number 12950 in the name of Alec Rowley on thousands of migrants dying attempting to reach Europe each year. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put and I'd be grateful if those members who wish to speak in the debate could press the request to speak butting now but I do advise the chamber we're incredibly tight for time during this debate. A call on Alec Rowley to open the debate maximum seven minutes, please, Mr Rowley. Presiding Officer, in moving this debate today can I first thank all those members of this Parliament who signed my motion and made the debate possible. Members will have received a copy of the publication from Amnesty International calling called Europe's Sinking Shame, The Failure to Save Refugees and Migrants at Sea. This sets out the sheer scale of the human disaster taking place in the Mediterranean that has seen over 1,750 men, women and children perish at sea in the first four months of this year. Everyone I've met and who I know has been shocked at the scale of the loss of life in the Mediterranean amongst men, women and children. Back in October last year the Italian ambassador to the UK came to this Parliament and addressed the European External Relations Committee. He spoke of the human tragedy in the Mediterranean and said, we wish there was a clearer plan. To be honest with you the truth is that we have been left quite alone to face this tragedy. He talked of migrants drowning by the thousand in the Mediterranean Sea and he said that it was not possible for just one country with the occasional help of Malta or Greece to cope with such a major crisis. He added that Italy was pressuring other partners to make this issue a European priority and he stated that all political pressure is welcome to create an awareness of the scale of the human tragedy taking place. Today, I bring forward this motion to raise awareness of the tragedy but also to make the case that this Parliament must do more to speak out and to use every bit of influence that we can have to make the UK Government and Governments across Europe step up and do what is necessary to stop this tragedy continuing. The vast majority of people at risk are men, women and children travelling to Europe from the poorest countries of Africa where poverty is endemic and where opportunity is limited. There are many seeking protection and asylum who come from trouble spots like Syria from which there is currently no legal and safe way to get to Europe and they need our help. We cannot say we do not know for trex the European Border Protection Agency in Warsaw, in Europe, follows every single boat filled with refugees and in the last year and a half we have been using drones and satellites to survey the borders. So European authorities have surveillance of people drowning and down in the Mediterranean. We know people are dying. I want to quote from Pope Francis who, on 19 April, after a further 600 men, women and children died, he said, they are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited victims of war. They are looking for a better life. Face with such tragedy, I express my most heartfelt pain and promise to remember the victims and their families in prayer. I make a heartfelt appeal to the international community to react decisively and quickly to see to it that such tragedies are not repeated. He added, it is evident that the proportions of this phenomenon demand much greater involvement. We must not tire in our attempts to solicit a more extensive response at the European and international level. That is our purpose, I believe, in being here today. Our country, Scotland, has a proud history of internationalism, of reaching out and of not looking the other way when fellow human beings, no matter their nationality, no matter their colour or religion, and no matter their wealth or social status, are in danger. We have to think of protecting people, not just protecting borders. Think about saving lives, not just saving money. I believe that we must consider for genuine refugees legal ways of reaching Europe. As a United Nations refugee agency, human rights organisations such as Germany's Pro-Islam and Human Rights Watch have suggested, the European Union should create asylum procedures at the embassies of its member states in the same way as Switzerland has done. The Italian Navy's Operation Marine Ostrom rescue mission, which protected hundreds of thousands of refugees from drowning, needs the funds to be fully up and running once again. The European Union also needs to finally begin participating seriously in the United Nations Refugee Agency resettlement programme. The United Nations is currently seeking guest countries for several hundred thousand refugees who need to be resettled. In 2013, North America took more than 9,000, but in Germany they only accepted 300. We must all do more. The EU's Dublin regulation, which allows refugees to apply for asylum in their country of arrival, is an issue, and in crisis-torn countries we should also look at whether the visa requirement for people from these conflict countries should be lifted on a temporary basis. I do not say that these changes would stop all the loss of life at sea, but they could be significantly reduced, and we should send out a message that just as when Europe too once had its own refugees fleeing Europe and needed the help of the international community, we Europeans in the international community are prepared to help now. I move that motion today, Presiding Officer, and ask that we all remain focused on achieving action from our UK Government and from Governments across Europe, because we cannot allow this situation to continue. Thank you. Many thanks. As already indicated, we are very tight for time. Maximum four-minute speeches, Kenny MacAskill, to be followed by Patricia Ferguson. