Implementing a migrant relocation programme is crucial to ensure an equitable involvement between EU member states, according to group of political youth leaders.

The group sent a letter to European decision-makers yesterday insisting that, if a more effective plan was negotiated, it would help alleviate the burden of immigration on southern member states and secure a fairer system.

Led by Nationalist MEP contender and MŻPN president Kevin Plumpton, the group was made up of YEPP president Konstantinos Kryanakis from Greece and vice president Riccardo Pozzi from Italy.

The group left Malta on a sailing boat on a symbolic 36-hour journey to Lampedusa and back to raise awareness about the tragic plight of immigrants who cross the Mediterranean in their hundreds, many dying before they reach the safety of land.

During the short visit, they met Lampedusa’s deputy mayor Damiano Sferlazzo and assured that through their respective youth organisations they would be pressing European home affairs and immigration ministers to ensure words were translated into action.

The situation is very different from Malta’s – in Lampedusa they’re usually transferred to mainland Italy within three days

After listening to their message Mr Sferlazzo said: “Getting used to this tragedy happening so often isn’t a great feeling. Mankind has failed if we cannot help those seeking a safe haven into Europe.”

Recounting his experience there, Mr Plumpton said that as a Maltese he was expecting to see something different in Lampedusa.

“It seems the emergency situation they’re facing is mainly handling and processing the huge number of immigrants that arrived back to back on the island this month,” Mr Plumpton said.

“The situation is very different from Malta’s – in Lampedusa they’re usually transferred to mainland Italy within three days, while in our case they remain here.”

The group’s message that action, not just words, on migration was needed, coincided with a two-day summit in Brussels where European leaders were meeting to discuss the immigration dilemma after hundreds of asylum seekers died in a shipwreck off Lampedusa earlier this month. Mayor Maria Giuseppina Nicolini also attended to ensure the island’s plight was highlighted.

The group that returned from Lampedusa yesterday is hoping it can spur young people to make a difference.

“We are urging youth across Europe to take action – we want to see results. We’re calling on them to pressure their respective organisations to shoulder the responsibility of this pressing issue,” Mr Plumpton said at a press conference held outside the Safi detention centre on their arrival.

Mr Kryanakis said the peaceful protest journey was held now so that while EU leaders were discussing this important concern in Brussels they could listen to Lampedusians’ experience first-hand and communicate their message back home.

Mr Pozzi added that young people wanted European leaders to translate the words printed in documents into concrete facts and ensure the EU was close to the people.

In the letter, the group says: “The aim of this peaceful campaign is to protest against human trafficking and smuggling, raising awareness of the silent victims, and appealing to national governments, European institutions and North African states to urgently address the lack of effective and efficient measures to prevent loss of life.”

They are calling on European authorities to further equip Frontex’s joint patrol operations to protect the Mediterranean borders and help prevent further unjustified deaths; revisit the EU Budget for 2014-2020 to increase funds allocated to the Mediterranean border countries to cope with continuous arrivals of asylum seekers; try to set up tangible ways of combating and abolishing human trafficking and smuggling at its roots; and aid the European Commission to establish a lasting partnership with countries of origin and transit.

In Lampedusa, the joint delegation also visited the island’s gated ‘reception centre’, where asylum seekers are placed until their paperwork is processed; normally within 72 hours. However, getting in is difficult and the group’s request got stuck in the bureaucratic process at the mainland and they were barred entry.

The group also visited the site where the recent October 3 tragedy took place – 366 people died when a boat carrying more than 500 immigrants capsized a few hundred metres from Lampedusa’s shores – and held a memorial service where a moment of silence was observed and wreaths were thrown in the sea in memory of the victims.