Ant贸nio Guterres: 'We need to address the root causes of the migrants'
Ant贸nio Guterres is the United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees and former Portuguese prime minister.
The World Tonight spoke to him about the scale of the tragedy and how best it could be addressed.
He said "international solidarity is key."
The United Nations Refugee Agency estimated 1600 people have drowned this year alone. Three and a half thousand died last year.
"This is the responsibility of the international community as a whole" he added.
Mr Guterres said "People are not crossing out of hope; they are crossing out of fear."
In response to how Europe could stop these dangerous crossings being so attractive to migrants, he said "if you don't offer legal opportunities (for people to enter Europe), you will never be effective."
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