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I think that Alec Rowley deserves an enormous credit for bringing this debate. It is a crisis of humanity. It should and it does unite the entire chamber, and I agree not just with a tenor but his thoughts as he has narrated them. This is a catastrophe, a biblical in its proportions, the exodus and the calamity being faced by individuals. It is something that we have probably not seen in the European constant for many generations and, if not since World War II. However, it does not matter whether they are black or white, whether they are Christian or Muslim, whether they are asylum or they are immigrant. People are drowning and people are dying, as Alec Rowley correctly said. Men, women and children. Common humanity dictates that we need to act and indeed that we need to act now. Immediate action is needed. Some are already underway and some are welcome. I did even see a tweet recently that the Irish Navy have dispatched a vessel to go and assist. To be fair to the Government of Ireland, they have never been shy or slow in standing up for what is right, whether in the United Nations or elsewhere. Equally other nations and especially wealthy nations in the EU and wider have to do more to take their responsibility. EU and NATO ships are currently located in their warships in many squadrons off the Horn of Africa. It is rightly so, because there is a challenge with piracy, with ships being taken by those who would hold them to ransom and, indeed, individuals being held kidnapped and, indeed, not released and, sadly, sometimes slaughtered. However, if we can do and take action for commercial shipping, then surely we can do more and much more about common humanity. The two are not either or, they are equally essential. However, there is another underlying issue relating to asylum and immigration. However, that is not an issue of immigration that requires to be faced by all parties and all Governments. That is an issue fundamentally of asylum. According to human rights watch, over 50 per cent of those fleeing are actually coming from Syria and Eritrea. What is driving them is not simply a desire for a better world in the west at many sea, but it is a necessity of getting out of a country that is war-torn. We are not just war, but famine, pestilence and plague are also affecting their land. That requires to be tackled and that requires to be addressed. Yes, all parties and post-election there will be debates and discussions on immigration, but that is first and foremost a requirement for humanity to act and, as Alex Rowley said, a requirement to address the necessity that we have in addressing and tackling the needs of individuals for asylum. The western world has a role to play in some of those countries. The bombs and bullets were probably not manufactured or established or created in Syria or Eritrea. They were probably sold to them by western nations, many of the western nations that countries that those individuals seek to get into, so the problems have been created in some small part by those of us who see ourselves as the victim as they seek to come here, so we do require to take action. The only thing that I would say is to take on board and again echo the points made by Alex Rowley. We do require to take immediate action to save life, but we should look across the United States of America. Steps taken by the air to build a fence, to build a way of blocking people at the rail grand have not worked and never will. It will not work in Western Europe where it is easier to cross the Mediterranean in many ways than it is to cross the Rio Grande. We require to solve the problem. That means tackling war in places such as Syria and Eritrea. It means making sure that people can stay in their countries safe, healthy and have a future in hope. Thank you very much. Presiding Officer, I begin by thanking my colleague and friend Alex Rowley for bringing this debate to Parliament, although, in truth, it is a debate that I fervently wish was not necessary. But it is necessary that we use every opportunity that we can to highlight the deaths of people desperate enough to pay large amounts of money to smugglers who then take them out to see in flimsy boats that they know have little chance of making the journey. It is necessary that we highlight the problems that make people leave their own countries to seek new lives in Europe, and it is necessary that we shine a light on the inaction of European Governments in providing help and assistance to those at the front line. In 2014, some 3,000 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean are record, but already in 2015 1,700 people have perished, which is estimated to be about 17 times higher than the numbers that had died by the end of April last year. That figure is all the more shocking when you consider that, over the weekend just passed, one weekend, Italian-led efforts rescued 7,000 more people. So, while the UK was gripped by election fever and the birth of the royal baby, desperate people, 46 of them, were drowning, and another baby was born, another baby girl. Born at sea to Nigerian women rescued from the Mediterranean by the Italian Navy. Those deaths and that birth rated barely a mention in our news cycle. That is why it is necessary that we use our voices and our Parliament to highlight this issue. We have to ask why that is happening. It is happening because life in Syria, in Eritrea, in Libya, in Gambia and Senegal and all the other countries where people are fleeing, makes the odds in surviving a hazardous journey in an overcrowded boat seem worth the risk. I have mentioned in previous debates the plight of refugees from Syria and the fact that their near neighbours in Jordan and Turkey have between them accommodated somewhere in the region of 3 million displaced people. Today, I want to look at Eritrea. In recent discussions with organisations in my constituency, I became aware that very large numbers of people from Eritrea were now living in the communities of Maryhill and Springburn, and I was told that many of those are young people who are trying to escape the mandatory conscription that now applies in their country. This is no ordinary conscription. The conscription has no limit. You can be conscripted at 20 and still be in the army at 45. Some people pay army officers large sums of money in the hope of being released. Others are told that in return for what are euphemistically called sexual favours, their commanding officer will allow them to go. Release on these terms rarely happens. Is it any wonder that families are smuggling their sons and daughters out of the country at great risk to the young people involved and at great cost to their families? The Italian Government deserves respect for what it has tried to do, as does its commercial fleet, but it cannot patrol all the Mediterranean alone. It needs help, and the international community needs to find a way to help to stabilise the countries that people are fleeing from and to support good governance there. That must be a long-term goal, but, in the meantime, Europe must fund rescue missions in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean. The idea that seems to be current in some Governments that, by ending support for such rescues, they discourage migrants from making the attempt is not just callous and inhumane. It is also useless as the numbers show no signs of abating. As Alex Rowley said, legal asylum must take the place of this illegal smuggling of people, and together we must make it a European priority. Many thanks. I must ask members to keep to four minutes, please. Jamie McGriggur to be followed by Patrick Harvie. I, too, congratulate Alex Rowley on securing today's debate on this highly distressing and very significant issue, which I readily accept is a major public concern to people across Scotland, including many of my constituents in the Highlands and Islands. Surely all of us in the chamber have been shocked and horrified at the appalling loss of lives of migrants in the Mediterranean. Indeed, the European Union Council has rightly called the situation a tragedy, and our thoughts go out to those poor souls who drowned and to their families. We know that our British Government has made a bigger contribution to foreign aid than any other in Europe, but, while admitting that, the Government has also acknowledged that arrangements existing in the Mediterranean since last October have simply been unsuccessful and insufficient and has committed to working with EU partners to improve search and rescue services. The recent EU Council meeting achieved agreement for a number of key measures aimed at preventing further loss of life at sea. Specifically, the UK Government has announced that HMS Bulwark, three helicopters and two border patrol ships have been sent as part of the EU's extra efforts in operations Triton and Poseidon. I completely agree with the statement made by the UK Government that our EU partners that, while, of course, our sympathies must go out to migrants and their families and friends, our anger and focus must be directed very strongly against the organised criminal gangs who are profiting from this vile people trading and murder. Stopping this trafficking is a huge international challenge that needs a co-ordinated response, and I warmly welcome the fact that the UK Government has offered the services of our national crime agency and security services to help to identify and target the traffickers, and they should try and identify these useless boats, liable to be used, and take them out of the equation somehow. The other massive international challenge which the UK is working with other member states is on addressing the factors in those countries, particularly Libya, but also others in Africa and elsewhere, which are driving migrants to want to come to Europe. There are no easy answers here, but the UK Government is investing in very significant amounts in its aid programme in the key source countries, and all countries must do whatever is within their power to support UN-led efforts towards re-establishing government authority in Libya. This must be fundamental. Today's debate is useful in allowing our Parliament to express our own and our constituents' sympathies for the migrants who have drowned and to unite in condemning those criminal gangs taking advantage of vulnerable people and profiting from this appalling trade in human beings. I know that our European and external relations committee is also considering whether to undertake some work in relation to EU migration, and if it does, I'm sure today's great debate will help inform any work we might do on what we can all agree is a huge international challenge. Now, one thing is sure, Italy cannot be expected to cope with this problem on our own, and this is surely an opportunity where the members of the EU can unite in one body, both for humanity and for practical assistance. Step forward the EU, show your worth, marry an Austrian needs funds, and it's time for action, not time for looking the other way. Thank you, and I call Patrick Harvie to be followed by Stuart Stevenson. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I add my thanks and congratulations to Alex Rowley for bringing this important debate. He and other members have used the right language in this debate. We've talked, we've heard about human beings, human beings facing danger. How different is that from the rhetoric that we hear? Not only in this country, but in a number of European countries, which pose those people as a threat to us. Those people are not a threat to us, they are human beings, and we must reach out in a spirit of compassion rather than have a response to this crisis driven by fear, as so many, particularly in this frenetic election period, try to do. Alex Rowley also said that our policy response must place a greater priority on protecting lives than on protecting borders. That is absolutely right, and once again it is in contrast with so much of the rhetoric in our political debate at the moment. A response that is geared toward protecting lives will, yes, re-establish those search and rescue operations, but will also establish safe routes for people to flee from persecution, conflict, poverty or other factors. I am not convinced that those I've heard calling for a security-led response, a military response, I am not convinced of their arguments. I've heard calls for boats to be destroyed. I've heard calls for other approaches that are primarily about deterrence, primarily about protecting borders. If we do that, disrupting the unsafe routes of passage, we will only make those human beings more vulnerable to the threats and dangers that they face. We have to place safe routes of passage before them rather than merely disrupt the unsafe routes. That is a critical difference. Frontex, the agency and Triton, the operation, are geared towards deterrence and to protecting borders. Simply putting a search and rescue operation into their remit is not enough. We need to change that remit entirely and place the emphasis of protecting lives, protecting people, as Mr Rowley said, not principally on protecting borders. As we look at the causes, the things that we should label as threats, the causes of people fleeing conflict, poverty, persecution and already climate change is a driver of migration, it will continue to grow as a more significant driver of migration during this century. It may become a dominant driver of migration. We need to take responsibility, as others have said, for the contribution that we have so shamefully made to those problems, to those threats, to the things that do cause fear. We must recognise that people have a right to seek to migrate, whether through asylum or other forms of migration, because of conflict, climate change or persecution and poverty. The criminals who exploit them, whether in trafficking, yes, or indeed in exploiting their labour when they reach a country of safety, which very often they will not experience the same degree of safety as we would anticipate in our own lives, need to be addressed as criminals. However, the causes of that migration need to be recognised and fundamentally the rights of people to flee from those causes of human suffering. That is what our priority should be. I once again commend Alex Rowley for his motion and for his choice of topic in this debate. I now call Stuart Stevenson to be followed by Claire Baker. This is one of those occasions in the hubbub of political debate and disagreement that shows that, as politicians, all of us here are more united by issues than we are divided by them, because I do not expect to hear a contrarian voice on this subject. Al Jazeera has reported in the last 24 hours that there have been six operations that have rescued 600 migrants. That is mainly Italy, but it has also included what is a very small jurisdiction, Malta, with a population rather similar to that of Edinburgh. Let me join others and congratulate Alex Rowley on bringing this topic forward for debate. It is timely, it is appropriate and it is necessary. Amnesty in their briefing tells us that there are 3.9 million refugees registered in Syria's neighbouring countries in Egypt, and yet, since 2013, the EU has offered 40,000 places. You would barely notice that anyone has been removed from those 3.9 million. Well done to Germany, who provided 30,000 of those places. The motion that Alex Rowley has put before us focuses on the marine-ostrum rescue mission, which has been stopped and its replacement. Amnesty has provided us with a really graphic illustration of how it reduced. We used to have six helicopters, we now have one. We used to be spending 9.5 million, we are now spending less than three. Let us give a scale to that. The amount of money that is now being spent on trying to help people who are trying to escape from threat, poverty and hunger is less than one-tenth of what we spend on supporting the bus pass in Scotland. That is how tiny the amount of money that is being spent to support people in their personal extremity is. What we have seen since the support for what is happening in the Mediterranean has reduced and retreated closer to Italy, meaning that help is much further away from Libya, many times further away, is a huge rise in the number of casualties that arise from that. We are looking at the right kind of things being said. The European Council of Donald Tusk has said that saving lives of innocent people is the number one priority for us. When you match the words to the deeds, it is not all that obvious that we are going even if I will, Mr Finlay. Neil Findlay? If the EU has spent as much time and effort on protecting and enhancing the lives of people across the globe as it does protecting its economic interests, we may be in a much better place and we would not see the catastrophes that we are seeing just now. I do not always agree with everything that Mr Finlay says, but I think that he captures the essence of it extremely well in his intervention there. Let me just, in the strict four minutes that I have been allocated, sum it up as follows. First of all, the Labour Government in 1947 passed an act to support the polls, so we know that there is goodwill on the benches to my left, to the far from Jamie, on the right goodwill as well. Bottom line is that this must not be a border's issue. This is about common decency and humanity, and I absolutely support every word that is in Alex Rowley's motion before us today, Presiding Officer. Many thanks, and now I call Claire Baker to be followed by John Finnie. I would like to thank my colleague Alex Rowley for bringing this important member's debate to the chamber. Only a few weeks ago, we witnessed highly distressing scenes that dominated the headlines, but as Patricia Ferguson highlighted, the news cycle often moves on. However, the crisis is still very much on-going, including reports of more rescues and deaths in the Mediterranean at the weekend. With no-lil-term solution on the horizon, it is right that we use the time today to highlight what is both a heartbreaking and a complex crisis. May has only just begun, but we are heading towards 2015 being the deadliest year for many migrants attempting to escape persecution and find a better life in Europe. That must urge us all into action. The solution is far from simple. There are many push-and-pull factors that need to be addressed, and the next couple of months are crucial. The European Commission is moving towards completion of its agenda for migration, and that must play a vital role in addressing the crisis in the Mediterranean and ensure that our summer months are not filled with more horrific stories of innocent people dying. The decision to cancel Marion Ostrom and operate Triton instead was simply the wrong decision taken for all the wrong reasons. As the decision was being taken to cancel Marion Ostrom, there were clear warnings at the time that the consequences would be fatal. The logic that the scaling back of the rescue operation would result unless people attempting the voyage was clearly flawed. It failed to take into account both the human trafficking aspect of the Mediterranean crisis and that, for many migrants and refugees, the risk of staying in Libya was and remains far greater than the serious risk of trying to cross the sea. If we are to find long-term solutions to the situation, the question that we should be asking is not where do these migrants want to go or how do we stop them, but why are they risking their lives and their families' lives and their children's lives to leave family and friends behind? We face new dangers in the world where ideology fails to recognise borders, conflicts are extending beyond countries and quickly spread throughout regions. The vast majority of the boats that attempt to cross the Mediterranean in depart from Libya for almost half of those people on the boats are Syrian or Eritreans. They are attempting, as others have said, to flee war, poverty and persecution. They find themselves in a country that they are not from and one that they do not want to be in. As those conflicts escalate, countries become unrecognisable even to their own people and the desire and need for many to escape grows. Those who have read the amnesty briefing will be aware of the dangers that migrants have to face on those trips. The case that he has mentioned is heartbreaking and the details are harrowing. As this debate continues, we must all remember that. That is why we need to ensure that we have a full and proper search-and-rescue mission that is introduced. One that is not just about patrolling Italian borders but is focused on saving the lives of those in jeopardy. In the current circumstances, what we are facing in the Mediterranean is not an issue of border controls but a humanitarian crisis. If we are to deal with this crisis, we must look to address the root causes of why men, women and children are willing to risk their lives fleeing to Europe. The problems are complex and so too are the solutions. It will require an understanding of global pressures and acceptance in Europe that, although we have a border, we are global citizens with a responsibility to play our part in addressing the world's problems and securing a better future for people around the globe. Many thanks and I now call John Finnie, after whom we will turn to the minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I join with others in congratulating Alex Rowley on this hugely important issue. I also thank Amnesty and Save the Children for their briefings and declare my membership of both. Amnesty talks about thousands of people fleeing conflict, persecution and violence trying to reach safety, and Kenny MacAskill touched on the issue of conflict. That has been fuelled by the ready available of armaments, many