A record number of refugees have arrived by boat in southern Europe this summer. Norway should voice its support for a common European solution to the issue of boat migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert, Senior Researcher at PRIO, writes of the issue of refugees arriving by boat in Europe and the issue of humanitarian responsibility. Read more of this article on the PRIO blog.

"Last year this would have been front-page news, but now each new arrival – or each refugee boat that is lost at sea – is just one more in a series. Estimates suggest that more than 100,000 refugees have arrived by boat so far this year. This is a dramatic figure. The previous record was 63,000 for the whole of 2011, which was the year the Arab Spring brought about unrest in the region."