With Covid-19 still taking up much of the public’s attention, little space and thought were given to the latest migrant tragedy.

In the past days, a boat carrying 130 persons capsized in the sea north of Libya, and it is believed that all the occupants drowned.

Pope Francis described the incident as a “moment of shame”, with the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano choosing a strongly-worded headline for its report: “Abandoned and buried at sea”.

Rescue groups also decried the lack of empathy shown by European states, saying that “only non-state actors actively searched for the boat in distress at sea”. Aid group Alarm Phone said it was in contact with the dinghy for more than 10 hours and “repeatedly relayed its GPS position” to the authorities, to no avail.

European governments, including Malta’s, have remained strangely silent on the incident. There was no official statement from Castille; neither one from the Armed Forces of Malta. It’s a clear sign that the Maltese authorities want to distance themselves from all that took place. An Associated Press report last Sunday said that an email request to obtain comments from Malta’s Home Affairs Ministry had not been answered.

It could be that Malta was not directly involved or, if it was, the incident took place beyond the waters under its responsibility.

But we're talking about 130 lives. Even they matter.

It has been widely reported and acknowledged that both Italy and Malta contend that NGO ships help ensure that migrants reach European shores safely. Both nations adamantly also insist that the rest of the European Union states do not offer assistance in rescue missions and that, when migrants are saved, they are not prepared to share the burden. Many of these migrants, it is believed, are hoping to join other relatives who have already settled in Europe. Others seek jobs and a better life than the one they are having in their respective country of origin.

The migration phenomenon has been with us for several years now, and it is unlikely that it will end anytime soon. As we have said many times, the first thing that should be kept in mind is that we are talking about people. Each and every one of them deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.

Secondly, in spite of so much discussion, Europe has still not reached a common stand on the situation. There have been times when the media have been told that some kind of agreement has been found but, when another tragedy occurs, there is either a wall of silence – as has happened in this particular case – or else a blame game ensues, with none the wiser as soon as the interest in the story subsides. Otherwise, a case-by-case system has been adopted, often leading to situations in which migrants have been left stranded at sea for days on end.

Over its decades of existence, Europe has shown that it has been capable of finding common ground on many issues that it was facing.

This is unfortunately not the case with migration. A much stronger effort is needed by all stakeholders for a solution to be found.

We repeat: we’re talking about people, and their lives matter too.