of which have been designed and manufactured in Scotland and sold from Scotland, so there is an obligation on us. People are fleeing persecution and I think that the west attitude to the Arab Spring has sent a very confusing message. Initial support and indication are not really bothered about this democracy, it is more about who is in charge and access to resources. Of course, that resulted in violence and a brutal backlash, much of which passes without comment. Many of those people are leaving from Libya. Libya is in a state of anarchy. If you check the foreign and Commonwealth Office's advice, the advice is against all travel to Libya. Indeed, they are advising British nationals that they are urging them to leave immediately. But clearly, we are urging other people to stay there, but we are urging people to stay there despite the shortage of medical supplies, water and food. It is a similar situation in Egypt and Tunisia, where there is lengthy advice about travel in those areas. We know that the Mediterranean route is the most dangerous and lethal in the world. Clearly, for those who are desperate enough to attempt it, it is far more attractive than the alternative, whether that be Syria or Eritrea or, increasingly, West Africa, where conflict is rife. It is entirely wrong to lay the responsibility at the door of Italy, as the motion states that the UK Italian ambassador talked about a common interest that is managed at a common level. That is entirely right. The decision to end Amary Nostrum, which is Italy's humanitarian search and rescue operation, was taken in agreement with the EU, and therefore, to my mind, demands an EU response. Common humanity has been mentioned a number of times, and we know that that operation was replaced by Operation Triton, patrolling borders and smaller craft near or shore, further from the north African coast. Previously, it was 95 nautical miles off the Libyan coast. Alex Rowley talks about the technology that means that we are fully aware of the extent of the tragedy that is out there, increasing the reliances on coast guards and humanity from commercial ships. I found out in the course of looking into this debate that all shipmasters are bound by an obligation to codify them in the international law of the sea to render assistance to those in distress at sea, regardless of their nationality, status or the circumstances in which they are found, and what a very sound foundation to look at any future operation that the EU might mount. It is important to praise the Italian coast guards and the armed forces of Malta. Many members present will have signed Stuart Maxwell's fine motion in respect of Nepal, which talks about the contribution of six firefighters in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, working together with colleagues from across the United Kingdom and involved in providing support, which will include medical assistance and search and rescue message emissions. That is proactive humanitarian support, and it is rightly applauded. There was a report yesterday about dozens drowning off the coast of Sicily, and some of you will have seen the footage of an overladen craft, terror in everyone's face and sitting in the middle of an bewildered toddler girl looking to adults for support. Those people are victims, they are not the accused. The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees in Europe said, we must step up the capacity to save lives. Triton was a mythical Greek god and in Virgil's Aeneid, it is told that Triton killed Messinus by drowning him. Alex Rowley talks about the need for this Parliament to speak out, I think that is what we are doing. Next week, the EU presents the operational plan. We call not only for support of an expansion of the search and rescue operation, but hope to see action to address the reasons thousands of people fleeing conflict, persecution and violence to reach safety and do so in the first place. I now invite Fiona Hyslop to respond to the debate. I want to begin by thanking Alex Rowley for tabling this motion. I reassure Alex Rowley and other members who have spoken here today that the Scottish Government is fully committed to doing whatever we can to help in addressing those on-going tragedies and the devastating loss of human lives. Indeed, we have offered assistance in the past year. This Parliament in the north-west of the EU should stand in solidarity with the Europe of the south and the distressed dying in the Mediterranean. It is with profound sadness that I note that the situation in the Mediterranean has slipped from recent news headlines. That is despite reports that nearly 6,800 people were rescued in separate incidents over the weekend and more bodies of people who died recovered. One of those rescued was a heavily pregnant woman who gave birth to her daughter on her rescue ship. I understand that there have been six such births on naval vessels. While reporting of those human tragedies may fluctuate, the deaths and misery continue. It is vital that we never forget what has happened and continues to happen in the Mediterranean. The debate in the Parliament today helps to keep the issue at the forefront of our minds. The news headlines are not telling a story of a single humanitarian disaster. They represent only a fraction of thousands of individual human stories of war, climate change and extreme poverty spanning years and decades. That human suffering drives people to take unimaginable risks for themselves and their families in dispute with a safer and better