I live in a small European country in the Mediterranean sea. We get thousands of illegal immigrants from Africa. We just cannot handle the huge influx as our country is small and its infrastructure and support systems just cannot handle thousands or even hundreds of immigrants every year.

But our international obligations plus our ethical and moral rules do not permit us to let people drown in the Mediterranean sea while they are crossing from Africa to Europe.

What I find strange is that on every boat of illegal immigrants there may be 50 or 100 men PLUS one or two women. Many of us do not want our army to go out and 'save' these Muslim illegal immigrants and bring them here. But news stations always report that there are some women (usually a tiny percentage) on the boats and that is where people have a change of heart. It seems that for our people in general it is OK to let a boatful of African men drown but if there is a woman - we get protests and demonstrations may be urging the government and the army to rescue and bring to our country the illegal immigrants.