The UN has said "much more is
required" to prevent the deaths of migrants fleeing to Europe after
hundreds were reported dead in recent days.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a "collective political response" to avert "a crisis of solidarity".
He called on states involved to "expand safe and legal channels of migration".
On
Thursday 71 people, thought to be Syrians, were found dead in a lorry
in Austria. Some 200 others are feared dead after two boats sank off
Libya.
Mr Ban said he was "horrified and heartbroken" at the latest loss of life.
"A
large majority of people undertaking these arduous and dangerous
journeys are refugees fleeing from places such as Syria, Iraq and
Afghanistan," he said.
"The international community must also show
greater determination in resolving conflicts and other problems that
leave people little choice but to flee,"
Mr Ban called on nations to observe international law on asylum
requests, and not to "force people to return to places from which they
have fled if there is a well-founded fear of persecution... This is not
only a matter of international law; it is also our duty as human
beings."
He
said: "This is a human tragedy that requires a determined collective
political response. It is a crisis of solidarity, not a crisis of
numbers."
Mr Ban also urged more action against people smugglers, a call echoed by White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
"The
violence and instability in North Africa and the Middle East isn't just
destabilising the immediate region but is starting to have a
destabilising impact on other regions of the world too, including in
Europe," Mr Earnest said.
Some 200 people are feared to have
drowned after two boats capsized on Thursday as they tried to cross from
Zuwara, west of Tripoli in Libya, to Italy.
About 100 bodies have
already been found and Libyan workers are continuing to search for 100
other people who are still unaccounted for.
Some survivors were rescued having spent the night in the water, clinging to life jackets.
.
While most of the victims of Thursday's capsizes are thought to be
from Syria and African countries, a Bangladeshi diplomat told the BBC
that at least five Bangladeshi nationals, including a six-month-old
baby, were among the dead.
Police in Italy detained 10 suspected
traffickers after a separate incident in which 52 people were found dead
in the hold of a ship off the coast of Libya on Wednesday.
Meanwhile,
Hungarian police said they had arrested four people over the discovery
of the bodies of 71 migrants, thought to be Syrians, in an abandoned
lorry in Austria, near the Hungarian border.
The victims were 59 men, eight women and four children who are thought to have been dead for about two days.
Officials
said the victims probably died after suffocating in the vehicle, before
it crossed into Austria from Hungary. Among the victims was a girl aged
between one and two years old.
Analysis: BBC's Bethany Bell in Vienna
The headline in Austria's Kurier newspaper is stark: "Who will stop this madness? Refugee tragedy on the eastern motorway."
This
double-edged response to the lorry deaths reflects the feelings of many
here in Austria, a country of 8.5 million which has seen a big increase
in people requesting asylum, with 80,000 claims expected this year.
Its
main asylum centre, at Traiskirchen, is so overcrowded that hundreds
have been forced to sleep outside there for weeks. Amnesty International
recently said conditions there were "shameful".
Many
people are volunteering to help refugees. But others say the flow of
migrants must be stopped. Far-right parties say there are too many
foreigners in Austria already and are calling for the reintroduction of
border controls.
The government says it doesn't want that - but
it says this problem can't be solved individually. It says Europe has to
share the burden of looking after the refugees and migrants who arrive
here every day.