life. The deaths of so many of those vulnerable migrants is an issue that I have persistently raised since 2013. In 2013, the world learned of what was known as the Lampedusa disaster. This was when hundreds of migrants died in a shipwreck off the Italian coast, despite the best efforts of the Italian coast guard to rescue as many as possible. I was in Italy a few days after that disaster and I personally heard in the hall the Italian Prime Minister at the time, Enrique Leta, declare of the hundreds who had died. They are all Italians now. However, the horror of that Lampedusa disaster was not a single isolated incident. It was just one that made the news. To migrants, they are not just an issue for the Italians but for all of us as members of the human race and as humanitarians. Vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers have been desperately fleeing to Europe along the Mediterranean for years. It is estimated that more than 10,000 people have died in the Mediterranean in recent decades. After Lampedusa, migrants have continued to search for safety using this route. Most worryingly, it is believed that this summer, those migrant journeys will reach their peak, accompanied by terror, by misery and death, unless as a global and European community we act. Since first raising this issue in 2013, I have continued to raise the need for multilateral action at joint ministerial committee and also in correspondence to the UK Minister of State for Europe and the UK Minister of State for Security and Immigration. Throughout my campaigning on the issue, I have endeavoured to stress that the abandoning by the EU supported by the UK of search and rescue was simply wrong. It was wrong in terms of basic human decency and compassion and it was wrong in practical and pragmatic terms. I am pleased that there has now been an emergency EU summit on this issue, but Europe must address the tragedies of a long-term strategic approach, and many members have stressed that. Our strategic action needs to look at where people are fleeing from and why. Many are from Syria and Eritrea, as we have heard. Many are coming from Libya. Men, women and children are dying in the Mediterranean, but this is an issue that is beyond the confines of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy or the EU. As part of our strategic efforts, we must look at the displacement of millions of people and provide support for the rehabilitation and compassionate treatment of refugees at their countries of origin. If there is no effective rescue operation, that will not stop desperate people fleeing desperate situations and taking even greater risks to reach Europe. Outside of our Scottish Parliament, too much of the media and political debate, in my view, has focused on a criminalised response to human traffickers. However, many of those migrants are not being trafficked, and this focus can be misleading. It obscures the reality of many vulnerable migrants feeling compelled to make these perilous journeys in search of safety. For reasons that are so difficult for us here today to ever really understand, many of those migrants have paid for this transportation and are not being trafficked, and they are paying for transportation that may lead to their death and the death of their children. That situation requires a focus on the vulnerable victims themselves and must be addressed as a humanitarian issue. Humanitarian issues are by their nature cross-border and pan-European. Together, we must prevent the Mediterranean from continuing as a watery grave for so many fleeing conflict, fear and hate. The EU must take collective responsibility, and the agreement of four priority actions at the emergency summit is a start, but it is only a start and it must not be a temporary political fix. We must stand together and we must not just treat this as a front-ex or simply a border's issue. The Italian Government needs long-term support from their EU partners. The UK is not a member of front-ex as it is not part of the Schengen area, but the UK must play a full part in supporting our Italian friends and colleagues. Italy should not bear the responsibility and tragic misery by themselves, and that cannot be a one-time offer of help when the Mediterranean is in the news headlines. That is why our debate here in the Scottish Parliament is so important. As parliamentarians, we must encourage parliamentary scrutiny of the issue, not just at the European level but at the domestic level too. Now is the time for the incoming UK Government to approach the issue differently, with a humanitarian, strategic and multilateral approach. I am sure that that would be supported across the chamber. In my correspondence to the UK Government last November and again in January 2015, I said that the Scottish Government stands ready to help. We have also said to the UK Government that we can play our part in whatever co-operation is required on Syrian refugees. We will continue to make those offers. I also know that members across the Parliament stand ready to help in whatever they can and are prepared to support the Scottish and UK Governments on the issue. Standing together in solidarity, taking long-term strategic action, we can make a difference and we will continue to do all that we can to address this devastating humanitarian crisis. I undertake to ensure that the new UK Government is fully informed of our debate, our concerns and our commitment to the vulnerable people of the Mediterranean. Thank you. We now move to general questions question one.