1,900 migrants have died whilst attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea so far this year.
Médecins Sans Frontières is now calling for safe and legal channels so that people fleeing their countries can find protection in Europe.
The call comes after the Irish naval vessel LÉ Niamh is due into the Sicilian port of Messina this morning, carrying the bodies of 14 migrants who died on a wooden barge that left Libya on Monday.
More than 450 other migrants are on board the vessel, after they were rescued by the Irish crew this week.
The LÉ Niamh has been in the Mediterranean since the middle of this month, and took over from the LÉ Eithne, which rescued a total of 3,377 people over two months in the waters between Libya and Sicily.
Jane-Anne McKenna from Médecins Sans Frontières Ireland says that many people are left with no option but to risk their lives at sea:
