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This cartoon says a lot about the world's response to the refugee crisis

This cartoon says a lot about the world's response to the refugee crisis

Images of Aylan al-Kurdi, the three-year-old boy who drowned and washed up on a beach in Turkey, have spread around the world since being published on Wednesday.

Fleeing war and terror in his Syrian homeland, Aylan was one of more than 2,500 who have perished in the Mediterranean this year in search of a safe home in Europe.

Fences have been installed, train stations shut down, right-wing political parties have continued to stoke fear and senior politicians still maintain that "we are doing enough".

But since the harrowing photos of Aylan were published, public pressure has increased on Europe's leaders to welcome more refugees in. There are, after all, millions who need our help.

Cartoon: Rafat al-Khateeb

As well as signing petitions, donating money and writing passionately on social media, many people have been sharing this incredibly emotive cartoon.

Illlustrator Rafat al-Khateeb, who draws for Nesan News in his native Jordan, told i100.co.uk on Thursday morning:

The main idea [behind the cartoon] is that a child does not know about war and crime. The child knows one thing only.

That the whole world is responsible for his death.

How many more will it take to die at our gates before things change?

See more of the illustrator's work on Facebook: "The Cartoonist Rafat"

HT Cartoon Movement

Sign the Independent's petition at ind.pn/refugeeswelcome

More: The day the British media finally got a conscience

More: The story of Aylan, the Syrian boy whose photo has shocked Europe

More: An open letter to anyone who ever talked down the refugee crisis

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